3-10

The gates of hell state "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here" essentially meaning, if you're here, you've messed up part of your life. The first circle contains everyone in limbo, not good enough for heaven, but have not committed a sin serious enough for the rest of hell. Here, the sinners just walk around the river Acheron, and are continuously bit by flies and wasps for not quite making the decision to be good or evil. In the second circle, contains the people whom are guilty of lust, ironically, Dante should have been placed here because he wrote the Inferno about finding his love Beatriz. In this circle, contains Helen (Trojan war was fought over her) and Queen Cleopatria. Here, the sinners are blown about for all eternity by a powerful wind, symbolizing their never ending lust for another human. 
Here, I have included the picture of the great Jim Morrison, for many hundreds of thousands of girls lusted after him as he was not only a major rock star, but also a sex icon. I have also included the gates of hell, showing the journey that Virgil and Dante are about to encroach upon

Canto 28-34

Ahh, the "sin" of betrayal will land you in the farthest depth of hell, in which Dante details in Canto 34. Here lies the ultimate three sinners (as well as many others), Judas Iscariot  who betrayed Jesus, Cassius and Brutus who betrayed Julius Caesar, and finally, Lucifer for betraying god himself. The sinners here are all trapped in ice, with Lucifer's beating wings constantly keeping it cold, icy, and windy. I personally do not believe the punishment fits the crime because being frozen and not being able to move is a little much for betrayal. However, the three sinners mentioned did commit huge acts of betrayal, so, having them being frozen in ice and not being able to move does prevent them from harming others. Did I mention that these three are constantly being torn apart but never killed by Lucifer? How fun! The other canto in the ninth circle of hell is the 33rd, people who have betrayed their family or their country, and they are trapped in a frozen lake, like the ones in 34. But here's the other part of it, whenever they cry, their tears are frozen to their face, which is extremely painful. The ironic thing is that they themselves cry because of the troubles and tears shed in betrayal. Canto 28, the final canto of the 8th circle, houses falsifiers: alchemists, perjurers, importers, and counterfeits). Their punishment is that they are each infected with some disease because Dante viewed them as a plague upon society

Dantes Inferno Canto Analysis

In Dante's hell, everyone goes there, even him, because we all commit some form of sin: stealing, lying, cheating, trying to look into the future, or harming another human. Hell, I'd even go there! I've lied before, but who hasn't?! Now, in some cantos, the sinner is shown as roasting in their own individual fires for committing fraud, but hey, that's not very clever. What is clever is Canto 20 though, where the fortune tellers and the philosophers, have their heads turned backwards, so they can only see what is behind them. I think that is so clever because it punishes them not so much as physical pain, but now they can't look into the future. But Canto 23 is clever as well, the hypocrite wear extravagant robes, but on the inside, it is lined with led, leading them to slouch.

                                 I chose to show canto 23, the hypocrites, because I thought Dante was clever in his punishment

Hell

       As someone who identifies themselves as an atheist, I do not believe in a hell or heaven, I believe after we die, we stay in the ground, not get judged at the gates of heaven. But hypothetically if there really was a heaven and a hell, one would be the "best" place possibly in your reality, and hell would be the absolute worst. As many religious preaches will say, "You stay in hell" to "pay" for your misdeeds. My hell would be like Dante's hell, fire and pain. And for me, heaven would be a plethora of mountain bike trails as well as a new road a day to road bike on. A hell would be non-denominational, meaning that anyone religious or not can get into heaven or hell.

Hubris

Hubris has got in my way many times, just like many others. In terms of ego, who likes to apologize? Who likes to admit that they're wrong and take a hit to their egos? Not me. People all have an ego, and we like to protect it and buff it up by doing things that make us feel good about ourselves, just like donating to charity. Some do it because they actually want to help people, but some just do it to feel better about themselves.

But for a story about myself: Just like anyone with a little brother close in age (In my case 16 months apart) We had been arguing about who knows what. And it turned out he had been right, and it would have been more polite to have just said "Dude, I'm sorry" or something like that, but that never happened. While no real everlasting damage occurred between us, it is still something I should have said to finalize the disagreement and make him feel better

Fate

       I do not believe in fate, or complete free will for that matter, due to automatic brain umpulses, nerurons firing off. I don't believe in some entity watching over me, pushing me into a specific path or direction, or for that matter, something omnipotent that cares about me. As far as I know, no one sets a specific path for me, only me. I can adjust my life accordingly if something "good" or "bad" happens. Nor do I believe in the principal of karma. If I do something, it can change the course of my life and potentially others. But if I hurt someone or steal something, bad thing may or may not happen because of it. If something happened, it would be because of my actions and how they impacted the world.  I don't believe in luck or something like that. I believe the world just goes on, and things happen.
         Although, I do believe in the words of certain people as "gods" in society: Ram Daas, Timothy Leary, Jerry Garcia, and Jim Morrison, just to name a few. "Turn on, tune in, and drop out" as Timothy Leary famously said.

My advancements

    Throughout this year I have grown as a writer-at least in my opinion. My writing style can be very sloppy if I am not attempting good work. One example of creativity but possibly perceived as a lack of effort could be my story about bacon, pancake muffins "I want to make bacon-pancake muffins."Some may even say that this is brilliant, ground-breaking news, but some very unimaginative people would say that it is a stupid idea. Writing is purely objective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.


       The worst writing I have done all year was when I didn't put much effort into my work, such as "I follow my bliss by mountain and road biking." Now, ordinarily this would be fine, but that was my entire response to the question "How do you follow your bliss?" There was no elaboration at all, just a mostly half-assed attempt at following the prompt. Out of my writing this year, this was the worst job I have done. I could further improve this by working to expand my thoughts of WHY I like those two sports, why they bring me joy. Look world, I didn't get the grade I wanted in my LA class for two reasons, at my best, I would say I'm a good writer, not phenomenal, but pretty good. So on our essays, I was lacking a few minor things here and there. But the other reason would be for some of our blog posts, I didn't go all in, I said it was "Good enough" And that's what killed me, that's why I didn't get the 'A' I wanted, instead, I got a B. Remember writers, being concise and being able to elaborate is key! Be witty in your writings. I may try setting timers to write for "x" amount of time, take a break, then go back in order to focus once more.

What inspires you to do anything you do? Well for me, it's going outside. Going on a hike, or going mountain or road biking. The state of Colorado is just so gorgeous that it is a wonderful place for a mind to brew new thoughts. I follow my bliss by doing things that not only inspire but keep me happy and fulfilled in life. Like I've said, bacon-pancake muffins would be an amazing idea! I just thought of it while on a mountain bike ride while hungry; Ideas can come from anywhere. While inspiration comes to many via psychedelic drug, meditation, or out of no where, as of now, my route of discovery comes via cycling and the scenery of everyday life.




The human mind is full of metaphorical colors and the rainbow of them represent something to everyone. For example, with this picture, Alex Grey painted a human with his eyes shut and colors coming out of his/her brain.These colors are the human "spirit" and consciousness. The baby on the left and right could possibly represent the creation of new ideas.