Evening under Lamplight Podcast

Here is a talk I gave at a Stevenson conference in Bordeaux, where I spoke about the Fables. I have recently published a collection of these fables, with my commentaries, available at http://thelamplightpress.com/aesop. 

The story of Pygmalion is a story about artistic creation, and about true love, which in mythic terms means true devotion to the goddess Venus.

The terrible story of Myrrha, her sinful passion and her pitiable attempts to resist temptation.

A cruel punishment inflicted on an innocent (?) young man, with lots of levels to ponder.

A gruesome tale of a greedy man, cursed with unquenchable hunger. 

One story enveloped in another, Echo in Narcissus's story. We take Narcissus far beyond the common use of his name to mean merely self-absorbed. Narcissus becomes an image of something far more wonderful.

The story of a chase, and the young woman's escape - through a death-experience into maturity? Anything's possible in these stories.

The terrible story of Callisto, vulnerable, abused by three deities, elevated to immortality - a troubling story in many ways, but that's all the more reason to attend to it.

Here's the cosmic story of Phaethon, the boy who had to prove his lineage, but went too far, dared too much, creating a global crisis.

The first great love story, with tender moments and an ending that is - well, let's not label it. It's followed by a parallel story, more brutal and painful, which pivots us into the next major story.

Jupiter wipes out all the people in this evil world - except two wonderful, loving people, who then perform the promised miracle.

We begin a journey through Ovid's great compilation of myths, with his version of the Creation story, and then the first of many evil characters who will be appearing, Lycaon, King of Arcadia - but not for long.

We conclude our discussion of Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience", with Thoreau's reflections on his imprisonment and our own responses to the essay. And we end with some touching moments from  Thoreau's last days.

How did Thoreau disconnect himself from a government that promoted unjust laws? He broke the law and went to prison - but not for very long. We hear his accounts of this experience, both inside the prison and afterwards, back in the community.

"Unjust laws exist," Thoreau says. How do we define an unjust law, and then what do we do about it?

We begin a discussion of Henry David Thoreau's seminal essay "Civil Disobedience" with an introduction to the man and the historical context he was living and writing in.

After an interval, we finish Series 3 with the twenty-second and final fable from the collection of Robert Louis Stevenson. "The Clockmaker" is the odd story of a civilisation of microbic creatures that parallels ours in many ways, and gives us a new, and comic perspective on our human limitations.

The third and concluding part of the talk to the Beshara Institute on Diversity in Unity in Dante's Divine Comedy.

We continue with examples of Diversity in Unity in the Inferno and the Purgatorio.

An edited version of a talk given for the Beshara Institute, on the theme of Diversity in Unity in Dante's great poem. This is part 1 of 3.

Here, in the final canto of The Divine Comedy, Dante rises to his greatest height in a beatific vision of divinity itself, in a flash of insight, difficult to remember, difficult to put into words, but his poetry is up to it, and carries on to the end of this great poem.

Bernard points out to Dante various pre-eminent souls seated in that huge Celestial Rose, and discusses the situation of those infants who have also been saved, and the mystery of how even they are placed in a hierarchy. Then the final moments before, in the next, final canto, Dante will reach the goal of his journey.

More heavenly bliss, but Beatrice shifts away from Dante's side, up to her real place in the great community of heaven, with St Bernard now taking her place for the final steps of this journey.

Is it a geometry lesson as a point enlarges into a circle? Or a sparkling scene in nature? Or a theatre in the round? Or the Celestial Rose, now coming into view for Dante, as Beatrice finishes her explanations, with a fierce attack on the popes.

Angels, rebel angels, a question of time and eternity, wrong-headed lecturers and preachers, and back to the angels at the end of the canto - more instruction from Beatrice.

An inverted model of the universe and the nine orders of angels, Beatrice talking us through this ninth sphere.

The indescribably joyfulness of this highest heaven, but also the rage at the corruption on earth, with no spiritual or secular leadership.

Dante passes the third and final part of his exams, and then has an encounter with none other than Adam himself.

Part 2 of Dante's final exam, on Hope, and then the third examiner arrives, but Dante peers too deeply for something that's not there, and blinds himself before the third part of the exam can even begin.

Beatrice enrols Dante for his final exams, part one, examined by St Peter on the nature of Faith. Our challenge: how to make this question come alive for us today.

Dante adjusts his vision here on the eighth sphere, briefly seeing the Source of Divine Light, and Mary, and all the saved souls in heaven coming down to him. It's hard for him to describe to us, but we understand.

Dante meets St Benedict here on Saturn, the region dedicated to the contemplative life, and then rises even higher, up to his birthsign, Gemini. And from there, he looks back to contemplate just how small, compared to everything else, our Earth actually is.

Now on the sphere of Saturn, a place of auterity, and a love that rises above the personal, perhaps a place of preparation for things higher up, up that golden ladder that features in this place.

Who are these just rulers here on Jupiter, and how does justice connect with humility, and in what way do the "violent bear it away"? All this and more.

Will someone who has never had the chance to learn about salvation but nevertheless lives a completely righteous life - will this person be damned to Hell because there's been no official baptism or profession of faith? Is this justice? That's what this canto sets out to answer, or at least to discuss.

We have our final words and final dance on Mars and then ascend to Jupiter, the home of Justice, with a whole different kind of verbal dance put on for Dante.

More from Cacciaguida, Dante's great-great-grandfather here on the sphere of Mars: the climactic and poignant revelation of Dante's exile from Florence, and his commission not to compromise in retelling the truth of what he has seen on this long journey.

More from Cacciaguida, Dante's great-great-grandfather, here on the sphere of Mars, and more about pride, elevation above one's lower self, and a lot more about the state of Florence.

Dante meets his great-great-grandfather on the sphere of Mars, and hears about what an ideal place Florence used to be. It's a canto full of loving courtesy.

Our final encounter on the sphere of the Sun, as we find out what kind of splendour we'll experience after we have been reunited with our bodies after the world's end. And the ascent to the next sphere, Mars, and the experience there that Dante is unable to express to us.

An almost impossible exercise for our imagination, an account of creation, and a warning about making hasty conclusions - it all fits together for us.

A new group of souls appears, circling around the circle of lights circling around Dante and Beatrice. St Bonaventure speaks out from this new group, praising St Dominic, and criticising his own order of Franciscans, who have fallen away from the standard. The theme here seems to be harmony, which we consider in several different aspects.

Most of the canto is dedicated to celebrating probably the best-loved saint in the calendar: St Francis of Assisi, with the praise coming from a member of the rival order, the Dominicans.

We come to the sphere of the Sun, the place of divine light, where we are introduced to some great thinkers, though the only real back-and-forth here is between Dante and us, the readers. 

Still on Venus, we meet some reformed promiscuous souls, and get a divine perspective on the violence and greed that overtakes the world we live in. There's also a lot about interpenetration, the gracious way these souls share their joy.

On the sphere of Venus, we learn the more heavenly way of loving, a reaching out to give joy to the other person, creating a unity in variety. Dante meets an old friend, and has a discussion about why things go wrong in our world.

Still on the planet Mercury, with its characteristic intellectual interplay, we hear about the way the Incarnation restored the relationship between divine and human, and try to explain this with some everyday examples.

A famous Roman Emperor takes up the whole canto to show us the sweep of history and our paradoxical place in it.

How do you make up for a broken promise or vow? We get the answer, and much more here, and then rise up to the next planet, where we get a brilliant greeting.