Dante's Paradiso: The Flowering of the Self: An Interpretation of the Anagogical Meaning (Middle Ages)

This book interprets the Paradiso on the level of the anagogy, the fourth level in Dante's fourfold allegory. The anagogy is seen as the most accessible of all the allegorical levels to the modern reader. The anagogical approach to the Paradiso takes the reader through the states of self-awareness, purification, and creative unfolding. In the concluding chapter, the thought of the Paradiso is placed in the spiritual and philosophical tradition of Neoplatonism, connecting it to Plotinus, Proclus, and the entire Christian neoplatonic philosophy from Origen to St. Bernard.