As I engaged Dante's explanations and philosophies on the nature of the soul, the logic of salvation, etc. I realized too that my challenges were to the most reflective and artful of thinkers. Set writer's ego and  awkward biography aside and we find a series of profound and even humble incriminations and attitudes which befit Dante and all of us. As personally challenging as Inferno is brazen--I'm sorry that so few take the time to read beyond the frozen Satan of his first cantos.