Christian Mysticism · 1542–1591
John of the Cross
Spanish Carmelite · Discalced Carmelite · The Dark Night of the Soul · The Spiritual Canticle
The one who gave a name to the hardest place on the path – the dark night. A voice for the one worn down by dryness.
The essence of the teaching: Union with God is reached not by accumulating knowledge, but by surrendering it. You must pass through the dark night, where both the senses and the reason fall silent, and only the fire of love will lead you.
Transmission
John knew the prison and the torture – and out of them he carried a map of the way. He said: to come to what you do not know, go by a way that you do not know. The dark night is not a punishment, but a mercy. First God takes away the sweetness of the senses, then He puts out the light of the reason. It seems that He has gone. But it is He Himself who, like a light too bright, blinds an eye accustomed to little. Do not seek understanding in the darkness. Do not seek consolation. Remain – and let your one guide be the fire of love in the heart. Through this night, and only through it, the soul comes out into the dawn of union.
The full transmission — for members of the School. Here is its essence and its taste.
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Christian Mysticism
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