ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out the background surrounding Dante and his work, The Divine Comedy which contains the text this book focuses on: Purgatory. Dante was a true mystic, and as such he defined steps to personal self-realization that exist in many different cultures and traditions, steps that carry a universal truth. The seven sins and virtues are expressions of fundamental inclinations by which life is approached. Duality, time, willingness to engage consciously with personal limitations, and responsibility for individual wounds are all part of the process that takes place on Mount Purgatory and leads to transformation. Contemporary psychology has many similarities to the message of Purgatory and Dante’s sins. Leaders need to do what Dante did: wake up, become aware, assemble their courage, and enter the journey that leads through their inner landscape, which has been formed by upbringing and life experiences, and to start to map that geography, creating consciousness and liberation from its pitfalls. The process of Purgatory fosters the judgment necessary for unselfish use of the creative intelligence: of the love that has the power of creation
