Dante Today

Citings & Sightings of Dante's Works in Contemporary Culture

Dante’s Inferno may have the answer for Europe’s energy bind

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“The steam and geysers rising from the valleys of Tuscany inspired Dante Alighieri’s vision of hell in The Divine Comedy. Centuries later, they’re providing Italy with an inexhaustible supply of renewable energy.

“Larderello is home to the world’s oldest geothermal power site, where Enel Green Power turns heat released by the Earth’s core into electricity. The facility started powering light bulbs in 1904, and now the whole site generates more than 5% of the nation’s clean power production.”   —Petra Sorge and Alberto Brambilla, “Dante’s Inferno May Have the Answer for Europe’s Energy Bind,” The Japan Times (August 28, 2023)

Ndary Lo, The Day After (2012)

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“I see the world we are living in as both Hell and Purgatory. Our only hope in this life of ours, all that we have left is to try our best to be admitted to heaven someday. The Day After is an installation in which, after walking a long way through a dense and dark forest, one reaches that space where everything seems to be suspended, where one can feel this particular tension that we experience before embarking on a journey of which we don’t really know the name. The place is organized in a materialized circle and inhabited by iron characters which are ready to take off. The circle, in fact a spiral, symbolizes the energy of human beings, who find themselves in a new configuration, and they feel disoriented and experience a feeling of unreality.”

From The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell Revisited by Contemporary African Artists by Simon Njami.

Read more about Senegalese sculptor Ndary Lô, see Wikipedia.fr.

Higher Self Yoga: Consciousness in the Divine Comedy

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“[. . .] As an example, consider this scene at the bottom of the mountain of Purgatory.  These souls have figured out how to get out of hell and have crossed the river to this mountainous island. The journey up the mountain (toward increasing freedom from destructive patterns and closer to higher consciousness) waits for them.

“What do they do?  They turn away from the mountain, hang out on the shoreline, and stare out at the water waiting for entertainers to arrive:  TV channel surfing, 14th Century style.  Fortunately, Dante himself is being guided to start to climb the mountain because there is much more waiting for him if he ascends. He does so, and at the very top he meets Beatrice, his Higher Self, who then guides him into higher states of consciousness in paradise.” [. . .]    –Dr. Richard Schaub Ph.D., Higher Self Yoga, July 8, 2020

Beware of Dante’s (ERP) Inferno

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“ERP implementation projects are large, complex endeavors that can quickly spiral out of control. Blown budgets and delayed implementations are not uncommon, and in the worst cases, failed ERP projects can cripple the entire organization.

“Despite risk management frameworks, robust development methodologies, and highly motivated teams, ERP initiatives still fall victim to poor decisions. In his Divine Comedy, Dante chronicles his journey through the nine circles of hell. To avoid a similar story for your ERP project, beware of these deadly ERP sins.” […]    –Shawn Stamp, CIO Dive, June 25, 2018

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Coggeshall, Elizabeth, and Arielle Saiber, eds. Dante Today: Citings and Sightings of Dante’s Works in Contemporary Culture. Website. Access date.

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