Nasce per quello, a guisa di rampollo,
a piè del vero il dubbio; ed è natura
ch'al sommo pinge noi di collo in collo

Therefore, our doubting blossoms like a shoot
out from the root of truth; this natural
urge spurs us toward the peak, from height to height.

Doubt is the friend of faith 
Doubt suppresses pride, faith's great adversary 
Doubt is freedom's twin and great helper

Io veggio ben che già mai non si sazia
nostro intelletto, se 'l ver non lo illustra
di fuor dal qual nessun vero si spazia.

Posasi in esso, come fera in lustra,
tosto che giunto l'ha; e giugner puollo:
se non, ciascun disio sarebbe frustra.

I now see well: we cannot satisfy
our mind unless it is enlightened by
the truth beyond whose boundary no truth lies.

Mind, reaching that truth, rests within it
quickly, fully; mind can attain
that truth if not, each desire will frustrate.

Alone the mind is an insatiable master
Pledged to love, the mind is domesticated
Fulfilled in serving what is loved

E 'n la sua volontade è nostra pace:
ell'è quel mare al qual tutto si move
ciò ch'ella cria o che natura face».

Chiaro mi fu allor come ogne dove
in cielo è paradiso, etsi la grazia
del sommo ben d'un modo non vi piove.

And in his will is our peace:
the sea in which all beings move
source of nature's making.

Then it was clear to me how every place
in heaven is paradise, though grace
of the Highest Good does not rain in any.

The kingdom of heaven is close at hand
Here, now, within our reach
Offer your hand.

...s'essere in carità è qui necesse,
e se la sua natura ben rimiri.

Anzi è formale ad esto beato esse
tenersi dentro a la divina voglia,
per ch'una fansi nostre voglie stesse;

...to live in love is essential to our being,
if you think carefully on love's nature.

The essence of this blessed life consists
in keeping to the boundaries of God's will,
by which our wills become as one will;

At the core of being is self-giving
In healing the other
We are ourselves healed

In each loving act
A fractured world
is recalled to wholeness

Step by stumbling step

...la nostra volontà quieta
virtù di carità, che fa volerne
sol quel ch'avemo, e d'altro non ci asseta.

...the power of love appeases our
will so we only long for what we have;
we do not thirst for greater blessedness.

In this moment there is joy
This is the only place
Where joy abides

«Non ti maravigliar perch'io sorrida»,
mi disse, «appresso il tuo pueril coto,
poi sopra 'l vero ancor lo piè non fida,

ma te rivolve, come suole, a vòto:
vere sustanze son ciò che tu vedi,

There is no need to wonder if I smile,
she said, because you reason as a child;
you do not yet trust the steps to truth;

your mind misguides you into emptiness:
you are seeing are true substances...

The ascent is not smooth,
each step irregular.
I have failed and will fall,

But continue to climb.

tali vid'io più facce a parlar pronte;
per ch'io dentro a l'error contrario corsi
a quel ch'accese amor tra l'omo e 'l fonte.

Sùbito sì com'io di lor m'accorsi,
quelle stimando specchiati sembianti,
per veder di cui fosser, li occhi torsi;

e nulla vidi, e ritorsili avanti
dritti nel lume de la dolce guida,
che, sorridendo, ardea ne li occhi santi.

So faint, the many faces I saw keen
to speak; thus, my mistake was contrary
to that which led the man to love the fountain.

As soon as I had noticed them, thinking
that what I saw were merely mirrorings,
I turned around to see who they might be;

and I saw nothing; and I let my sight
turn back to meet the light of my dear guide,
who, as she smiled, glowed in her holy eyes.

Other realities persist
despite my insistence
awaiting my invitation.

Quali per vetri trasparenti e tersi,
o ver per acque nitide e tranquille,
non sì profonde che i fondi sien persi,

tornan d'i nostri visi le postille
debili sì, che perla in bianca fronte
non vien men forte a le nostre pupille;

Just as, returning through transparent, clean
glass, or through waters calm and crystalline
(so shallow that they scarcely can reflect),

the mirrored image of our faces meets
our eyes with no greater force than
a pearl when displayed on a white forehead

Realities blend, bend and emerge
Softly, subtly, barely perceived,
As I stubbornly insist on only one.

Quel sol che pria d'amor mi scaldò 'l petto,
di bella verità m'avea scoverto,
provando e riprovando, il dolce aspetto;

That sun which first warmed my breast with love,
a beautiful truth had uncovered
proving and reproving, its sweet aspect;

Light sharpens both beauty and its opposite.

Per la natura lieta onde deriva,
la virtù mista per lo corpo luce
come letizia per pupilla viva.

Da essa vien ciò che da luce a luce
ciò che non da denso e raro;
essa è formal principio che produce,

conforme a sua bontà, lo turbo e 'l chiaro»

From the glad nature of its source,
The mingled virtues through the body shine,
Even as gladness through the living pupil.

From this comes that which is light to light
That which is not dense and rare:
This is the creative principle that produces,

According to its goodness, dark and bright.

We are like God, creators.
Joy starts and ends creation.
Pleasure of purpose fulfilled

E come l'alma dentro a vostra polve
per differenti membra e conformate
a diverse potenze si risolve,

così l'intelligenza sua bontate
multiplicata per le stelle spiega,
girando sé sovra sua unitate.

Virtù diversa fa diversa lega
col prezioso corpo ch'ella avviva,
nel qual, sì come vita in voi, si lega.

And even as the soul - within your dust
Through members different and matched
To diverse potencies - expands itself,

So does this Mind unfold
and multiply its bounty among the stars.
Itself revolving on its unity.

Virtue diverse does a diverse alloy
Make with the precious body that it quickens,
In which, as life in you, it is combined.

We are each part 
of divine diversity
essential in unity
discarded in division

volta ver' me, sì lieta come bella,
Drizza la mente in Dio grata», mi disse,
«che n'ha congiunti con la prima stella».

Parev'a me che nube ne coprisse
lucida, spessa, solida e pulita,
quasi adamante che lo sol ferisse.

Per entro sé l'etterna margarita
ne ricevette, com'acqua recepe
raggio di luce permanendo unita.

Towards me turning, blithe as beautiful,
She said to me: Gratefully direct your mind
On God, he has brought us the first star.

It seemed to me a cloud encompassed us,
Luminous, dense, brilliant and bright
As a diamond on which the sun is striking.

Into itself the eternal pearl
Received us, even as water receives
A ray of light, yet remains unbroken.

We participate in various realities
Working hard to keep each separate
What would result from receiving all-at-once?

Vero è che, come forma non s'accorda
molte fiate a l'intenzion de l'arte,
perch'a risponder la materia è sorda,

così da questo corso si diparte
talor la creatura, c'ha podere
di piegar, così pinta, in altra parte;

e sì come veder si può cadere
foco di nube, sì l'impeto primo
l'atterra torto da falso piacere.

Non dei più ammirar, se bene stimo,
lo tuo salir, se non come d'un rivo
se d'alto monte scende giuso ad imo.

Maraviglia sarebbe in te se, privo
d'impedimento, giù ti fossi assiso,
com'a terra quiete in foco vivo»

It is truth, that as often the form
Accords not with the intention of the artist,
Because in response matter can be deaf,

So too from this course does sometimes deviate
The creature, who possesses the potential,
Once impelled, to bend some other way,

As one may see lighting
Fall from a cloud, so our first impulse can be
Wrested earthward by some false delight.

You should not - if I am right - wonder more,
At your ascent, than at a stream
From some high mount descending to the lowland.

It would be a greater marvel, if no longer hindered,
You would remain below,
Or on earth a living flame stood still.

Our being yearns for God
if we will but let go -
of fears and attachments that weigh us down -
we will ascend into God 
as easily as the dew ascends into the morning Sun.

e cominciò: «Le cose tutte quante
hanno ordine tra loro, e questo è forma
che l'universo a Dio fa simigliante.

Qui veggion l'alte creature l'orma
de l'etterno valore, il qual è fine
al quale è fatta la toccata norma.

Ne l'ordine ch'io dico sono accline
tutte nature, per diverse sorti,
più al principio loro e men vicine;

onde si muovono a diversi porti
per lo gran mar de l'essere, e ciascuna
con istinto a lei dato che la porti.

And she began: "All things, among themselves,
possess an order, and this order is
the form that makes the universe like God,

Here do the higher beings see the imprints
Of the Eternal Power, which is the end
to which they were first directed.

To this order our natures are inclined
All natures, different fates,
Each more or less near to their origin;

So they move into diverse ports
across the great sea of ​​being, each
given an impulse which propels them.

Our diverse natures express a common order
In opposition we may each be fulfilled
Thesis and antithesis become a more complete whole.

e cominciò: «Tu stesso ti fai grosso 
col falso imaginar, sì che non vedi 
ciò che vedresti se l'avessi scosso. 

And she began: "You make yourself thick
With false imagining, you do not see
What you would see if you had shaken it off.

Preconception imprisons experience
Reality is more than we allow 
Far more than we might imagine

The image is a detail from Paradiso by Tintoretto (1588)

S'i' era sol di me quel che creasti
novellamente, amor che 'l ciel governi,
tu 'l sai, che col tuo lume mi levasti.

Quando la rota che tu sempiterni
desiderato, a sé mi fece atteso
con l'armonia che temperi e discerni,

parvemi tanto allor del cielo acceso
de la fiamma del sol, che pioggia o fiume
lago non fece alcun tanto disteso.

La novità del suono e 'l grande lume
di lor cagion m'accesero un disio
mai non sentito di cotanto acume.

If only I was that which you newly
created, Love - who governs heaven -
your knowing did lift me with your light!

When the wheel you made eternal
desired you - prompting in me a longing for the
Harmony by which you modulate and measure -

Then it seemed  most of heaven is embraced
by the sun's flame, neither rain nor river
Ever made a lake so widely spread.

The newness of the sound and the great light
aroused in me a longing for their cause,
never before so acutely felt;

As originally conceived
Our being desires eternal harmonies.
Reminded of this reality, a deep longing is aroused.

La gloria di colui che tutto move
per l'universo penetra, e risplende
in una parte più e meno altrove.

Nel ciel che più de la sua luce prende
fu' io, e vidi cose che ridire
né sa né può chi di là sù discende;

perché appressando sé al suo disire,
nostro intelletto si profonda tanto,
che dietro la memoria non può ire.

The glory of Him who moves all things
Permeates the universe, and shines
In one part more and in another less.

Within that heaven which his light most receives
Was I, and beheld things that
Now descended, I cannot fully know nor tell;

Because in drawing near to its desire
Our mind so deeply goes,
That after it the memory fails to follow.

Experience overawes the intellect,
In the moment we know its wholeness,
Removed, we cannot discern its parts.