" The indivisible atomic Point of intensest light as a symbol
of God is indeed a sublime conception of faith and genius that appeals
equally to the child, the philosopher and the mystic.
The supreme thing still necessary for the consummation of Dante's
pilgrimage is the Beatific Vision of God. That occurs in the Empyrean
where symbol gives way to reality, where the Elect are seen no longer in
forms veiled in light but in the glorified semblance of their earthly
bodies, where contemplation gives direct vision of God in His essence.
How will the poet, while still in the flesh, endure this vision of the
Infinite, Incomprehensible Eternal God? Prepared as he has been by the
experiences of the nine Heavens, he has still further need of
supernatural assistance. That is now given to him by means of a flash
wrapping him in a garment of light, which blinds him and then
illuminates his sight and intellect and enables him to see a more
complete foreshadowing of truth dissolving into Divine Wisdom.
The spectacle he now beholds, perhaps suggested to the poet by the
passage from the Apocalypse (XXII, 1). "And he showed me a river of
water of life, clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of God and of
the Lamb,"--the spectacle which now presents itself is that of a river
of light flowing between two banks of flowers and vivid with darting
sparks.
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