ABSTRACT
Dante's life was characterized by a personal struggle for truth and spiritual growth through integration and continuous renewal. It is worthwhile looking not only at his work but also at Dante's biography because it throws light on the soul's journey as described in Purgatory. So, on the one hand, it is an imaginary journey, while on the other hand, looking at Dante's life, it is also real. In addition, within Dante's biography we ®nd a story of overcoming obstacles not by ®ghting or proactively attacking, which would be more of a masculine discourse, but rather by yielding, re¯ecting, and relating, a more feminine approach. Dante overcame his feelings of being an outsider by exploring the hidden core beneath the surfaces of obvious opposites; he made the effort to open himself to them and was thus united within himself. That is different from cleaning and sweeping away external obstacles.
