2 6 S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 5 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 1 9 also by the movements that occur in our mind without us initiating them. There is nothing extraordinary about that, though. It can be argued that what is explained here could be just an activity of our mind on a more or less conscious level. What puzzled and surprised Ignatius was the fact that these impulses always occurred in certain contexts associated with advancement in spiritual life. Reflecting upon these emotional states and the effects they have, Ignatius recognized that the path God wants us to take becomes clearer (Londsale 2003, 93). Discernment involves thoughts and emotions that spring from within. It is up to us to recognize which of them should be given consideration and which should be rejected. We are all conscious of them when experiencing sadness, joy, fear, anger, freedom, discomfort, peace, affection, aversion, etc., but we do not always give them our full attention. Once we truly understand these movements, we get to understand ourselves better and move closer to maturity. In this paper, we are going to outline the link between emotional experience and spiritual life as presented by Ignatius of Loyola and John of the Cross. At the same time, we are going to provide a psychological and religious view on spiritual discernment. The author is fully aware that the topic is rather broad and goes beyond the scope of this paper. Since reflecting upon emotions in the spiritual life has become rather relevant today, the paper attempts at showing a possible way of discerning the emotional from the spiritual as presented by St. Ignatius and St. John. We based our analysis on The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and the essential works of John of the Cross, notablyThe Dark Night. 2 A Brief Exposition of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and Saint John of the Cross The 16th and 17th centuries in the history of Western Christian spirituality gave us several prominent spiritual figures. Spain, a birthplace of two great mystics, Ignatius of Loyola and John of the Cross, has definitely earned its place in history. Ignatius focused more on practical application of contemplative experience, whereas John made use of his theological education. This period saw a certain shift not only in spiritual life, but also in the realm of science and education in general. The Enlightenment philosophers later termed this milestone the modern age. Among others, Ignatius and John contributed does not necessarily mean the prompting of the evil spirit. same time, the Fathers acknowledged that the bad thought their experience with discernment in the similar vein. At the of the good and evil spirits. The Desert Fathers described The notion of discernment is often linked with the prompting Rules of Ignatius of Loyola 3 Dealing with Emotions in the for God. ideas and emotions oriented on benefit and not on our love experience with desolation as a process of purgation from it reflects John’s own spiritual experience. He interpreted his Love and Letters. Although The Dark Night was written later, Flame of Love. John’s minor works include Sayings of Light and Carmel, The Dark Night, The Spiritual Canticle, andThe Living souls longing for the union with God: The Ascent of Mount namely four books in which he commented his poems about months. All of John’s major works were written in that period, of great physical suffering and mental anguish, lasted nine to make him renounce the reform. John’s incarceration, full John captive and incarcerated him in Toledo. They wanted standing, though. on the night of 3 December 1577, they took Carmelites. The Calced Carmelites did not show much under- a founding member of the reformed – discalced (barefoot) with Saint Teresa of Avila, who talked him into becoming ish family. His life was greatly affected by the encounter John of the Cross (1542–1591) was born into a poor Spanof the Spiritual Exercises. Letters of St. Ignatius, The Jesuit Constitution, and The Directory ographyA Pilgrim’s Journey, The Spiritual Diary of St. Ignatius, essential texts of Ignatian spirituality are Ignatius’s autobi- rior movements that we will discuss later in this paper. other Ignatius introduced the rules for the discernment of the inte- instrumental in reforming one’s spiritual life. In this context, sion. The set of spiritual exercises is a method that can be tual Exercises emerged gradually during his religious conver- a founder of the Society of Jesus. His seminal workThe Spiri- unselfish service to Christ and the Church. He is known as underwent a religious conversion and gave himself in an career as a knight in the service of the navarra king. Ignatius Basque family. A tragic injury halted his promising military Saint Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) was born into a noble which is still inspiring today. on the intuitive psychological level of that time in a manner, their ability to grasp and explore their spiritual experience significantly to the development of spirituality, especially for
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