After the delighting in the three images and overall foundation of the spiritual life, one might face the internal decision: now what? Move on to the next thing, or, just dwell and love the beauty of these three spiritual images as a daily practice? There is a temptation here to start dwelling and postpone the work that lies there right in front of us.
But Dante addresses this immediately.
«Ecco di qua, ma fanno i passi radi»,
mormorava il poeta
Meaning: “‘Look from here, but they make small steps’, murmured the poet.”
So half of the answer is right there in the “di qua”, “from here”. Look from here, from this foundation, from these three images and aspects within you, as we now take in more learning and discovery. The connection with Gabriel, the steady motion of the Spiritual Life, and the combination of the spiritual and secular from the Trajan vs. widow to Trajan & Gregory, is a constant process for all the terraces and the work in front of us.
Which Dante then completes in the next tercet, with his “eager eyes” not being “slow to turn“: “volgendosi ver’ lui non furon lenti“. So the answer is simply: both. Stay with these images as the spiritual foundation and recursive livingness, and, take in new learning from that which is now approaching, slowly.
Growing the spiritual, and learning the process at the same time.