<< Descensus ad inferos

 I recently got a copy of JB Peterson’s Maps of meaning, The book's prologue (titled as this post’s entry), gives us a quick indication of an expectation we should always have as we venture beyond our understanding and on to the search for new knowledge.  

The reason is quite simple: upon learning that which we don’t know we risk changing ourselves.

Coming across something we don’t know implies not only a reevaluation of our own values or that which we consider important but also implies the possibility that we could be wrong; and the decisions we should take if that were the case.

The church’s creed of the apostles, outside of its evident (and equally important) religious value, contains at least that much knowledge in its lines. A section of it reads as it follows:  

“...He descended into hell.

On the third day he rose again.

He ascended into heaven…(1)

Short phrases which express in a very concrete manner the nature of life itself.  As we move through the world to grow and learn; we undergo this cycle endlessly. 

A constant sequence of descents into the hellish depths of that which we don’t know and subsequently a return to our own tranquility of mind (heaven). There’s of course all of sorts of implications in this journey that’s filled with peril and dangers; some of us spend a really long time there, some others never really make it out.

We hope, as Dante in his Divine comedy, to gaze once more upon the heavens and our loved ones, guided by the hand of Virgil, perhaps an expression of our conscience. 

And in this journey we should remember that we have a big role to play for: Not much is entirely out of our control.

Regardless of what we go through, no matter the circle of hell we’re visiting, we should choose to make sense of our suffering and always strive for something better.

return 0;

Notes:

1. Catechism of the catholic church: https://www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism/credo.html