jeudi 18 décembre 2003
Waiting for the dawn
Why do I have to go through so many "dark nights of the soul"?
"At this time a person's own efforts are of no avail, but are an obstacle to the interior peace and work God is producing in the spirit through that dryness of sense. Since this peace is something spiritual and delicate, its fruit is quiet, delicate, solitary, satisfying, and peaceful, and far removed from all the other gratifications of beginners, which are very palpable and sensory. This is the peace that David says God speaks in the soul in order to make it spiritual [Ps. 85:8]."
- Book One - Night of the Senses, Chapter Nine
"All that is required of them here is freedom of soul, that they liberate themselves from the impediment and fatigue of ideas and thoughts, and care not about thinking and meditating. They must be content simply with a loving and peaceful attentiveness to God, and live without the concern, without the effort, and without the desire to taste or feel him. All these desires disquiet the soul and distract it from the peaceful, quiet, and sweet idleness of the contemplation that is being communicated to it."
- Book One - Night of the Senses, Chapter Ten
(I know a lot of New Age movements believe in this as well... but they take a different approach to it and combine it with their own beliefs, creating a skewed version of St. John's work. I'm talking about the dark night of the soul for Christians here - obviously!)
