Awakening to Wholeness: On Pilgrimage with Dante

Authors: Kerry S. Walters
Cited by: 0

Abstract

Dante’s Divine Comedy is one of those classics more often cited than read. This is a shame because, in addition to being an artistic masterpiece, it’s a roadmap for self-discovery and transformation. There’s good reason why Dante chooses the Latin poet Virgil as his guide. The Comedy is all about poiesis: the creative emergence of one’s true self, the transition from sleepwalking to full awakeningAwakening to Wholeness presents a reader-friendly guide to the transformative pilgrimage Dante offers us in his Comedy. Leaving historical and literary analysis to Dante experts and aficionados, its aim is to help readers appreciate that the Comedy’s imaginative journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven invites them to reflect on their own life journeys. Kerry Walters offers commentary that inspires readers to reflect on the anxieties and desires that keep them trapped inside the false self (inferno), the path to liberating self-discovery (purgatorio), and the illuminating nature of wholeness (paradiso).

Fields of Study & Subjects

Italian Literature and Culture Medieval Literature and History Jungian Analytical Psychology

Publication details

Journal / source
The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College (Gettysburg College)
Publication date
8 January 2026
Language
EN
Document type
Book