Dark Night of the Soul

The Poem — On a Dark Night

The Poem — On a Dark Night

The Dark Night of the Soul was written by St. John of the Cross (1542–1591), a Spanish mystic and Doctor of the Church, as a commentary on his poem of the same name. Composed during his imprisonment at Toledo (1577–78), the work describes the soul's purgation and its journey toward union with God. It comprises two books: the first treating the night of sense, the second the deeper night of the spirit.

The Poem

Upon a darkened night,
The flame of love was burning in my breast
And by a lantern bright
I fled my house, while all in quiet rest,
Shrouded by darkness, on the secret stair.

Safe, O happy night!
In secret, seen of none,
Seeing naught myself,
No light to guide, no light—
Save that which in my heart was burning bright.

This light did lead me on,
More surely than the noonday sun doth guide,
Where well I knew there One
Who waited for me, and before Him I
In places where no other soul could bide.

O night, thou guide of light,
O night more loving than the rising dawn,
O night that joined the Lover
With the Beloved Bride,
Transforming each in each upon the lawn!

Upon my flowering breast,
Kept wholly for Himself alone,
He slumbered while I tended Him to rest,
And cedar fans above
Cast cooling breezes where He had lain prone.

The breezes of the turret
Fanned back his locks as I in wonder stood;
With His gentle hand he hurt it
Upon my neck and caused my blood to cease;
Suspending every sense and every mood.

I stayed, no longer minding,
My face upon my Lover having lain;
All ceased, and I was finding
Myself in peace and wholly free from pain,
Forgotten, with the lilies in the lane.

Book I — The Night of Sense

Book I — The Night of Sense

Chapter I — Of the two different nights through which spiritual persons pass and the reason for calling this darkness a night

There are three reasons why this journey of the soul to God is called a night. The first has to do with the point from which the soul sets out — it has to deny itself the pleasures of worldly things; and this denial and deprivation is, as it were, night to all the senses of man. The second reason has to do with the means, or road, along which the soul must travel to reach this union — and this is faith, which is likewise dark to the understanding. The third reason has to do with the goal toward which it journeys — God; who, equally, is dark night to the soul in this life. These three nights pass through the soul, or rather, the soul passes through them, in order to attain Divine union with God.

The first night, which is the sensory, is described in the first part of this poem, where it says: "upon a darkened night." The second night, which is the spiritual, is described in the second and third stanzas, which say: "In secret, seen of none, seeing naught myself, no light to guide, no light — save that which in my heart was burning bright."

Chapter II — Of the nature of this night of sense, and how it enters the soul

In order for the soul to come to union with God, it must pass through a dark night. This dark night is a certain affliction of the spirit, or privation, by means of which the soul is purged of all its desires and attachments that are not of God. We call this a night because the soul is, as it were, in the dark with respect to the things it previously delighted in, and with respect to the natural activity of its faculties — memory, understanding, and will.

The soul that has been profiting in meditation, walking along the way of perfection, will have its spiritual exercises cease and will be unable to practice discursive meditation as before. The soul finds no consolation or sweetness either in the things of God or in created things. God has now led it into a dark night, and He does this in order to purify the senses and to lead the soul from meditation to contemplation.

The signs by which a spiritual person may know whether this aridity is the purgation of sense are three: First, neither in the things of God nor in created things can the soul find pleasure or consolation. Second, the memory is ordinarily centered upon God with a painful anxiety and solicitude, thinking it is not serving God but going backward. Third, the soul has no desire to turn its attention to any other object or occupation, nor is it able to do so.

Chapter III — How the soul must conduct itself in this dark night

In this night of sense the soul must remain at rest and at peace, paying no attention to the imagination or to its concerns. It must understand that it does not fail God by not having any particular reflections or movements in the senses. For this is precisely the time of quiet and repose, which God is now giving it; and it is important that the soul should not trouble itself with this.

The soul should learn to remain in God's presence with a loving attention and a tranquil intellect, even though it seems to be doing nothing. The attitude of the soul in this state should be like a child resting in the arms of its mother: the child is simply there, neither seeking nor resisting. The soul should have this attitude before God, and He will do the rest.

Chapter IV — Of the imperfections of beginners — pride and avarice

Since the soul has not yet attained to union, it still has imperfections. These we shall describe under the seven deadly sins. The soul that is a beginner in the spiritual life may fall into the sin of spiritual pride. It becomes complacent in its works, and desires others to observe and esteem them. When others praise their virtue, they find comfort in this praise; when they are criticized, they become sad.

With respect to spiritual avarice, many beginners are never satisfied with the spirit God gives them. They are never content; they complain and fret and seek another confessor more to their liking, one who will commend their manner of life more fully. They load themselves with books, with images, with crosses and relics, and these things are meant to supply the lack of interior purity of soul.

Chapter V — Of the imperfections of beginners — lust, anger, gluttony, envy, and sloth

Spiritual lust arises in certain people when they receive spiritual consolations; a certain impurity mingles with their consolation, and this makes them weary of themselves. This is not the fault of the consolation, which is good in itself, but of the imperfect nature of man; it is like wine in a new vessel that has not been fully cleansed.

Spiritual anger arises in those who, when the time of dryness comes, show great impatience; they become rash, irritable, and moody, demanding that God grant them devotion when He does not will to do so. They grow angry with themselves on account of their sins, as though they could make themselves holy in an instant.

Spiritual gluttony is the tendency to seek sweetness and pleasure in spiritual exercises. God withdraws consolation from these souls in order to test them and to accustom them to seeking Him in faith rather than in feeling.

Book II — The Night of the Spirit

Book II — The Night of the Spirit

Chapter I — The introduction to the dark night of the spirit

The first purgation, or night, was bitter and terrible to the senses; but this second purgation is incomparably more terrible to the spirit, for it is fiercer, more penetrating, and more obscure. The first purgation was for the soul; but the soul is not yet perfectly transformed, because it retains deep-rooted habits of imperfection. These are rooted in the spirit itself, and therefore the spirit too must be purged and stripped bare of all that is not God.

In this second night God communicates Himself to the soul in a very special way — in pure contemplation. This contemplation is an infused, loving knowledge of God, which simultaneously enlightens and purifies the soul and disposes it for union with God. The reason why this contemplation causes such suffering, even though it is in itself sweet and loving, is that it is so pure and so bright that it overwhelms the soul which is still dark and impure.

Chapter II — The cause of suffering in the night of spirit — how God purges the soul

God so purges the soul and enkindles it with the spirit of love that He annihilates it in its natural operations. The soul feels very clearly that it is being dissolved, melted, and destroyed in its very substance by a cruel spiritual death; it is as though it were swallowed by a beast, and was being digested in its belly, suffering anguish as Jonah did in the belly of the whale (Jon. 2:1–3). The soul must remain in this sepulcher of dark death in order that it may attain the spiritual resurrection for which it hopes.

The afflictions and torments this purgation causes are as follows: First, the soul, because of this divine light, feels itself to be so unclean and miserable that it seems as if God has set Himself against it and itself has set itself against God. Second, the soul feels that God has rejected it; the spirit here suffers unspeakable anguish. Third, the soul feels a profound emptiness and poverty with respect to the three faculties — memory, understanding, and will.

Chapter III — The purpose of the night of spirit — illumination and union

All this is done in order to purge the soul of its inclinations toward creaturely things and of its imperfect habits, and to make it capable of receiving the Divine union. For just as the log of wood, when fire is applied to it, first becomes dark, then begins to glow and to burn, and at last is transformed entirely into fire — so the soul in these dark purgations is being prepared for transformation into God.

When this night begins to pass away, the soul comes out into a new morning of great brightness and begins to perceive the things of God with a new clarity. Then comes the spiritual union — the most intimate union the soul can have with God in this life. In this state all the movements and operations of the soul in which it previously labored are now made easy and sweet; the will is now strongly inclined to God and inflamed with His love.

Chapter IV — The three kinds of goods — natural, sensory, and moral

The soul must direct itself to God not by attachment to any of the goods of the earth, no matter how excellent they may be. God is accessible to the soul only through denial and detachment; and even supernatural gifts, in so far as they are distinct from God, must be received without attachment, for the soul must seek God alone in all things.

This does not mean that the soul is to be careless about virtue or to neglect the means of grace. Rather, it is to use all created things as means and as occasions for union with God, without resting in them as ends in themselves. The soul that has been purged through the dark night has been freed from the slavery of creatures, and now all things serve as a ladder to God rather than as obstacles.

Chapter V — The soul attains union — the living flame of love

When the soul has passed through the two nights and has been purified, it arrives at what St. John calls the state of spiritual marriage or transforming union. Here the soul is so intimately united with God that it acts with God and through God in all its actions. The soul has become, as it were, divine by participation; it knows God as God knows it, loves God with God's own love.

In this state the soul no longer lives by its own natural life; it lives by the life of God (Gal. 2:20). The memory forgets all created things; the understanding no longer labors with discursive reasoning but rests in a simple, loving knowledge; the will burns with one great flame of love. The soul in this condition sings: "I no longer live, but Christ lives in me"; and its only occupation is to love and to be loved in return.

This is the state described in the final stanzas of the poem — where the Lover and the Beloved are united, where all the faculties rest in God, and where the soul, wounded by love, forgets all things, resting with the lilies that surpass even the glory of Solomon (Matt. 6:29).