Intermezzo

Abstract

Knowledge of the nature of the universe is a prerequisite in afterlife accounts. It is necessary because the soul’s ultimate aim is identification with the universe, the phenomenon the author calls “psychic harmonization.” For this to happen, the soul must understand the universe. The apparent need for a vision of the universe is the key to understanding the doubling of eschatological space: within any afterlife journey must come the revelation, in which the world is glimpsed in sum. But what is this universe with which the soul must come into line? It is not a constant. Over time, as the reach of human concepts of the universe expands, human cycles are assimilated into an increasingly expansive universe. It is the need to accommodate ever-larger areas of lateral motion within a fundamental casing of circular order that causes the universe to “expand.” As we discover more areas of disorderly motion, the outer skin of order just gets bigger, reducing the significance of the original areas of disorder. Congruently, the soul’s arena of activity expands alongside the model of the universe. This chapter shows both how the cycles of the universe function and how the universe expands between Homer and Dante (and beyond).