The Best Self-Help Manual Ever Written

A guide to Dante’s Purgatory

Previously we explored Dante’s Inferno, the first canticle of his three-part Divine Comedy. While Inferno is certainly the most popular of the three, the other two, Purgatorio and Paradiso, are just as insightful.

Purgatorio is particularly fascinating. It begins with Dante emerging from the depths of Hell and casting his eyes on Mount Purgatory: a mountain composed of 10 terraces, with the middle seven corresponding to each of the seven deadly sins. As Dante climbs it, he metaphorically gets purged of each sin, and on each terrace learns a lesson about virtue and vice that is essential for spiritual salvation.

These lessons on salvation, however, are just as applicable as archetypes of self-improvement. For example, the climb is most difficult at the lower terraces, but becomes easier as you ascend — personal development, much like climbing a mountain, becomes more manageable as one practices new habits of virtue.

Whether you approach Purgatorio from a spiritual or secular perspective, the canticle is a rich fount of insight. Here’s what it reveals about self-development, and how the archetypes Dante uncovers can help you on your own journey…