We
at the Catholic Thought Book Club read for Lent the mystical classic by St.John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul. I’m going to post my thoughts and comments on it. One thing that should be kept straight. St. John wrote both a poem and a treatise
with that title. The treatise expounds
on the poem. More accurately I think is
that St. John uses lines from the poem as a starting point for his rather deep
mystical concepts.
One
thing we should be familiar as we read is the poem, “Dark Night of the
Soul.” So as I understand it, St. John
of the Cross wrote this poem, and later expounded on each line which became the
book, Dark Night of the Soul. It’s not a very long poem. So let me posted it in its entirety here,
first the original Spanish and then the Peers translation.
1
En
una noche obscura,
con ansias en amores imflamada,
¡oh dichosa uentura!
sali sin ser notada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada.
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
A
escuras y segura,
por la secreta escala disfraçada,
¡oh dichosa uentura!
a escuras y ençelada,
estando ya mi casa sosegada.
In darkness and secure,
By secret ladder
disguised—
oh, happy chance!—
In darkness and in
concealment,
My house being now at
rest.
3
En
la noche dichosa,
en
secreto, que nadie me ueya,
ni
yo miraua cosa,
sin
otra luz ni guia
sino
la que en el coraçon ardia.
In the happy night,
In secret, when none saw
me,
Now I beheld aught,
Without light or guide,
Save that which burned in
my heart.
4
Aquesta
me guiaua
mas
cierto que la luz del mediodia,
adonde
me esperaua
quien
yo bien me sabia,
en
parte donde nadie parecia.
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
noche que me guiaste!
¡oh
noche amable mas que el aluorada!,
¡oh
noche que juntaste
amado
con amada,
amada
en el amado transformada!
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
Y
en mi pecho florido,
que
entero para el solo se guardaua,
alli
quedo dormido,
y
yo le regalaua,
y
el ventalle de cedros ayre daua.
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
El
ayre de la almena,
cuando
ya sus cabellos esparzia,
con
su mano serena
en
mi cuello heria,
y
todos mis sentidos suspendia.
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
Quedeme
y oluideme,
el
rostro recline sobre el amado,
ceso
todo, y dexeme,
dexando
mi cuidado
entre
las açucenas olvidado.
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.
The
Peers translation used a four line stanza but I noticed that St. John used a
five line stanza in the original, and other translations, like this one, used a five line stanza. So I created a
five line stanza version using the Peers translation and seeing in my rough
understanding of Spanish where the additional line most made sense.
I
have to say I found it really worthwhile to physically type out the poem. I think I absorbed it better than just
reading it.
My
Comment:
By the way, which
translation do people have. I haven't really researched translations but since
I already owned the book I didn't have much of a choice. I have the E. Allison
Peers translation.
All this while I thought
E. Allison Peers was a woman. The "E" stands for Edgar. He's got a
Wikipedia entry.
Yes, I have the same
Dover edition too. I saw it really inexpensive several years ago and picked it
up. Glad I have it!
###
Prologue;
Part 1, I thru IX
Summary:
Prologue:
The poem and the organization of the book being an expounding on the lines of
the poem.
Part
1
Exposition:
The first stanza of the poem.
Chapter
1: The imperfections of beginners.
Chapter
2: Imperfections of beginners with respect to pride.
Chapter
3: Imperfections of beginners with respect to avarice.
Chapter
4: Imperfections of beginners with respect to luxury.
Chapter
5: Imperfections of beginners with respect to wrath.
Chapter
6: Imperfections of beginners with respect to spiritual gluttony.
Chapter
7: Imperfections of beginners with respect to spiritual envy and sloth.
Chapter
8: Exposition of the first line of the first stanza and the beginning of the
explanation of this dark night.
Chapter
9: The signs that one has when one is walking in this dark night and purgation
of sense.
###
It’s
hard to say things definitively without having read the entire book first, but
it seems like John puts forth his thesis and method in the 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. (p. 1)
First
the method. Each stanza will be
expounded upon separately, and then line by line. The first two stanzas are about what John
identifies as two spiritual purgations, the purgation of the senses and the
purgation of the spirit. The other six
stanzas expound upon effects which lead to illumination and then union with
God.
This
is what Catholicism has traditionally identified as the stages of spiritual
life: the purgative, the illuminative, and the unitive. New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia has an entry
that describes each of the ways, here.
So
I take then that through this eight stanza poem, John will show us a way to
pass through the three stages culminating is some mystical union with God. If I’m getting this correctly, the “dark
night” is not a description of the soul but a “road” upon which the soul has to
travel to reach that union with God.
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.
Irene
Commented:
My understanding of
"darkness" in this text refers to the withdrawl of consolations that
is a part of most spiritual journeys. There is the dark night of the senses,
the intentional stepping away from consolations in our lives that obscure our
vision of or fidelity to God. That is the focus of the initial chapters. It is what
other writers have called the purgative way. Then he moves to the dark night of
the soul, God's withholding of spiritual consolations so that the soul does not
cling to that which is not God. Even the peace, the sense of intimacy, the joy,
that many feel in the initial stages after purgation or what motivated people
to embrace purgation, is not God. So, God withholds these spiritual
consolations so that the soul seeks God alone and not the good feelings they
have received from God. Many spiritual writers have described this withdrawl of
spiritual consolations as a "darkness". This comment is based on my
recollection of this book from reading it decades ago and from reading the
chapters for the first week's discussion, so I may be wrong.
My
Reply:
Irene, I don’t
disagree. That is how I have always
understood “dark night of the soul” as a common phrase. And perhaps on one level that’s what John
implies, but he also says the dark night is a journey. Let me pull out these quotes.
(1) From the Prologue:
“Since this road (as the
Lord Himself says likewise) is so strait, and since there are so few that enter
by it, 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.” (1)
Notice, he calls the
“strait road with full propriety ‘dark night.’”
(2) From Book First, Introduction,
Paragraph 1:
“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,’ (3)
If you break that
sentence down, you find the clause, “this going forth from itself and from all
things was a ‘dark night,’” Again the
journey is the dark night.
(3) Also from Book First,
Introduction, Paragraph 2:
“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…” (3)
Again “journeying to God
through this night…”
(4) From Book 1, Chapter
2, Paragraph 8:
“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.”
(8)
Here the night is the
“purgative” agent which purifies.
There are more. I just took these four examples. In each case the dark night is not a
description for the state of the soul in either anxiety or dryness of
consolation or the “withdrawl of consolation” as you put it. It’s an actual path in some places and a
purgative agent in others. Either way it
is not just a description of the state of the soul.
My
Reply to Irene:
Irene wrote: "Yes,
Manny, I don't think we are disagreeing. As you say above,
St. John is a poet. So the darkness is a metaphor for the perception of the
soul. The journey is a metaphor for the spiritual life o..."
I guess it's a metaphor. I can't really argue against it but when he speaks of
it it feels very tangible. Here's my unease on saying it's just a metaphor for
the state of the soul. To say the soul is undergoing a "dark night,"
that's a static situation for the moment. But to say the soul is journeying
through a dark night, that has motion and the description is of the path not of
the soul.
I guess St. John really means both, a description for the soul and a
description of the journey.
My
Reply to Christine:
Christine wrote: "A
thought that came to my mind was of someone who wakes up and realizes they are
in a dark room with no light and has to surrender control and trust in someone
who knows the way to lead them from t..."
This leads me to think that St. John is speaking literally of a passage through
a dark night. It occurred to me that St. John is speaking of a mystical
experience. He is a mystic. What is a metaphor to us is actually a real
experience for him. Perhaps he can visualize that aridity so strongly that it
is literally a dark night for him.
My
Reply to Joseph:
Joseph wrote: "Manny
wrote: "Christine wrote: "A thought that came to my mind was of
someone who wakes up and realizes they are in a dark room with no light and has
to surrender control and trust in someone who k..."
I think you are right, though it is not certain. From Wikipedia:
"The time or place of composition are not certain. It is likely the poem
was written between 1577 and 1579. It has been proposed[by whom?] that the poem
was composed while John was imprisoned in Toledo, although the few explicit
statements in this regard are unconvincing and second-hand."
###
My
Reply to Gallicius:
Galicius
wrote: "Every reference to Him, take the Bible, Dante, speak of light that
is more powerful than we can perceive or imagine. St. John probably uses this
metaphor to designate a journey in contemplation. Perhaps he describes a
starting point in that journey and that this will be more about the “darkness”
we are in from which we must break out towards God."
Now that I got past the
different spelling, I see your point. God is light. But I don't think John of
the Cross is saying that God is darkness. I think he's saying the "dark
night" is a passage to God. One has to go through the dark night to reach
God.
I'm reminded of the
Divine Mercy painting, the original Kazimirowski version where Christ is a
light set against the darkness. One is going through the darkness to reach the
light of Christ. Here's the painting if you can't recall.
Casey’s
Reply to Gerri:
Gerri wrote: "I
confess my reading so far has been predicated on the notion that the dark night
is a removal of any richness that arises from deep prayer/contemplation. And
that it's a necessary prelude for anyo..."
The dark night is the removal of what appears to us to be the richness. The
beginner gets a feeling, a comfort, a sensation, a thrill. Initially this
motivates us to continue but soon it becomes the thing at which we aim. Those
things must be removed so that we aim only at Christ.
As those feelings, comforts, sensations, and thrills wane we feel lost. We go
slipping into the dark night. We long for what is lost but are being prepared
for something greater. This period of purgation purifies and perfects our aims
and is necessary for our spiritual growth.
My
Reply to Casey:
Yes Casey, I think you
captured it exactly. Aridity is intentional from God and toward a purpose,
greater purpose. That seems counter intuitive to me. But that is what he is
saying.
Casey’s
Reply to Me:
Interesting because I
find it entirely intuitive.
A child is given a gold star on his homework to create good feelings and
motivate him to develop good habits. Later in High School and College the gold
stars have gone away but there are still grades. In 20s there's squat. Nobody
cares if you read or practice math or whatever. But then here we all are now
reading and discussing a most challenging work for its own sake. No gold stars,
no grades, no longing for such. Simply the elevated, properly refined
attractions of the mind and soul.
We should probably also
remember that this darkness he speaks of is actually extreme brightness.
Something along the lines of Plato's cave. When we exit the cave we are blinded
by the light. (darkness) It is painful and seems at first terrible to us.
This is necessary because we cannot, through our own efforts, prepare our eyes
for the light before exiting. Only the light itself can prepare our eyes.
I think that the idea is
not that we ought to sacrifice the pleasure of reading or crackers so that we
can pray more. Rather that through this purgation the act of reading or eating
crackers becomes itself prayer. The pleasure of reading and crackers is now
plus 1. (Or plus infinity)
My
Reply to Irene:
You're not being a brat
Irene! Thanks. The problem with St. John is that he's both a poet and a mystic.
If he is only speaking poetically then clearly you are right. If he is speaking
as a mystic, then it becomes hard to gage the depth of his metaphor. A few
months ago we read St. Catherine of Siena. She had many mystical experiences.
She never talked about them as anything other than real. Take the exchange of
heart mystical experience. Or the stigmata experience. She didn't say that
either were a metaphor or anything other than it really happened. So is St.
John here talking metaphorically or real? He's a mystic. Is this journey part
of his mysticism? Does he expect others to have similar experiences. I have
never had any mystical experiences. When a writer uses a metaphor, especially
in prose, it is usually evident by cues in that language he is being poetic and
not literal. I don't really see those cues in the language here.
But maybe we should just go beyond this. Whether he is being literal or not
probably doesn't make a difference. Maybe it will be more obvious later on.
