“Yes, I cried, leaning against a spur of the cliff, so much so that my escort said: 'Are you still as foolish as the others?' Here pity lives when pity is completely dead. Who is more impious than he who thinks that God brings passion to his judgment?'” In the thirty-fifth year Dante finds himself in a dark forest of confusion and incomprehension, surrounded by the light of God. His vision is clouded by the temptations of worldliness so much so that he cannot he can see the true path to Heaven. He emerges from the foggy woods and comes across three symbolic "beasts of worldliness": the Leopard, symbol of malice and fraud, the Lion, symbol of violence and ambition, and the She-Wolf of incontinence. He is physically pushed back into the mysterious woods by these beasts and is hindered in his spiritual journey by the sins they represent. To assist him on his journey, Virgil appears in Cantos I to serve as Dante's guide and source of human reason as they travel to the gates of Hell. Virgil is helping Dante escape the dark woods of error to achieve wisdom through unity with God. To be stupid is to be without reason or understanding. Rational thinkers use logic and reason to overcome emotions in order to achieve a greater understanding of God's will. Even in its highest form, human reason is self-limited. This is highlighted in Cantos IV, when Virgil and Dante travel through the first circle of Hell: Limbo. The inhabitants of this middle earth were born before the time of Jesus, and therefore cannot be saved; they have not sinned nor deserve to spend eternity in the light of Heaven. Within this first layer lies the Citadel of Human Reason, where the masters of pagan wisdom rest in a splendor of philosophical awareness... in the middle of the card... movement rather than reason can never be wise . Virgil must remind Dante that God's judgment is the pinnacle of wisdom and that he is working to reach that pinnacle. Every living person must embark on their own personal journey through hell. The first step towards Enlightenment and unity with God is the recognition of sin in the world. To accept God's judgment or proceed towards Enlightenment, each person must play the role of a spiritual pilgrim. The path to a better understanding of the Self and a closer relationship with God is universal across all religions. Dante is on a quest to discover that God's reason triumphs over all things. Now he must venture to Purgatory and Heaven to complete his spiritual journey. When Dante leaves Hell on Easter Sunday, he comes out under the blanket of stars, emblems of God's brilliant reason.