THIRD REVISED EDITION

  Translated and edited, with an Introduction,

by E. ALLISON PEERS

from the critical edition of
P. SILVERIO DE SANTA TERESA, C.D.

TO THE
DISCALCED CARMELITES OF CASTILE,

WITH ABIDING MEMORIES OF THEIR HOSPITALITY AND KINDNESS
IN MADRID,VILA AND BURGOS,
BUT ABOVE ALL OF THEIR DEVOTION TO
SAINT JOHN OF THE CROSS,
I DEDICATE THIS TRANSLATION
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PREFACE TO THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

This electronic edition (v 0.9) was scanned in 1994 from an uncopyrighted
1959 Image Books third edition of the Dark Night. The entire text except for
the translators preface and some of the footnotes have been reproduced.
Nearly 400 footnotes (and parts of footnotes) describing variations among
manuscripts have been omitted. Page number references in the footnotes have
been changed to chapter and section where possible. This edition has been
proofread once, but additional errors may remain. The translators preface
to the first and second editions may be found with the electronic edition of
Ascent of Mount Carmel.
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PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS

A.V.”Authorized Version of the Bible (1611).

D.V.”Douai Version of the Bible (1609).

C.W.S.T.J.”The Complete Works of Saint Teresa of Jesus, translated and
edited by E. Allison Peers from the critical edition of P. Silverio de Santa
Teresa, C.D. London, Sheed and Ward, 1946. 3 vols.

H.”E. Allison Peers: Handbook to the Life and Times of St. Teresa and St.
John of the Cross. London, Burns Oates and Washbourne, 1953.

LL.”The Letters of Saint Teresa of Jesus, translated and edited by E.
Allison Peers from the critical edition of P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, C.D.
London, Burns Oates and Washbourne, 1951. 2 vols.

N.L.M.”National Library of Spain (Biblioteca Nacional), Madrid.

Obras (P. Silv.)”Obras de San Juan de la Cruz, Doctor de la Iglesia,
editadas y anotadas por el P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, C.D. Burgos,
1929“31. 5 vols.

S.S.M.”E. Allison Peers: Studies of the Spanish Mystics. Vol. I, London,
Sheldon Press, 1927; 2nd ed., London, S.P.C.K., 1951. Vol. II, London,
Sheldon Press, 1930.

Sobrino.”Jose Antonio de Sobrino, S.J.: Estudios sobre San Juan de la Cruz y
nuevos textos de su obra. Madrid, 1950.
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DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL

INTRODUCTION

SOMEWHAT reluctantly, out of respect for a venerable tradition, we publish
the Dark Night as a separate treatise, though in reality it is a
continuation of the Ascent of Mount Carmel and fulfils the undertakings
given in it:

The first night or purgation is of the sensual part of the soul, which is
treated in the present stanza, and will be treated in the first part of
this book. And the second is of the spiritual part; of this speaks the
second stanza, which follows; and of this we shall treat likewise, in the
second and the third part, with respect to the activity of the soul; and
in the fourth part, with respect to its passivity. [1]

This˜fourth part is the Dark Night. Of it the Saint writes in a passage
which follows that just quoted:

And the second night, or purification, pertains to those who are already
proficient, occurring at the time when God desires to bring them to the
state of union with God. And this latter night is a more obscure and dark
and terrible purgation, as we shall say afterwards. [2]

In his three earlier books he has written of the Active Night, of Sense and
of Spirit; he now proposes to deal with the Passive Night, in the same
order. He has already taught us how we are to deny and purify ourselves with
the ordinary help of grace, in order to prepare our senses and faculties for
union with God through love. He now proceeds to explain, with an arresting
freshness, how these same senses and faculties are purged and purified by
God with a view to the same end”that of union. The combined description of
the two nights completes the presentation of active and passive purgation,
to which the Saint limits himself in these treatises, although the subject
of the stanzas which he is glossing is a much wider one, comprising the
whole of the mystical life and ending only with the Divine embraces of the
soul transformed in God through love.

The stanzas expounded by the Saint are taken from the same poem in the two
treatises. The commentary upon the second, however, is very different from
that upon the first, for it assumes a much more advanced state of
development. The Active Night has left the senses and faculties well
prepared, though not completely prepared, for the reception of Divine
influences and illuminations in greater abundance than before. The Saint
here postulates a principle of dogmatic theology”that by himself, and with
the ordinary aid of grace, man cannot attain to that degree of purgation
which is essential to his transformation in God. He needs Divine aid more
abundantly.˜However greatly the soul itself labours, writes the Saint,˜it
cannot actively purify itself so as to be in the least degree prepared for
the Divine union of perfection of love, if God takes not its hand and purges
it not in that dark fire. [3]

The Passive Nights, in which it is God Who accomplishes the purgation, are
based upon this incapacity. Souls˜begin to enter this dark night

when God draws them forth from the state of beginners”which is the state
of those that meditate on the spiritual road”and begins to set them in the
state of progressives”which is that of those who are already
contemplatives”to the end that, after passing through it, they may arrive
at the state of the perfect, which is that of the Divine union of the soul
with God. [4]

Before explaining the nature and effects of this Passive Night, the Saint
touches, in passing, upon certain imperfections found in those who are about
to enter it and which it removes by the process of purgation. Such
travellers are still untried proficients, who have not yet acquired mature
habits of spirituality and who therefore still conduct themselves as
children. The imperfections are examined one by one, following the order of
the seven deadly sins, in chapters (ii-viii) which once more reveal the
authors skill as a director of souls. They are easy chapters to understand,
and of great practical utility, comparable to those in the first book of the
Ascent which deal with the active purgation of the desires of sense.

In Chapter viii, St. John of the Cross begins to describe the Passive Night
of the senses, the principal aim of which is the purgation or stripping of
the soul of its imperfections and the preparation of it for fruitive union.
The Passive Night of Sense, we are told, is˜common and˜comes to many,
whereas that of Spirit˜is the portion of very few. [5] The one is˜bitter
and terrible but˜the second bears no comparison with it, for it is
˜horrible and awful to the spirit. [6] A good deal of literature on the
former Night existed in the time of St. John of the Cross and he therefore
promises to be brief in his treatment of it. Of the latter, on the other
hand, he will˜treat more fully . . . since very little has been said of
this, either in speech or in writing, and very little is known of it, even
by experience. [7]

Having described this Passive Night of Sense in Chapter viii, he explains
with great insight and discernment how it may be recognized whether any
given aridity is a result of this Night or whether it comes from sins or
imperfections, or from frailty or lukewarmness of spirit, or even from
indisposition or˜humours of the body. The Saint is particularly effective
here, and we may once more compare this chapter with a similar one in the
Ascent (II, xiii)”that in which he fixes the point where the soul may
abandon discursive meditation and enter the contemplation which belongs to
loving and simple faith.

Both these chapters have contributed to the reputation of St. John of the
Cross as a consummate spiritual master. And this not only for the objective
value of his observations, but because, even in spite of himself, he betrays
the sublimity of his own mystical experiences. Once more, too, we may admire
the crystalline transparency of his teaching and the precision of the
phrases in which he clothes it. To judge by his language alone, one might
suppose at times that he is speaking of mathematical, rather than of
spiritual operations.

In Chapter x, the Saint describes the discipline which the soul in this Dark
Night must impose upon itself; this, as might be logically deduced from the
Ascent, consists in˜allowing the soul to remain in peace and quietness,
content˜with a peaceful and loving attentiveness toward God. [8] Before
long it will experience enkindlings of love (Chapter xi), which will serve
to purify its sins and imperfections and draw it gradually nearer to God; we
have here, as it were, so many stages of the ascent of the Mount on whose
summit the soul attains to transforming union. Chapters xii and xiii detail
with great exactness the benefits that the soul receives from this aridity,
while Chapter xiv briefly expounds the last line of the first stanza and
brings to an end what the Saint desires to say with respect to the first
Passive Night.

At only slightly greater length St. John of the Cross describes the Passive
Night of the Spirit, which is at once more afflictive and more painful than
those which have preceded it. This, nevertheless, is the Dark Night par
excellence, of which the Saint speaks in these words:˜The night which we
have called that of sense may and should be called a kind of correction and
restraint of the desire rather than purgation. The reason is that all the
imperfections and disorders of the sensual part have their strength and root
in the spirit, where all habits, both good and bad, are brought into
subjection, and thus, until these are purged, the rebellions and depravities
of sense cannot be purged thoroughly. [9]

Spiritual persons, we are told, do not enter the second night immediately
after leaving the first; on the contrary, they generally pass a long time,
even years, before doing so, [10] for they still have many imperfections,
both habitual and actual (Chapter ii). After a brief introduction (Chapter
iii), the Saint describes with some fullness the nature of this spiritual
purgation or dark contemplation referred to in the first stanza of his poem
and the varieties of pain and affliction caused by it, whether in the soul
or in its faculties (Chapters iv-viii). These chapters are brilliant beyond
all description; in them we seem to reach the culminating point of their
authors mystical experience; any excerpt from them would do them an
injustice. It must suffice to say that St. John of the Cross seldom again
touches those same heights of sublimity.

Chapter ix describes how, although these purgations seem to blind the
spirit, they do so only to enlighten it again with a brighter and intenser
light, which it is preparing itself to receive with greater abundance. The
following chapter makes the comparison between spiritual purgation and the
log of wood which gradually becomes transformed through being immersed in
fire and at last takes on the fires own properties. The force with which
the familiar similitude is driven home impresses indelibly upon the mind the
fundamental concept of this most sublime of all purgations. Marvellous,
indeed, are its effects, from the first enkindlings and burnings of Divine
love, which are greater beyond comparison than those produced by the Night
of Sense, the one being as different from the other as is the body from the
soul.˜For this (latter) is an enkindling of spiritual love in the soul,
which, in the midst of these dark confines, feels itself to be keenly and
sharply wounded in strong Divine love, and to have a certain realization and
foretaste of God. [11] No less wonderful are the effects of the powerful
Divine illumination which from time to time enfolds the soul in the
splendours of glory. When the effects of the light that wounds and yet
illumines are combined with those of the enkindlement that melts the soul
with its heat, the delights experienced are so great as to be ineffable.

The second line of the first stanza of the poem is expounded in three
admirable chapters (xi-xiii), while one short chapter (xiv) suffices for the
three lines remaining. We then embark upon the second stanza, which
describes the souls security in the Dark Night”due, among other reasons, to
its being freed˜not only from itself, but likewise from its other enemies,
which are the world and the devil. [12]

This contemplation is not only dark, but also secret (Chapter xvii), and in
Chapter xviii is compared to the˜staircase of the poem. This comparison
suggests to the Saint an exposition (Chapters xviii, xix) of the ten steps
or degrees of love which comprise St. Bernards mystical ladder. Chapter xxi
describes the souls˜disguise, from which the book passes on (Chapters
xxii, xxiii) to extol the˜happy chance which led it to journey˜in
darkness and concealment from its enemies, both without and within.

Chapter xxiv glosses the last line of the second stanza”˜my house being now
at rest. Both the higher and the lower˜portions of the soul are now
tranquillized and prepared for the desired union with the Spouse, a union
which is the subject that the Saint proposed to treat in his commentary on
the five remaining stanzas. As far as we know, this commentary was never
written. We have only the briefest outline of what was to have been covered
in the third, in which, following the same effective metaphor of night, the
Saint describes the excellent properties of the spiritual night of infused
contemplation, through which the soul journeys with no other guide or
support, either outward or inward, than the Divine love˜which burned in my
heart.

It is difficult to express adequately the sense of loss that one feels at
the premature truncation of this eloquent treatise. [13] We have already
given our opinion [14] upon the commentaries thought to have been written on
the final stanzas of the˜Dark Night. Did we possess them, they would
explain the birth of the light”˜dawns first breathings in the heavns
above”which breaks through the black darkness of the Active and the Passive
Nights; they would tell us, too, of the souls further progress towards the
Suns full brightness. It is true, of course, that some part of this great
gap is filled by St. John of the Cross himself in his other treatises, but
it is small compensation for the incomplete state in which he left this
edifice of such gigantic proportions that he should have given us other and
smaller buildings of a somewhat similar kind. Admirable as are the Spiritual
Canticle and the Living Flame of Love, they are not so completely knit into
one whole as is this great double treatise. They lose both in flexibility
and in substance through the closeness with which they follow the stanzas of
which they are the exposition. In the Ascent and the Dark Night, on the
other hand, we catch only the echoes of the poem, which are all but lost in
the resonance of the philosophers voice and the eloquent tones of the
preacher. Nor have the other treatises the learning and the authority of
these. Nowhere else does the genius of St. John of the Cross for infusing
philosophy into his mystical dissertations find such an outlet as here.
Nowhere else, again, is he quite so appealingly human; for, though he is
human even in his loftiest and sublimest passages, this intermingling of
philosophy with mystical theology makes him seem particularly so. These
treatises are a wonderful illustration of the theological truth that grace,
far from destroying nature, ennobles and dignifies it, and of the agreement
always found between the natural and the supernatural”between the principles
of sound reason and the sublimest manifestations of Divine grace.
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[1] Ascent, Bk. I, chap. i, sect. 2.

[2] Op. cit., sect. 3.

[3] Dark Night, Bk. 1, chap. iii, sect. 3.

[4] Op. cit., Bk. I, chap. i, sect. 1.

[5] Dark Night, Bk. 1, chap. viii, sect. 1.

[6] Op. cit., Bk. I, chap. viii, sect. 2.

[7] Ibid.

[8] Dark Night, Bk. I, chap. x, sect. 4.

[9] Op. cit., Bk. II, chap. iii, sect. 1.

[10] Op. cit., Bk. II, chap. i, sect. 1.

[11] Dark Night, Bk. II, chap. xi, sect. 1.

[12] Dark Night, Bk. II, chap. xvi, sect. 2.

[13] [On this, see Sobrino, pp. 159“66.]

[14] Cf. pp. lviii“lxiii, Ascent of Mount Carmel (Image Books edition).
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MANUSCRIPTS OF THE DARK NIGHT

The autograph of the Dark Night, like that of the Ascent of Mount Carmel, is
unknown to us: the second seems to have disappeared in the same period as
the first. There are extant, however, as many as twelve early copies of the
Dark Night, some of which, though none of them is as palaeographically
accurate as the best copy of the Ascent, are very reliable; there is no
trace in them of conscious adulteration of the original or of any kind of
modification to fit the sense of any passage into a preconceived theory. We
definitely prefer one of these copies to the others but we nowhere follow it
so literally as to incorporate in our text its evident discrepancies from
its original.

MS. 3,446. An early MS. in the clear masculine hand of an Andalusian: MS.
3,446 in the National Library, Madrid. Like many others, this MS. was
transferred to the library from the Convento de San Hermenegildo at the time
of the religious persecutions in the early nineteenth century; it had been
presented to the Archives of the Reform by the Fathers of Los Remedios,
Seville”a Carmelite house founded by P. Greci¡n in 1574. It has no title and
a fragment from the Living Flame of Love is bound up with it.

This MS. has only two omissions of any length; these form part respectively
of Book II, Chapters xix and xxiii, dealing with the Passive Night of the
Spirit. It has many copyists errors. At the same time, its antiquity and
origin, and the good faith of which it shows continual signs, give it, in
our view, primacy over the other copies now to come under consideration. It
must be made clear, nevertheless, that there is no extant copy of the Dark
Night as trustworthy and as skilfully made as the Alcaudete MS. of the
Ascent.

MS. of the Carmelite Nuns of Toledo. Written in three hands, all early. Save
for a few slips of the copyist, it agrees with the foregoing; a few of its
errors have been corrected. It bears no title, but has a long sub-title
which is in effect a partial summary of the argument.

MS. of the Carmelite Nuns of Valladolid. This famous convent, which was one
of St. Teresas foundations, is very rich in Teresan autographs, and has
also a number of important documents relating to St. John of the Cross,
together with some copies of his works. That here described is written in a
large, clear hand and probably dates from the end of the sixteenth century.
It has a title similar to that of the last-named copy. With few exceptions
it follows the other most important MSS.

MS. Alba de Tormes. What has been said of this in the introduction to the
Ascent (Image Books edition, pp. 6“7) applies also to the Dark Night. It is
complete, save for small omissions on the part of the amanuensis, the
˜Argument at the beginning of the poem, the verses themselves and a few
lines from Book II, Chapter vii.

MS. 6,624. This copy is almost identical with the foregoing. It omits the
˜Argument and the poem itself but not the lines from Book II, Chapter vii.

MS. 8,795. This contains the Dark Night, Spiritual Canticle, Living Flame of
Love, a number of poems by St. John of the Cross and the Spiritual
Colloquies between Christ and the soul His Bride. It is written in various
hands, all very early and some feminine. A note by P. Andr©s de la
Encarnaci³n, on the reverse of the first folio, records that the copy was
presented to the Archives of the Reform by the Discalced Carmelite nuns of
Baeza. This convent was founded in 1589, two years before the Saints death,
and the copy may well date from about this period. On the second folio comes
the poem˜I entered in”I knew not where. On the reverse of the third folio
begins a kind of preface to the Dark Night, opening with the words:˜Begin
the stanzas by means of which a soul may occupy itself and become fervent in
the love of God. It deals with the Dark Night and is divided into two books.
The first treats of the purgation of sense, and the second of the spiritual
purgation of man. It was written by P. Fr. Juan de la Cruz, Discalced
Carmelite. On the next folio, a so-called˜Preface: To the Reader begins:
˜As a beginning and an explanation of these two purgations of the Dark Night
which are to be expounded hereafter, this chapter will show how narrow is
the path that leads to eternal life and how completely detached and
disencumbered must be those that are to enter thereby. This fundamental
idea is developed for the space of two folios. There follows a sonnet on the
Dark Night, [15] and immediately afterwards comes the text of the treatise.

The copy contains many errors, but its only omission is that of the last
chapter. There is no trace in it of any attempt to modify its original;
indeed, the very nature and number of the copyists errors are a testimony
to his good faith.

MS. 12,658. A note by P. Andr©s states that he acquired it in Madrid but has
no more detailed recollection of its provenance.˜The Dark Night, it adds,
˜begins on folio 43; our holy father is described simply asœthe second
friar of the new Reformation, [16] which is clear evidence of its
antiquity.

The Codex contains a number of opuscules, transcribed no doubt with a
devotional aim by the copyist. Its epoch is probably the end of the
sixteenth century; it is certainly earlier than the editions. There is no
serious omission except that of six lines of the˜Argument. The authors of
the other works copied include St. Augustine, B. Juan devila, P. Baltasar
lvarez and P. Tom¡s de Jesºs.

The copies which remain to be described are all mutilated or abbreviated and
can be disposed of briefly:

MS. 13,498. This copy omits less of the Dark Night than of the Ascent but
few pages are without their omissions. In one place a meticulous pair of
scissors has removed the lower half of a folio on which the Saint deals with
spiritual luxury.

MS. of the Carmelite Friars of Toledo. Dates from early in the seventeenth
century and has numerous omissions, especially in the chapters on the
Passive Night of the Spirit. The date is given (in the same hand as that
which copies the title) as 1618. This MS. also contains an opuscule by Suso
and another entitled˜Brief compendium of the most eminent Christian
perfection of P. Fr. Juan de la Cruz.

MS. 18,160. The copyist has treated the Dark Night little better than the
Ascent; except from the first ten and the last three chapters, he omits
freely.

MS. 12,411. Entitled by its copyistspiritual Compendium, this MS.
contains several short works of devotion, including one by Ruysbroeck. Of
St. John of the Crosss works it copies the Spiritual Canticle as well as
the Dark Night; the latter is headed:song of one soul alone. It also
contains a number of poems, some of them by the Saint, and many passages
from St. Teresa. It is in several hands, all of the seventeenth century. The
copy of the Dark Night is most unsatisfactory; there are omissions and
abbreviations everywhere.

M.S. of the Carmelite Nuns of Pamplona. This MS. also omits and abbreviates
continually, especially in the chapters on the Passive Night of Sense, which
are reduced to a mere skeleton.

Editio princeps. This is much more faithful to its original in the Dark
Night than in the Ascent. Both the passages suppressed [17] and the
interpolations [18] are relatively few and unimportant. Modifications of
phraseology are more frequent and alterations are also made with the aim of
correcting hyperbaton. In the first book about thirty lines are suppressed;
in the second, about ninety. All changes which are of any importance have
been shown in the notes.

The present edition. We have given preference, as a general rule, to MS.
3,446, subjecting it, however, to a rigorous comparison with the other
copies. Mention has already been made in the introduction to the Ascent
(Image Books edition, pp. lxiii“lxvi) of certain apparent anomalies and a
certain lack of uniformity in the Saints method of dividing his
commentaries. This is nowhere more noticeable than in the Dark Night.
Instead of dividing his treatise into books, each with its proper title, the
Saint abandons this method and uses titles only occasionally. As this makes
comprehension of his argument the more difficult, we have adopted the
divisions which were introduced by P. Salablanca and have been copied by
successive editors.

M. Baruzi (Bulletin Hispanique, 1922, Vol. xxiv, pp. 18“40) complains that
this division weighs down the spiritual rhythm of the treatise and
interrupts its movement. We do not agree. In any case, we greatly prefer the
gain of clarity, even if the rhythm occasionally halts, to the other
alternative”the constant halting of the understanding. We have, of course,
indicated every place where the title is taken from the editio princeps and
was not the work of the author.

The following abbreviations are adopted in the footnotes:

A = MS. of the Discalced Carmelite Friars of Alba.

B = MS. 6,624 (National Library, Madrid).

Bz. = MS. 8,795 (N.L.M.).

C = MS. 13,498 (N.L.M.).

G = MS. 18,160 (N.L.M.).

H = MS. 3,446 (N.L.M.).

M = MS. of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Toledo.

Mtr. = MS. 12,658.

P = MS. of the Discalced Carmelite Friars of Toledo.

V = MS. of the Discalced Carmelite Nuns of Valladolid.

E.p. = Editio princeps (1618).

MS. 12,411 and the MS. of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Pamplona are cited
without abbreviations.
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[15] [It contains a series of paradoxical statements, after the style of
those in Ascent, Bk. I, chap. xiii, and is of no great literary merit. P.
Silverio reproduces it in Spanish on p. 302 (note) of his first volume.]

[16] The˜first friar would be P. Antonio de Jesºs, who was senior to St.
John of the Cross in the Carmelite Order, though not in the Reform.

[17] The longest of these are one of ten lines in Bk. I, chap. iv, [in the
original] and those of Bk. II, chaps. vii, viii, xii, xiii, which vary from
eleven to twenty-three lines. Bk. II, chap. xxiii, has also considerable
modifications.

[18] The chief interpolation is in Bk. I, chap. x.
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DARK NIGHT

Exposition of the stanzas describing the method followed by the soul in
its journey upon the spiritual road to the attainment of the perfect union
of love with God, to the extent that is possible in this life. Likewise
are described the properties belonging to the soul that has attained to
the said perfection, according as they are contained in the same stanzas.

PROLOGUE

IN this book are first set down all the stanzas which are to be expounded;
afterwards, each of the stanzas is expounded separately, being set down
before its exposition; and then each line is expounded separately and in
turn, the line itself also being set down before the exposition. In the
first two stanzas are expounded the effects of the two spiritual purgations:
of the sensual part of man and of the spiritual part. In the other six are
expounded various and wondrous effects of the spiritual illumination and
union of love with God.

STANZAS OF THE SOUL

1. On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings”oh, happy chance!”
I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest.

2. In darkness and secure, By the secret ladder, disguised”oh, happy
chance!”
In darkness and in concealment, My house being now at rest.

3. In the happy night, In secret, when none saw me,
Nor I beheld aught, Without light or guide, save that which burned in my
heart.

4. This light guided me More surely than the light of noonday
To the place where he (well I knew who!) was awaiting me” A place where
none appeared.

5. Oh, night that guided me, Oh, night more lovely than the dawn,
Oh, night that joined Beloved with lover, Lover transformed in the
Beloved!

6. Upon my flowery breast, Kept wholly for himself alone,
There he stayed sleeping, and I caressed him, And the fanning of the
cedars made a breeze.

7. The breeze blew from the turret As I parted his locks;
With his gentle hand he wounded my neck And caused all my senses to be
suspended.

8. I remained, lost in oblivion; My face I reclined on the Beloved.
All ceased and I abandoned myself, Leaving my cares forgotten among the
lilies.

Begins the exposition of the stanzas which treat of the way and manner which
the soul follows upon the road of the union of love with God.

Before we enter upon the exposition of these stanzas, it is well to
understand here that the soul that utters them is now in the state of
perfection, which is the union of love with God, having already passed
through severe trials and straits, by means of spiritual exercise in the
narrow way of eternal life whereof Our Saviour speaks in the Gospel, along
which way the soul ordinarily passes in order to reach this high and happy
union with God. Since this road (as the Lord Himself says likewise) is so
strait, and since there are so few that enter by it, [19] the soul considers
it a great happiness and good chance to have passed along it to the said
perfection of love, as it sings in this first stanza, calling this strait
road with full propriety˜dark night, as will be explained hereafter in the
lines of the said stanza. The soul, then, rejoicing at having passed along
this narrow road whence so many blessings have come to it, speaks after this
manner.
_________________________________________________________________

[19] St. Matthew vii, 14.
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BOOK THE FIRST

Which treats of the Night of Sense.

STANZA THE FIRST

On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings”oh, happy chance!”
I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest.

EXPOSITION

IN this first stanza the soul relates the way and manner which it followed
in going forth, as to its affection, from itself and from all things, and in
dying to them all and to itself, by means of true mortification, in order to
attain to living the sweet and delectable life of love with God; and it says
that this going forth from itself and from all things was a˜dark night, by
which, as will be explained hereafter, is here understood purgative
contemplation, which causes passively in the soul the negation of itself and
of all things referred to above.

2. And this going forth it says here that it was able to accomplish in the
strength and ardour which love for its Spouse gave to it for that purpose in
the dark contemplation aforementioned. Herein it extols the great happiness
which it found in journeying to God through this night with such signal
success that none of the three enemies, which are world, devil and flesh
(who are they that ever impede this road), could hinder it; inasmuch as the
aforementioned night of purgative [20] contemplation lulled to sleep and
mortified, in the house of its sensuality, all the passions and desires with
respect to their mischievous desires and motions. The line, then, says:

On a dark night
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CHAPTER I

Sets down the first line and begins to treat of the imperfections of
beginners.

INTO this dark night souls begin to enter when God draws them forth from the
state of beginners”which is the state of those that meditate on the
spiritual road”and begins to set them in the state of progressives”which is
that of those who are already contemplatives”to the end that, after passing
through it, they may arrive at the state of the perfect, which is that of
the Divine union of the soul with God. Wherefore, to the end that we may the
better understand and explain what night is this through which the soul
passes, and for what cause God sets it therein, it will be well here to
touch first of all upon certain characteristics of beginners (which,
although we treat them with all possible brevity, will not fail to be of
service likewise to the beginners themselves), in order that, realizing the
weakness of the state wherein they are, they may take courage, and may
desire that God will bring them into this night, wherein the soul is
strengthened and confirmed in the virtues, and made ready for the
inestimable delights of the love of God. And, although we may tarry here for
a time, it will not be for longer than is necessary, so that we may go on to
speak at once of this dark night.

2. It must be known, then, that the soul, after it has been definitely
converted to the service of God, is, as a rule, spiritually nurtured and
caressed by God, even as is the tender child by its loving mother, who warms
it with the heat of her bosom and nurtures it with sweet milk and soft and
pleasant food, and carries it and caresses it in her arms; but, as the child
grows bigger, the mother gradually ceases caressing it, and, hiding her
tender love, puts bitter aloes upon her sweet breast, sets down the child
from her arms and makes it walk upon its feet, so that it may lose the
habits of a child and betake itself to more important and substantial
occupations. The loving mother is like the grace of God, for, as soon as the
soul is regenerated by its new warmth and fervour for the service of God, He
treats it in the same way; He makes it to find spiritual milk, sweet and
delectable, in all the things of God, without any labour of its own, and
also great pleasure in spiritual exercises, for here God is giving to it the
breast of His tender love, even as to a tender child.

3. Therefore, such a soul finds its delight in spending long
periods”perchance whole nights”in prayer; penances are its pleasures; fasts
its joys; and its consolations are to make use of the sacraments and to
occupy itself in Divine things. In the which things spiritual persons
(though taking part in them with great efficacy and persistence and using
and treating them with great care) often find themselves, spiritually
speaking, very weak and imperfect. For since they are moved to these things
and to these spiritual exercises by the consolation and pleasure that they
find in them, and since, too, they have not been prepared for them by the
practice of earnest striving in the virtues, they have many faults and
imperfections with respect to these spiritual actions of theirs; for, after
all, any mans actions correspond to the habit of perfection attained by
him. And, as these persons have not had the opportunity of acquiring the
said habits of strength, they have necessarily to work like feebler
children, feebly. In order that this may be seen more clearly, and likewise
how much these beginners in the virtues lacks with respect to the works in
which they so readily engage with the pleasure aforementioned, we shall
describe it by reference to the seven capital sins, each in its turn,
indicating some of the many imperfections which they have under each
heading; wherein it will be clearly seen how like to children are these
persons in all they do. And it will also be seen how many blessings the dark
night of which we shall afterwards treat brings with it, since it cleanses
the soul and purifies it from all these imperfections.
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CHAPTER II

Of certain spiritual imperfections which beginners have with respect to
the habit of pride.

AS these beginners feel themselves to be very fervent and diligent in
spiritual things and devout exercises, from this prosperity (although it is
true that holy things of their own nature cause humility) there often comes
to them, through their imperfections, a certain kind of secret pride, whence
they come to have some degree of satisfaction with their works and with
themselves. And hence there comes to them likewise a certain desire, which
is somewhat vain, and at times very vain, to speak of spiritual things in
the presence of others, and sometimes even to teach such things rather than
to learn them. They condemn others in their heart when they see that they
have not the kind of devotion which they themselves desire; and sometimes
they even say this in words, herein resembling the Pharisee, who boasted of
himself, praising God for his own good works and despising the publican.
[21]

2. In these persons the devil often increases the fervour that they have and
the desire to perform these and other works more frequently, so that their
pride and presumption may grow greater. For the devil knows quite well that
all these works and virtues which they perform are not only valueless to
them, but even become vices in them. And such a degree of evil are some of
these persons wont to reach that they would have none appear good save
themselves; and thus, in deed and word, whenever the opportunity occurs,
they condemn them and slander them, beholding the mote in their brothers
eye and not considering the beam which is in their own; [22] they strain at
anothers gnat and themselves swallow a camel. [23]

3. Sometimes, too, when their spiritual masters, such as confessors and
superiors, do not approve of their spirit and behavior (for they are anxious
that all they do shall be esteemed and praised), they consider that they do
not understand them, or that, because they do not approve of this and comply
with that, their confessors are themselves not spiritual. And so they
immediately desire and contrive to find some one else who will fit in with
their tastes; for as a rule they desire to speak of spiritual matters with
those who they think will praise and esteem what they do, and they flee, as
they would from death, from those who disabuse them in order to lead them
into a safe road”sometimes they even harbour ill-will against them.
Presuming thus, [24] they are wont to resolve much and accomplish very
little. Sometimes they are anxious that others shall realize how spiritual
and devout they are, to which end they occasionally give outward evidence
thereof in movements, sighs and other ceremonies; and at times they are apt
to fall into certain ecstasies, in public rather than in secret, wherein the
devil aids them, and they are pleased that this should be noticed, and are
often eager that it should be noticed more. [25]

4. Many such persons desire to be the favourites of their confessors and to
become intimate with them, as a result of which there beset them continual
occasions of envy and disquiet. [26] They are too much embarrassed to
confess their sins nakedly, lest their confessors should think less of them,
so they palliate them and make them appear less evil, and thus it is to
excuse themselves rather than to accuse themselves that they go to
confession. And sometimes they seek another confessor to tell the wrongs
that they have done, so that their own confessor shall think they have done
nothing wrong at all, but only good; and thus they always take pleasure in
telling him what is good, and sometimes in such terms as make it appear to
be greater than it is rather than less, desiring that he may think them to
be good, when it would be greater humility in them, as we shall say, to
depreciate it, and to desire that neither he nor anyone else should consider
them of account.

5. Some of these beginners, too, make little of their faults, and at other
times become over-sad when they see themselves fall into them, thinking
themselves to have been saints already; and thus they become angry and
impatient with themselves, which is another imperfection. Often they beseech
God, with great yearnings, that He will take from them their imperfections
and faults, but they do this that they may find themselves at peace, and may
not be troubled by them, rather than for Gods sake; not realizing that, if
He should take their imperfections from them, they would probably become
prouder and more presumptuous still. They dislike praising others and love
to be praised themselves; sometimes they seek out such praise. Herein they
are like the foolish virgins, who, when their lamps could not be lit, sought
oil from others. [27]

6. From these imperfections some souls go on to develop [28] many very grave
ones, which do them great harm. But some have fewer and some more, and some,
only the first motions thereof or little beyond these; and there are hardly
any such beginners who, at the time of these signs of fervour, [29] fall not
into some of these errors. [30] But those who at this time are going on to
perfection proceed very differently and with quite another temper of spirit;
for they progress by means of humility and are greatly edified, not only
thinking naught of their own affairs, but having very little satisfaction
with themselves; they consider all others as far better, and usually have a
holy envy of them, and an eagerness to serve God as they do. For the greater
is their fervour, and the more numerous are the works that they perform, and
the greater is the pleasure that they take in them, as they progress in
humility, the more do they realize how much God deserves of them, and how
little is all that they do for His sake; and thus, the more they do, the
less are they satisfied. So much would they gladly do from charity and love
for Him, that all they do seems to them naught; and so greatly are they
importuned, occupied and absorbed by this loving anxiety that they never
notice what others do or do not; or if they do notice it, they always
believe, as I say, that all others are far better than they themselves.
Wherefore, holding themselves as of little worth, they are anxious that
others too should thus hold them, and should despise and depreciate that
which they do. And further, if men should praise and esteem them, they can
in no wise believe what they say; it seems to them strange that anyone
should say these good things of them.

7. Together with great tranquillity and humbleness, these souls have a deep
desire to be taught by anyone who can bring them profit; they are the
complete opposite of those of whom we have spoken above, who would fain be
always teaching, and who, when others seem to be teaching them, take the
words from their mouths as if they knew them already. These souls, on the
other hand, being far from desiring to be the masters of any, are very ready
to travel and set out on another road than that which they are actually
following, if they be so commanded, because they never think that they are
right in anything whatsoever. They rejoice when others are praised; they
grieve only because they serve not God like them. They have no desire to
speak of the things that they do, because they think so little of them that
they are ashamed to speak of them even to their spiritual masters, since
they seem to them to be things that merit not being spoken of. They are more
anxious to speak of their faults and sins, or that these should be
recognized rather than their virtues; and thus they incline to talk of their
souls with those who account their actions and their spirituality of little
value. This is a characteristic of the spirit which is simple, pure, genuine
and very pleasing to God. For as the wise Spirit of God dwells in these
humble souls, He moves them and inclines them to keep His treasures secretly
within and likewise to cast out from themselves all evil. God gives this
grace to the humble, together with the other virtues, even as He denies it
to the proud.

8. These souls will give their hearts blood to anyone that serves God, and
will help others to serve Him as much as in them lies. The imperfections
into which they see themselves fall they bear with humility, meekness of
spirit and a loving fear of God, hoping in Him. But souls who in the
beginning journey with this kind of perfection are, as I understand, and as
has been said, a minority, and very few are those who we can be glad do not
fall into the opposite errors. For this reason, as we shall afterwards say,
God leads into the dark night those whom He desires to purify from all these
imperfections so that He may bring them farther onward.
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[21] St. Luke xviii, 11-12.

[22] St. Matthew vii, 3.

[23] St. Matthew xxiii, 24.

[24] [Lit.,˜Presuming.]

[25] [The original merely has:˜and are often eager.]

[26] [Lit.,˜a thousand envies and disquietudes.]

[27] St. Matthew xxv, 8. [Lit.,˜who, having their lamps dead, sought oil
from without.]

[28] [Lit.,˜to have.]

[29] [Lit.,˜these fervours.]

[30] [Lit.,˜into something of this.]
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CHAPTER III

Of some imperfections which some of these souls are apt to have, with
respect to the second capital sin, which is avarice, in the spiritual
sense.

MANY of these beginners have also at times great spiritual avarice. They
will be found to be discontented with the spirituality which God gives them;
and they are very disconsolate and querulous because they find not in
spiritual things the consolation that they would desire. Many can never have
enough of listening to counsels and learning spiritual precepts, and of
possessing and reading many books which treat of this matter, and they spend
their time on all these things rather than on works of mortification and the
perfecting of the inward poverty of spirit which should be theirs.
Furthermore, they burden themselves with images and rosaries which are very
curious; now they put down one, now take up another; now they change about,
now change back again; now they want this kind of thing, now that,
preferring one kind of cross to another, because it is more curious. And
others you will see adorned with agnusdeis [31] and relics and tokens, [32]
like children with trinkets. Here I condemn the attachment of the heart, and
the affection which they have for the nature, multitude and curiosity of
these things, inasmuch as it is quite contrary to poverty of spirit which
considers only the substance of devotion, makes use only of what suffices
for that end and grows weary of this other kind of multiplicity and
curiosity. For true devotion must issue from the heart, and consist in the
truth and substances alone of what is represented by spiritual things; all
the rest is affection and attachment proceeding from imperfection; and in
order that one may pass to any kind of perfection it is necessary for such
desires to be killed.

2. I knew a person who for more than ten years made use of a cross roughly
formed from a branch [33] that had been blessed, fastened with a pin twisted
round it; he had never ceased using it, and he always carried it about with
him until I took it from him; and this was a person of no small sense and
understanding. And I saw another who said his prayers using beads that were
made of bones from the spine of a fish; his devotion was certainly no less
precious on that account in the sight of God, for it is clear that these
things carried no devotion in their workmanship or value. Those, then, who
start from these beginnings and make good progress attach themselves to no
visible instruments, nor do they burden themselves with such, nor desire to
know more than is necessary in order that they may act well; for they set
their eyes only on being right with God and on pleasing Him, and therein
consists their covetousness. And thus with great generosity they give away
all that they have, and delight to know that they have it not, for Gods
sake and for charity to their neighbour, no matter whether these be
spiritual things or temporal. For, as I say, they set their eyes only upon
the reality of interior perfection, which is to give pleasure to God and in
naught to give pleasure to themselves.

3. But neither from these imperfections nor from those others can the soul
be perfectly purified until God brings it into the passive purgation of that
dark night whereof we shall speak presently. It befits the soul, however, to
contrive to labour, in so far as it can, on its own account, to the end that
it may purge and perfect itself, and thus may merit being taken by God into
that Divine care wherein it becomes healed of all things that it was unable
of itself to cure. Because, however greatly the soul itself labours, it
cannot actively purify itself so as to be in the least degree prepared for
the Divine union of perfection of love, if God takes not its hand and purges
it not in that dark fire, in the way and manner that we have to describe.
_________________________________________________________________

[31] The agnusdei was a wax medal with a representation of the lamb stamped
upon it, often blessed by the Pope; at the time of the Saint such medals
were greatly sought after, as we know from various references in St.
Teresas letters.

[32] [The word n³mina, translated˜token, and normally meaning list, or
˜roll, refers to a relic on which were written the names of saints. In
modern Spanish it can denote a medal or amulet used superstitiously.]

[33] [No doubt a branch of palm, olive or rosemary, blessed in church on
Palm Sunday, like the English palm crosses of to-day.˜Palm Sunday is in
Spanish Domingo de ramos:˜Branch Sunday.]
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CHAPTER IV

Of other imperfections which these beginners are apt to have with respect
to the third sin, which is luxury.

MANY of these beginners have many other imperfections than those which I am
describing with respect to each of the deadly sins, but these I set aside,
in order to avoid prolixity, touching upon a few of the most important,
which are, as it were, the origin and cause of the rest. And thus, with
respect to this sin of luxury (leaving apart the falling of spiritual
persons into this sin, since my intent is to treat of the imperfections
which have to be purged by the dark night), they have many imperfections
which might be described as spiritual luxury, not because they are so, but
because the imperfections proceed from spiritual things. For it often comes
to pass that, in their very spiritual exercises, when they are powerless to
prevent it, there arise and assert themselves in the sensual part of the
soul impure acts and motions, and sometimes this happens even when the
spirit is deep in prayer, or engaged in the Sacrament of Penance or in the
Eucharist. These things are not, as I say, in their power; they proceed from
one of three causes.

2. The first cause from which they often proceed is the pleasure which human
nature takes in spiritual things. For when the spirit and the sense are
pleased, every part of a man is moved by that pleasure [34] to delight
according to its proportion and nature. For then the spirit, which is the
higher part, is moved to pleasure [35] and delight in God; and the sensual
nature, which is the lower part, is moved to pleasure and delight of the
senses, because it cannot possess and lay hold upon aught else, and it
therefore lays hold upon that which comes nearest to itself, which is the
impure and sensual. Thus it comes to pass that the soul is in deep prayer
with God according to the spirit, and, on the other hand, according to sense
it is passively conscious, not without great displeasure, of rebellions and
motions and acts of the senses, which often happens in Communion, for when
the soul receives joy and comfort in this act of love, because this Lord
bestows it (since it is to that end that He gives Himself), the sensual
nature takes that which is its own likewise, as we have said, after its
manner. Now as, after all, these two parts are combined in one individual,
they ordinarily both participate in that which one of them receives, each
after its manner; for, as the philosopher says, everything that is received
is in the recipient after the manner of the same recipient. And thus, in
these beginnings, and even when the soul has made some progress, its sensual
part, being imperfect, oftentimes receives the Spirit of God with the same
imperfection. Now when this sensual part is renewed by the purgation of the
dark night which we shall describe, it no longer has these weaknesses; for
it is no longer this part that receives aught, but rather it is itself
received into the Spirit. And thus it then has everything after the manner
of the Spirit.

3. The second cause whence these rebellions sometimes proceed is the devil,
who, in order to disquiet and disturb the soul, at times when it is at
prayer or is striving to pray, contrives to stir up these motions of
impurity in its nature; and if the soul gives heed to any of these, they
cause it great harm. For through fear of these not only do persons become
lax in prayer”which is the aim of the devil when he begins to strive with
them”but some give up prayer altogether, because they think that these
things attack them more during that exercise than apart from it, which is
true, since the devil attacks them then more than at other times, so that
they may give up spiritual exercises. And not only so, but he succeeds in
portraying to them very vividly things that are most foul and impure, and at
times are very closely related to certain spiritual things and persons that
are of profit to their souls, in order to terrify them and make them
fearful; so that those who are affected by this dare not even look at
anything or meditate upon anything, because they immediately encounter this
temptation. And upon those who are inclined to melancholy this acts with
such effect that they become greatly to be pitied since they are suffering
so sadly; for this trial reaches such a point in certain persons, when they
have this evil humour, that they believe it to be clear that the devil is
ever present with them and that they have no power to prevent this, although
some of these persons can prevent his attack by dint of great effort and
labour. When these impurities attack such souls through the medium of
melancholy, they are not as a rule freed from them until they have been
cured of that kind of humour, unless the dark night has entered the soul,
and rids them of all impurities, one after another. [36]

4. The third source whence these impure motions are apt to proceed in order
to make war upon the soul is often the fear which such persons have
conceived for these impure representations and motions. Something that they
see or say or think brings them to their mind, and this makes them afraid,
so that they suffer from them through no fault of their own.

5. There are also certain souls of so tender and frail a nature that, when
there comes to them some spiritual consolation or some grace in prayer, the
spirit of luxury is with them immediately, inebriating and delighting their
sensual nature in such manner that it is as if they were plunged into the
enjoyment and pleasure of this sin; and the enjoyment remains, together with
the consolation, passively, and sometimes they are able to see that certain
impure and unruly acts have taken place. The reason for this is that, since
these natures are, as I say, frail and tender, their humours are stirred up
and their blood is excited at the least disturbance. And hence come these
motions; and the same thing happens to such souls when they are enkindled
with anger or suffer any disturbance or grief. [37]

6. Sometimes, again, there arises within these spiritual persons, whether
they be speaking or performing spiritual actions, a certain vigour and
bravado, through their having regard to persons who are present, and before
these persons they display a certain kind of vain gratification. This also
arises from luxury of spirit, after the manner wherein we here understand
it, which is accompanied as a rule by complacency in the will.

7. Some of these persons make friendships of a spiritual kind with others,
which oftentimes arise from luxury and not from spirituality; this may be
known to be the case when the remembrance of that friendship causes not the
remembrance and love of God to grow, but occasions remorse of conscience.
For, when the friendship is purely spiritual, the love of God grows with it;
and the more the soul remembers it, the more it remembers the love of God,
and the greater the desire it has for God; so that, as the one grows, the
other grows also. For the spirit of God has this property, that it increases
good by adding to it more good, inasmuch as there is likeness and conformity
between them. But, when this love arises from the vice of sensuality
aforementioned, it produces the contrary effects; for the more the one
grows, the more the other decreases, and the remembrance of it likewise. If
that sensual love grows, it will at once be observed that the souls love of
God is becoming colder, and that it is forgetting Him as it remembers that
love; there comes to it, too, a certain remorse of conscience. And, on the
other hand, if the love of God grows in the soul, that other love becomes
cold and is forgotten; for, as the two are contrary to one another, not only
does the one not aid the other, but the one which predominates quenches and
confounds the other, and becomes strengthened in itself, as the philosophers
say. Wherefore Our Saviour said in the Gospel:˜That which is born of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. [38] That
is to say, the love which is born of sensuality ends in sensuality, and that
which is of the spirit ends in the spirit of God and causes it to grow. This
is the difference that exists between these two kinds of love, whereby we
may know them.

8. When the soul enters the dark night, it brings these kinds of love under
control. It strengthens and purifies the one, namely that which is according
to God; and the other it removes and brings to an end; and in the beginning
it causes both to be lost sight of, as we shall say hereafter.
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[34] [Lit.,˜recreation.]

[35] [Lit.,˜recreation.]

[36] [Lit.,˜of everything.]

[37] All writers who comment upon this delicate matter go into lengthy and
learned explanations of it, though in reality there is little that needs to
be added to the Saints clear and apt exposition. It will be remembered that
St. Teresa once wrote to her brother Lorenzo, who suffered in this way:˜As
to those stirrings of sense. . . . I am quite clear they are of no account,
so the best thing is to make no account of them (LL. 168). The most
effective means of calming souls tormented by these favours is to commend
them to a discreet and wise director whose counsel they may safely follow.
The Illuminists committed the grossest errors in dealing with this matter.

[38] St. John iii, 6.
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CHAPTER V

Of the imperfections into which beginners fall with respect to the sin of
wrath.

BY reason of the concupiscence which many beginners have for spiritual
consolations, their experience of these consolations is very commonly
accompanied by many imperfections proceeding from the sin of wrath; for,
when their delight and pleasure in spiritual things come to an end, they
naturally become embittered, and bear that lack of sweetness which they have
to suffer with a bad grace, which affects all that they do; and they very
easily become irritated over the smallest matter”sometimes, indeed, none can
tolerate them. This frequently happens after they have been very pleasantly
recollected in prayer according to sense; when their pleasure and delight
therein come to an end, their nature is naturally vexed and disappointed,
just as is the child when they take it from the breast of which it was
enjoying the sweetness. There is no sin in this natural vexation, when it is
not permitted to indulge itself, but only imperfection, which must be purged
by the aridity and severity of the dark night.

2. There are other of these spiritual persons, again, who fall into another
kind of spiritual wrath: this happens when they become irritated at the sins
of others, and keep watch on those others with a sort of uneasy zeal. At
times the impulse comes to them to reprove them angrily, and occasionally
they go so far as to indulge it [39] and set themselves up as masters of
virtue. All this is contrary to spiritual meekness.

3. There are others who are vexed with themselves when they observe their
own imperfectness, and display an impatience that is not humility; so
impatient are they about this that they would fain be saints in a day. Many
of these persons purpose to accomplish a great deal and make grand
resolutions; yet, as they are not humble and have no misgivings about
themselves, the more resolutions they make, the greater is their fall and
the greater their annoyance, since they have not the patience to wait for
that which God will give them when it pleases Him; this likewise is contrary
to the spiritual meekness aforementioned, which cannot be wholly remedied
save by the purgation of the dark night. Some souls, on the other hand, are
so patient as regards the progress which they desire that God would gladly
see them less so.
_________________________________________________________________

[39] [Lit.˜they even do it.]
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CHAPTER VI

Of imperfections with respect to spiritual gluttony.

WITH respect to the fourth sin, which is spiritual gluttony, there is much
to be said, for there is scarce one of these beginners who, however
satisfactory his progress, falls not into some of the many imperfections
which come to these beginners with respect to this sin, on account of the
sweetness which they find at first in spiritual exercises. For many of
these, lured by the sweetness and pleasure which they find in such
exercises, strive more after spiritual sweetness than after spiritual purity
and discretion, which is that which God regards and accepts throughout the
spiritual journey. [40] Therefore, besides the imperfections into which the
seeking for sweetness of this kind makes them fall, the gluttony which they
now have makes them continually go to extremes, so that they pass beyond the
limits of moderation within which the virtues are acquired and wherein they
have their being. For some of these persons, attracted by the pleasure which
they find therein, kill themselves with penances, and others weaken
themselves with fasts, by performing more than their frailty can bear,
without the order or advice of any, but rather endeavouring to avoid those
whom they should obey in these matters; some, indeed, dare to do these
things even though the contrary has been commanded them.

2. These persons are most imperfect and unreasonable; for they set bodily
penance before subjection and obedience, which is penance according to
reason and discretion, and therefore a sacrifice more acceptable and
pleasing to God than any other. But such one-sided penance is no more than
the penance of beasts, to which they are attracted, exactly like beasts, by
the desire and pleasure which they find therein. Inasmuch as all extremes
are vicious, and as in behaving thus such persons [41] are working their own
will, they grow in vice rather than in virtue; for, to say the least, they
are acquiring spiritual gluttony and pride in this way, through not walking
in obedience. And many of these the devil assails, stirring up this gluttony
in them through the pleasures and desires which he increases within them, to
such an extent that, since they can no longer help themselves, they either
change or vary or add to that which is commanded them, as any obedience in
this respect is so bitter to them. To such an evil pass have some persons
come that, simply because it is through obedience that they engage in these
exercises, they lose the desire and devotion to perform them, their only
desire and pleasure being to do what they themselves are inclined to do, so
that it would probably be more profitable for them not to engage in these
exercises at all.

3. You will find that many of these persons are very insistent with their
spiritual masters to be granted that which they desire, extracting it from
them almost by force; if they be refused it they become as peevish as
children and go about in great displeasure, thinking that they are not
serving God when they are not allowed to do that which they would. For they
go about clinging to their own will and pleasure, which they treat as though
it came from God; [42] and immediately their directors [43] take it from
them, and try to subject them to the will of God, they become peevish, grow
faint-hearted and fall away. These persons think that their own satisfaction
and pleasure are the satisfaction and service of God.

4. There are others, again, who, because of this gluttony, know so little of
their own unworthiness and misery and have thrust so far from them the
loving fear and reverence which they owe to the greatness of God, that they
hesitate not to insist continually that their confessors shall allow them to
communicate often. And, what is worse, they frequently dare to communicate
without the leave and consent [44] of the minister and steward of Christ,
merely acting on their own opinion, and contriving to conceal the truth from
him. And for this reason, because they desire to communicate continually,
they make their confessions carelessly, [45] being more eager to eat than to
eat cleanly and perfectly, although it would be healthier and holier for
them had they the contrary inclination and begged their confessors not to
command them to approach the altar so frequently: between these two
extremes, however, the better way is that of humble resignation. But the
boldness referred to is [46] a thing that does great harm, and men may fear
to be punished for such temerity.

5. These persons, in communicating, strive with every nerve to obtain some
kind of sensible sweetness and pleasure, instead of humbly doing reverence
and giving praise within themselves to God. And in such wise do they devote
themselves to this that, when they have received no pleasure or sweetness in
the senses, they think that they have accomplished nothing at all. This is
to judge God very unworthily; they have not realized that the least of the
benefits which come from this Most Holy Sacrament is that which concerns the
senses; and that the invisible part of the grace that it bestows is much
greater; for, in order that they may look at it with the eyes of faith, God
oftentimes withholds from them these other consolations and sweetnesses of
sense. And thus they desire to feel and taste God as though He were
comprehensible by them and accessible to them, not only in this, but
likewise in other spiritual practices. All this is very great imperfection
and completely opposed to the nature of God, since it is Impurity in faith.

6. These persons have the same defect as regards the practice of prayer, for
they think that all the business of prayer consists in experiencing sensible
pleasure and devotion and they strive to obtain this by great effort, [47]
wearying and fatiguing their faculties and their heads; and when they have
not found this pleasure they become greatly discouraged, thinking that they
have accomplished nothing. Through these efforts they lose true devotion and
spirituality, which consist in perseverance, together with patience and
humility and mistrust of themselves, that they may please God alone. For
this reason, when they have once failed to find pleasure in this or some
other exercise, they have great disinclination and repugnance to return to
it, and at times they abandon it. They are, in fact, as we have said, like
children, who are not influenced by reason, and who act, not from rational
motives, but from inclination. [48] Such persons expend all their effort in
seeking spiritual pleasure and consolation; they never tire therefore, of
reading books; and they begin, now one meditation, now another, in their
pursuit of this pleasure which they desire to experience in the things of
God. But God, very justly, wisely and lovingly, denies it to them, for
otherwise this spiritual gluttony and inordinate appetite would breed in
numerable evils. It is, therefore, very fitting that they should enter into
the dark night, whereof we shall speak, [49] that they may be purged from
this childishness.

7. These persons who are thus inclined to such pleasures have another very
great imperfection, which is that they are very weak and remiss in
journeying upon the hard [50] road of the Cross; for the soul that is given
to sweetness naturally has its face set against all self-denial, which is
devoid of sweetness. [51]

8. These persons have many other imperfections which arise hence, of which
in time the Lord heals them by means of temptations, aridities and other
trials, all of which are part of the dark night. All these I will not treat
further here, lest I become too lengthy; I will only say that spiritual
temperance and sobriety lead to another and a very different temper, which
is that of mortification, fear and submission in all things. It thus becomes
clear that the perfection and worth of things consist not in the multitude
and the pleasantness of ones actions, but in being able to deny oneself in
them; this such persons must endeavour to compass, in so far as they may,
until God is pleased to purify them indeed, by bringing them [52] into the
dark night, to arrive at which I am hastening on with my account of these
imperfections.
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[40] [Lit.,˜spiritual road.]

[41] [Lit.,˜these persons.]

[42] [Lit.,˜and treat this as their God.]

[43] [The Spanish is impersonal:˜immediately this is taken from them,
etc.]

[44] [Lit.,˜and opinion.]

[45] [Lit.,˜anyhow.]

[46] [Lit,˜the other boldnesses are.]

[47] [Lit.,˜they strive to obtain this, as they say, by the strength of
their arms. The phrase is, of course, understood in the Spanish to be
metaphorical, as the words˜as they say clearly indicate.]

[48] [Lit.,˜who are not influenced, neither act by reason, but from
pleasure.]

[49] [Lit.,˜which we shall give.]

[50] [¡spero: harsh, rough, rugged.]

[51] [Lit.,˜against all the sweetlessness of self- denial.]

[52] [Lit.,˜causing them to enter.]
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CHAPTER VII

Of imperfections with respect to spiritual envy and sloth.

WITH respect likewise to the other two vices, which are spiritual envy and
sloth, these beginners fail not to have many imperfections. For, with
respect to envy, many of them are wont to experience movements of
displeasure at the spiritual good of others, which cause them a certain
sensible grief at being outstripped upon this road, so that they would
prefer not to hear others praised; for they become displeased at others
virtues and sometimes they cannot refrain from contradicting what is said in
praise of them, depreciating it as far as they can; and their annoyance
thereat grows [53] because the same is not said of them, for they would fain
be preferred in everything. All this is clean contrary to charity, which, as
Saint Paul says, rejoices in goodness. [54] And, if charity has any envy, it
is a holy envy, comprising grief at not having the virtues of others, yet
also joy because others have them, and delight when others outstrip us in
the service of God, wherein we ourselves are so remiss.

2. With respect also to spiritual sloth, beginners are apt to be irked by
the things that are most spiritual, from which they flee because these
things are incompatible with sensible pleasure. For, as they are so much
accustomed to sweetness in spiritual things, they are wearied by things in
which they find no sweetness. If once they failed to find in prayer the
satisfaction which their taste required (and after all it is well that God
should take it from them to prove them), they would prefer not to return to
it: sometimes they leave it; at other times they continue it unwillingly.
And thus because of this sloth they abandon the way of perfection (which is
the way of the negation of their will and pleasure for Gods sake) for the
pleasure and sweetness of their own will, which they aim at satisfying in
this way rather than the will of God.

3. And many of these would have God will that which they themselves will,
and are fretful at having to will that which He wills, and find it repugnant
to accommodate their will to that of God. Hence it happens to them that
oftentimes they think that that wherein they find not their own will and
pleasure is not the will of God; and that, on the other hand, when they
themselves find satisfaction, God is satisfied. Thus they measure God by
themselves and not themselves by God, acting quite contrarily to that which
He Himself taught in the Gospel, saying: That he who should lose his will
for His sake, the same should gain it; and he who should desire to gain it,
the same should lose it. [55]

4. These persons likewise find it irksome when they are commanded to do that
wherein they take no pleasure. Because they aim at spiritual sweetness and
consolation, they are too weak to have the fortitude and bear the trials of
perfection. [56] They resemble those who are softly nurtured and who run
fretfully away from everything that is hard, and take offense at the Cross,
wherein consist the delights of the spirit. The more spiritual a thing is,
the more irksome they find it, for, as they seek to go about spiritual
matters with complete freedom and according to the inclination of their
will, it causes them great sorrow and repugnance to enter upon the narrow
way, which, says Christ, is the way of life. [57]

5. Let it suffice here to have described these imperfections, among the many
to be found in the lives of those that are in this first state of beginners,
so that it may be seen how greatly they need God to set them in the state of
proficients. This He does by bringing them into the dark night whereof we
now speak; wherein He weans them from the breasts of these sweetnesses and
pleasures, gives them pure aridities and inward darkness, takes from them
all these irrelevances and puerilities, and by very different means causes
them to win the virtues. For, however assiduously the beginner practises the
mortification in himself of all these actions and passions of his, he can
never completely succeed”very far from it”until God shall work it in him
passively by means of the purgation of the said night. Of this I would fain
speak in some way that may be profitable; may God, then, be pleased to give
me His Divine light, because this is very needful in a night that is so dark
and a matter that is so difficult to describe and to expound.

The line, then, is:

In a dark night.
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[53] [Lit.,˜and, as they say, their eye (el ojo) grows”a colloquial phrase
expressing annoyance.]

[54] 1 Corinthians xiii, 6. The Saint here cites the sense, not the letter,
of the epistle.

[55] St. Matthew xvi, 25.

[56] [Lit.,˜they are very weak for the fortitude and trial of
perfection.]

[57] St. Matthew vii, 14.
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CHAPTER VIII

Wherein is expounded the first line of the first stanza, and a beginning
is made of the explanation of this dark night.

THIS night, which, as we say, is contemplation, produces in spiritual
persons two kinds of darkness or purgation, corresponding to the two parts
of mans nature”namely, the sensual and the spiritual. And thus the one
night or purgation will be sensual, wherein the soul is purged according to
sense, which is subdued to the spirit; and the other is a night or purgation
which is spiritual, wherein the soul is purged and stripped according to the
spirit, and subdued and made ready for the union of love with God. The night
of sense is common and comes to many: these are the beginners; and of this
night we shall speak first. The night of the spirit is the portion of very
few, and these are they that are already practised and proficient, of whom
we shall treat hereafter.

2. The first purgation or night is bitter and terrible to sense, as we shall
now show. [58] The second bears no comparison with it, for it is horrible
and awful to the spirit, as we shall show [59] presently. Since the night of
sense is first in order and comes first, we shall first of all say something
about it briefly, since more is written of it, as of a thing that is more
common; and we shall pass on to treat more fully of the spiritual night,
since very little has been said of this, either in speech [60] or in
writing, and very little is known of it, even by experience.

3. Since, then, the conduct of these beginners upon the way of God is
ignoble, [61] and has much to do with their love of self and their own
inclinations, as has been explained above, God desires to lead them farther.
He seeks to bring them out of that ignoble kind of love to a higher degree
of love for Him, to free them from the ignoble exercises of sense and
meditation (wherewith, as we have said, they go seeking God so unworthily
and in so many ways that are unbefitting), and to lead them to a kind of
spiritual exercise wherein they can commune with Him more abundantly and are
freed more completely from imperfections. For they have now had practice for
some time in the way of virtue and have persevered in meditation and prayer,
whereby, through the sweetness and pleasure that they have found therein,
they have lost their love of the things of the world and have gained some
degree of spiritual strength in God; this has enabled them to some extent to
refrain from creature desires, so that for Gods sake they are now able to
suffer a light burden and a little aridity without turning back to a time
[62] which they found more pleasant. When they are going about these
spiritual exercises with the greatest delight and pleasure, and when they
believe that the sun of Divine favour is shining most brightly upon them,
God turns all this light of theirs into darkness, and shuts against them the
door and the source of the sweet spiritual water which they were tasting in
God whensoever and for as long as they desired. (For, as they were weak and
tender, there was no door closed to them, as Saint John says in the
Apocalypse, iii, 8). And thus He leaves them so completely in the dark that
they know not whither to go with their sensible imagination and meditation;
for they cannot advance a step in meditation, as they were wont to do afore
time, their inward senses being submerged in this night, and left with such
dryness that not only do they experience no pleasure and consolation in the
spiritual things and good exercises wherein they were wont to find their
delights and pleasures, but instead, on the contrary, they find insipidity
and bitterness in the said things. For, as I have said, God now sees that
they have grown a little, and are becoming strong enough to lay aside their
swaddling clothes and be taken from the gentle breast; so He sets them down
from His arms and teaches them to walk on their own feet; which they feel to
be very strange, for everything seems to be going wrong with them.

4. To recollected persons this commonly happens sooner after their
beginnings than to others, inasmuch as they are freer from occasions of
backsliding, and their desires turn more quickly from the things of the
world, which is necessary if they are to begin to enter this blessed night
of sense. Ordinarily no great time passes after their beginnings before they
begin to enter this night of sense; and the great majority of them do in
fact enter it, for they will generally be seen to fall into these aridities.

5. With regard to this way of purgation of the senses, since it is so
common, we might here adduce a great number of quotations from Divine
Scripture, where many passages relating to it are continually found,
particularly in the Psalms and the Prophets. However, I do not wish to spend
time upon these, for he who knows not how to look for them there will find
the common experience of this purgation to be sufficient.
_________________________________________________________________

[58] [Lit.,say.]

[59] [Lit.,say.]

[60] [pl¡tica: the word is frequently used in Spanish to denote an informal
sermon or address.]

[61] [Lit.,˜low; the same word recurs below and is similarly translated.]

[62] [Lit.,˜to the better time.]
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CHAPTER IX

Of the signs by which it will be known that the spiritual person is
walking along the way of this night and purgation of sense.

BUT since these aridities might frequently proceed, not from the night and
purgation of the sensual desires aforementioned, but from sins and
imperfections, or from weakness and lukewarmness, or from some bad humour or
indisposition of the body, I shall here set down certain signs by which it
may be known if such aridity proceeds from the aforementioned purgation, or
if it arises from any of the aforementioned sins. For the making of this
distinction I find that there are three principal signs.

2. The first is whether, when a soul finds no pleasure or consolation in the
things of God, it also fails to find it in any thing created; for, as God
sets the soul in this dark night to the end that He may quench and purge its
sensual desire, He allows it not to find attraction or sweetness in anything
whatsoever. In such a case it may be considered very probable [63] that this
aridity and insipidity proceed not from recently committed sins or
imperfections. For, if this were so, the soul would feel in its nature some
inclination or desire to taste other things than those of God; since,
whenever the desire is allowed indulgence in any imperfection, it
immediately feels inclined thereto, whether little or much, in proportion to
the pleasure and the love that it has put into it. Since, however, this lack
of enjoyment in things above or below might proceed from some indisposition
or melancholy humour, which oftentimes makes it impossible for the soul to
take pleasure in anything, it becomes necessary to apply the second sign and
condition.

3. The second sign whereby a man may believe himself to be experiencing the
said purgation is that the memory is ordinarily centred upon God, with
painful care and solicitude, thinking that it is not serving God, but is
backsliding, because it finds itself without sweetness in the things of God.
And in such a case it is evident that this lack of sweetness and this
aridity come not from weakness and lukewarmness; for it is the nature of
lukewarmness not to care greatly or to have any inward solicitude for the
things of God. There is thus a great difference between aridity and
lukewarmness, for lukewarmness consists in great weakness and remissness in
the will and in the spirit, without solicitude as to serving God; whereas
purgative aridity is ordinarily accompanied by solicitude, with care and
grief as I say, because the soul is not serving God. And, although this may
sometimes be increased by melancholy or some other humour (as it frequently
is), it fails not for that reason to produce a purgative effect upon the
desire, since the desire is deprived of all pleasure and has its care
centred upon God alone. For, when mere humour is the cause, it spends itself
in displeasure and ruin of the physical nature, and there are none of those
desires to sense God which belong to purgative aridity. When the cause is
aridity, it is true that the sensual part of the soul has fallen low, and is
weak and feeble in its actions, by reason of the little pleasure which it
finds in them; but the spirit, on the other hand, is ready and strong.

4. For the cause of this aridity is that God transfers to the spirit the
good things and the strength of the senses, which, since the souls natural
strength and senses are incapable of using them, remain barren, dry and
empty. For the sensual part of a man has no capacity for that which is pure
spirit, and thus, when it is the spirit that receives the pleasure, the
flesh is left without savour and is too weak to perform any action. But the
spirit, which all the time is being fed, goes forward in strength, and with
more alertness and solicitude than before, in its anxiety not to fail God;
and if it is not immediately conscious of spiritual sweetness and delight,
but only of aridity and lack of sweetness, the reason for this is the
strangeness of the exchange; for its palate has been accustomed to those
other sensual pleasures upon which its eyes are still fixed, and, since the
spiritual palate is not made ready or purged for such subtle pleasure, until
it finds itself becoming prepared for it by means of this arid and dark
night, it cannot experience spiritual pleasure and good, but only aridity
and lack of sweetness, since it misses the pleasure which aforetime it
enjoyed so readily.

5. These souls whom God is beginning to lead through these solitary places
of the wilderness are like to the children of Israel, to whom in the
wilderness God began to give food from Heaven, containing within itself all
sweetness, and, as is there said, it turned to the savour which each one of
them desired. But withal the children of Israel felt the lack of the
pleasures and delights of the flesh and the onions which they had eaten
aforetime in Egypt, the more so because their palate was accustomed to these
and took delight in them, rather than in the delicate sweetness of the
angelic manna; and they wept and sighed for the fleshpots even in the midst
of the food of Heaven. [64] To such depths does the vileness of our desires
descend that it makes us to long for our own wretched food [65] and to be
nauseated by the indescribable [66] blessings of Heaven.

6. But, as I say, when these aridities proceed from the way of the purgation
of sensual desire, although at first the spirit feels no sweetness, for the
reasons that we have just given, it feels that it is deriving strength and
energy to act from the substance which this inward food gives it, the which
food is the beginning of a contemplation that is dark and arid to the
senses; which contemplation is secret and hidden from the very person that
experiences it; and ordinarily, together with the aridity and emptiness
which it causes in the senses, it gives the soul an inclination and desire
to be alone and in quietness, without being able to think of any particular
thing or having the desire to do so. If those souls to whom this comes to
pass knew how to be quiet at this time, and troubled not about performing
any kind of action, whether inward or outward, neither had any anxiety about
doing anything, then they would delicately experience this inward
refreshment in that ease and freedom from care. So delicate is this
refreshment that ordinarily, if a man have desire or care to experience it,
he experiences it not; for, as I say, it does its work when the soul is most
at ease and freest from care; it is like the air which, if one would close
ones hand upon it, escapes.

7. In this sense we may understand that which the Spouse said to the Bride
in the Songs, namely:˜Withdraw thine eyes from me, for they make me to soar
aloft. [67] For in such a way does God bring the soul into this state, and
by so different a path does He lead it that, if it desires to work with its
faculties, it hinders the work which God is doing in it rather than aids it;
whereas aforetime it was quite the contrary. The reason is that, in this
state of contemplation, which the soul enters when it forsakes meditation
for the state of the proficient, it is God Who is now working in the soul;
He binds its interior faculties, and allows it not to cling to the
understanding, nor to have delight in the will, nor to reason with the
memory. For anything that the soul can do of its own accord at this time
serves only, as we have said, to hinder inward peace and the work which God
is accomplishing in the spirit by means of that aridity of sense. And this
peace, being spiritual and delicate, performs a work which is quiet and
delicate, solitary, productive of peace and satisfaction [68] and far
removed from all those earlier pleasures, which were very palpable and
sensual. This is the peace which, says David, God speaks in the soul to the
end that He may make it spiritual. [69] And this leads us to the third
point.

8. The third sign whereby this purgation of sense may be recognized is that
the soul can no longer meditate or reflect in the imaginative sphere of
sense as it was wont, however much it may of itself endeavour to do so. For
God now begins to communicate Himself to it, no longer through sense, as He
did aforetime, by means of reflections which joined and sundered its
knowledge, but by pure spirit, into which consecutive reflections enter not;
but He communicates Himself to it by an act of simple contemplation, to
which neither the exterior nor the interior senses of the lower part of the
soul can attain. From this time forward, therefore, imagination and fancy
can find no support in any meditation, and can gain no foothold by means
thereof.

9. With regard to this third sign, it is to be understood that this
embarrassment and dissatisfaction of the faculties proceed not from
indisposition, for, when this is the case, and the indisposition, which
never lasts for long, [70] comes to an end, the soul is able once again, by
taking some trouble about the matter, to do what it did before, and the
faculties find their wonted support. But in the purgation of the desire this
is not so: when once the soul begins to enter therein, its inability to
reflect with the faculties grows ever greater. For, although it is true that
at first, and with some persons, the process is not as continuous as this,
so that occasionally they fail to abandon their pleasures and reflections of
sense (for perchance by reason of their weakness it was not fitting to wean
them from these immediately), yet this inability grows within them more and
more and brings the workings of sense to an end, if indeed they are to make
progress, for those who walk not in the way of contemplation act very
differently. For this night of aridities is not usually continuous in their
senses. At times they have these aridities; at others they have them not. At
times they cannot meditate; at others they can. For God sets them in this
night only to prove them and to humble them, and to reform their desires, so
that they go not nurturing in themselves a sinful gluttony in spiritual
things. He sets them not there in order to lead them in the way of the
spirit, which is this contemplation; for not all those who walk of set
purpose in the way of the spirit are brought by God to contemplation, nor
even the half of them”why, He best knows. And this is why He never
completely weans the senses of such persons from the breasts of meditations
and reflections, but only for short periods and at certain seasons, as we
have said.
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[63] [Lit.,˜And in this it is known very probably.]

[64] Numbers xi, 5-6.

[65] [Lit.,˜makes us to desire our miseries.]

[66] [Lit.,˜incommunicable.]

[67] Canticles vi, 4 [A.V., vi, 5].

[68] [Lit.,satisfactory and pacific.]

[69] Psalm lxxxiv, 9 [A.V., lxxxv, 8].

[70] [The stress here is evidently on the transience of the distempers
whether they be moral or physical.]
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CHAPTER X

Of the way in which these souls are to conduct themselves in this dark
night.

DURING the time, then, of the aridities of this night of sense (wherein God
effects the change of which we have spoken above, drawing forth the soul
from the life of sense into that of the spirit”that is, from meditation to
contemplation”wherein it no longer has any power to work or to reason with
its faculties concerning the things of God, as has been said), spiritual
persons suffer great trials, by reason not so much of the aridities which
they suffer, as of the fear which they have of being lost on the road,
thinking that all spiritual blessing is over for them and that God has
abandoned them since they find no help or pleasure in good things. Then they
grow weary, and endeavour (as they have been accustomed to do) to
concentrate their faculties with some degree of pleasure upon some object of
meditation, thinking that, when they are not doing this and yet are
conscious of making an effort, they are doing nothing. This effort they make
not without great inward repugnance and unwillingness on the part of their
soul, which was taking pleasure in being in that quietness and ease, instead
of working with its faculties. So they have abandoned the one pursuit, [71]
yet draw no profit from the other; for, by seeking what is prompted by their
own spirit, [72] they lose the spirit of tranquillity and peace which they
had before. And thus they are like to one who abandons what he has done in
order to do it over again, or to one who leaves a city only to re-enter it,
or to one who is hunting and lets his prey go in order to hunt it once more.
This is useless here, for the soul will gain nothing further by conducting
itself in this way, as has been said.

2. These souls turn back at such a time if there is none who understands
them; they abandon the road or lose courage; or, at the least, they are
hindered from going farther by the great trouble which they take in
advancing along the road of meditation and reasoning. Thus they fatigue and
overwork their nature, imagining that they are failing through negligence or
sin. But this trouble that they are taking is quite useless, for God is now
leading them by another road, which is that of contemplation, and is very
different from the first; for the one is of meditation and reasoning, and
the other belongs neither to imagination nor yet to reasoning.

3. It is well for those who find themselves in this condition to take
comfort, to persevere in patience and to be in no wise afflicted. Let them
trust in God, Who abandons not those that seek Him with a simple and right
heart, and will not fail to give them what is needful for the road, until He
bring them into the clear and pure light of love. This last He will give
them by means of that other dark night, that of the spirit, if they merit
His bringing them thereto.

4. The way in which they are to conduct themselves in this night of sense is
to devote themselves not at all to reasoning and meditation, since this is
not the time for it, but to allow the soul to remain in peace and quietness,
although it may seem clear to them that they are doing nothing and are
wasting their time, and although it may appear to them that it is because of
their weakness that they have no desire in that state to think of anything.
The truth is that they will be doing quite sufficient if they have patience
and persevere in prayer without making any effort. [73] What they must do is
merely to leave the soul free and disencumbered and at rest from all
knowledge and thought, troubling not themselves, in that state, about what
they shall think or meditate upon, but contenting themselves with merely a
peaceful and loving attentiveness toward God, and in being without anxiety,
without the ability and without desired to have experience of Him or to
perceive Him. For all these yearnings disquiet and distract the soul from
the peaceful quiet and sweet ease of contemplation which is here granted to
it.

5. And although further scruples may come to them”that they are wasting
their time, and that it would be well for them to do something else, because
they can neither do nor think anything in prayer”let them suffer these
scruples and remain in peace, as there is no question save of their being at
ease and having freedom of spirit. For if such a soul should desire to make
any effort of its own with its interior faculties, this means that it will
hinder and lose the blessings which, by means of that peace and ease of the
soul, God is instilling into it and impressing upon it. It is just as if
some painter were painting or dyeing a face; if the sitter were to move
because he desired to do something, he would prevent the painter from
accomplishing anything and would disturb him in what he was doing. And thus,
when the soul desires to remain in inward ease and peace, any operation and
affection or attentions wherein it may then seek to indulge [74] will
distract it and disquiet it and make it conscious of aridity and emptiness
of sense. For the more a soul endeavours to find support in affection and
knowledge, the more will it feel the lack of these, which cannot now be
supplied to it upon that road.

6. Wherefore it behoves such a soul to pay no heed if the operations of its
faculties become lost to it; it is rather to desire that this should happen
quickly. For, by not hindering the operation of infused contemplation that
God is bestowing upon it, it can receive this with more peaceful abundance,
and cause its spirit to be enkindled and to burn with the love which this
dark and secret contemplation brings with it and sets firmly in the soul.
For contemplation is naught else than a secret, peaceful and loving infusion
from God, which, if it be permitted, enkindles the soul with the spirit of
love, according as the soul declares in the next lines, namely:

Kindled in love with yearnings.
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[71] [Lit.,˜spoiling themselves in the one.]

[72] [Lit.,˜because they seek their spirit.]

[73] [Lit.,˜without doing anything themselves.]

[74] [Lit.,˜which it may then wish to have.]
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CHAPTER XI

Wherein are expounded the three lines of the stanza.

THIS enkindling of love is not as a rule felt at the first, because it has
not begun to take hold upon the soul, by reason of the impurity of human
nature, or because the soul has not understood its own state, as we have
said, and has therefore given it no peaceful abiding-place within itself.
Yet sometimes, nevertheless, there soon begins to make itself felt a certain
yearning toward God; and the more this increases, the more is the soul
affectioned and enkindled in love toward God, without knowing or
understanding how and whence this love and affection come to it, but from
time to time seeing this flame and this enkindling grow so greatly within it
that it desires God with yearning of love; even as David, when he was in
this dark night, said of himself in these words, [75] namely:˜Because my
heart was enkindled (that is to say, in love of contemplation), my reins
also were changed: that is, my desires for sensual affections were changed,
namely from the way of sense to the way of the spirit, which is the aridity
and cessation from all these things whereof we are speaking. And I, he says,
was dissolved in nothing and annihilated, and I knew not; for, as we have
said, without knowing the way whereby it goes, the soul finds itself
annihilated with respect to all things above and below which were accustomed
to please it; and it finds itself enamoured, without knowing how. And
because at times the enkindling of love in the spirit grows greater, the
yearnings for God become so great in the soul that the very bones seem to be
dried up by this thirst, and the natural powers to be fading away, and their
warmth and strength to be perishing through the intensity [76] of the thirst
of love, for the soul feels that this thirst of love is a living thirst.
This thirst David had and felt, when he said:˜My soul thirsted for the
living God. [77] Which is as much as to say: A living thirst was that of my
soul. Of this thirst, since it is living, we may say that it kills. But it
is to be noted that the vehemence of this thirst is not continuous, but
occasional although as a rule the soul is accustomed to feel it to a certain
degree.

2. But it must be noted that, as I began to say just now, this love is not
as a rule felt at first, but only the dryness and emptiness are felt whereof
we are speaking. Then in place of this love which afterwards becomes
gradually enkindled, what the soul experiences in the midst of these
aridities and emptinesses of the faculties is an habitual care and
solicitude with respect to God, together with grief and fear that it is not
serving Him. But it is a sacrifice which is not a little pleasing to God
that the soul should go about afflicted and solicitous for His love. This
solicitude and care leads the soul into that secret contemplation, until,
the senses (that is, the sensual part) having in course of time been in some
degree purged of the natural affections and powers by means of the aridities
which it causes within them, this Divine love begins to be enkindled in the
spirit. Meanwhile, however, like one who has begun a cure, the soul knows
only suffering in this dark and arid purgation of the desire; by this means
it becomes healed of many imperfections, and exercises itself in many
virtues in order to make itself meet for the said love, as we shall