The Divine Comedy, No Laughing Matter

The defining threat of our time may be people’s obsession with money at the expense of many other values. This is at the root of climate change, poverty, war and inequality. This bronze of Auguste Rodin’s THREE SHADES was inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy. The shades, the souls of the damned, stand at the entrance to Hell, pointing to an unambiguous inscription, “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here”. Rodin made several studies of Shades, before finally deciding to assemble three identical figures that seem to be turning around the same point. This point in today’s society, in my opinion, is money for money’s sake. Men squander their integrity for money, impoverishing their spirit and reputations. If we want to break the cycle of this appalling addiction to cash over credibility we have to value things with additional metrics. We have proven that this system of reverence for material wealth is not a prudent way to bank on a balanced future. Considering that more carbon savings would not only diversify your portfolios it could stabilize life on earth and protect the air you breath. By including natural capital in your investment decisions, you not only protect the earth and its atmosphere, you protect your life and your reputation. I recommend listening to Dante’s Divine comedy on Audible. The journey through the sins of hell is unequivocally personified by the current US administration and many of our status quo cultural afflictions. It is time to turn the tide on business, and create a restorative economy with carbon, natures currency, on every bottom line. Look to nature and your children for the wisdom and the strength, to reimagine a world that includes the intelligence of all species on our paradise planet.

Auguste Rodin (1840 -1917) THE THREE SHADES
Before 1886 H. 97 cm ; W. 91.3 cm ; D. 54.3 cm S.1191
Cast made by Fonderie Alexis Rudier in 1928 – Photo Daisy Carlson