Abstract
In Dante’s allegorical pilgrimage to hell and back, he travels through three stages of transformation that are illustrated in his paradigmatic example of identity transformation; namely, Dante’s Divine Comedy. As a pilgrim, he starts out in a state of ‘unease’ (or ‘sin’). Next, there is a ‘solution’ to his psychological disarray, which results in the religious experience of joy. William James has persuasively argued that these are the common features of all religious experiences (1901). Dante is in a stage of his life when he can no longer be reached by argument. This state of mind is described, by the Dante translator Dorothy Sayers, as being ‘hard hearted.’ In this state, no rational arguments about God are convincing; and no amount of talking or reading will be able to shift a hard-hearted person’s mind. Dante then goes on an allegorical pilgrimage which transforms him from a hard hearted person with a calloused soul (immune to rational arguments, which might supply reasons in favour of changing his way of life), into a more compassionate person that is open to beauty and positivity.
Notably, this remodeling of Dante’s belief network does not come about through reasoning and rational argument. Rather, the change is analogous to a shift in a way of perceiving the world that comes about through experiences. Most pilgrims today don’t view themselves as sinners anymore (like in Dante’s day), but they are, to varying degrees, spiritually alienated; psychologically distressed; dysfunctional; in crisis; or suffering loss of meaning in their lives. Pilgrimage is an experience—of walking in nature; listening to music; immersion inside a cathedral or some other sacred architecture; or being emotionally moved by participation in a shared event—that can shift their mindset.
The experiential transformation that is often described by pilgrims involves adjustments in one’s entire ‘web of belief’—a term used by philosopher Quine to refer to a holistic worldview of interconnected beliefs, attitudes, and commitments. Using ideas from the philosophy of science about belief formation, it will be argued that identity transformation in pilgrims is comparable to a ‘scientific revolution’.
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Recommended Citation
Haller, Stephen F.
(2024)
"Dante’s Pilgrimage: Transformation as a ‘Web of Belief’,"
International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage:
Vol. 12:
Iss.
2, Article 9.
Available at:
https://arrow.tudublin.ie/ijrtp/vol12/iss2/9