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 3 1 those who contemplate– through to the state of the perfect, which is the union of the souls with God (John of the Cross 1959, I, 1, 1; I, 2, 8). According to John, it is very important to distinguish the cause of desolation. Do spiritual aridities proceed from purgation or from sins and imperfections that lure us from God? John offers three principal signs for the night of the senses (John of the Cross 1959, I, 9): • A soul finds no pleasure or consolation in the things of God; it also fails to find it in any created thing. Spiritual desolation permeates the whole of the emotional life and it does not proceed from committed sins or some dissipated inclinations. • The second sign of desolation is that a man immersed in desolation, which hinders him from intense experience of God, believes that he experiences the said purgation with painful care and solitude, thinking that he is not serving God, but is backsliding in his spiritual life. • The third sign of the night of the senses is that the soul can no longer meditate in the imaginative sense as before, however effort it might put in it. God communicates Himself to the souls by an act of simple contemplation, which cannot be attained through imagination or fantasy on the sensual level [6]. John notes that not all those who walk are brought by God to contemplation. That is why He never completely weans some persons from the sensual and emotional experience in spiritual life, or He only does that for a short period of time. On the other hand, many cease to grow because they misunderstand their “dark aridity”, or even if they do, they are not willing to pay the price for their spiritual advancement. 4.2 The Night of the Spirit The second night into which God leads the soul is the night of the spirit. It does not happen right away, though. John says: “It is wont to pass a long time, even years, after leaving that state of beginners, in exercising itself in that of proficients” (John of the Cross 1959, II, 1, 1). The need for the second night arises from the prevailing imperfection of the soul, which, despite the purgation of the senses, is left with imperfections that are deeply rooted within. John compares it to the roots and the branches of a tree. Even if you remove the branch, the roots remain. Removing the branch, which represents the sin, does not suffice. It is necessary to search for and remove its cause. Thus, the purpose behind the night of the spirit is to go down to the roots of imperfection that are to set them in the state of progressives, which is the path of those whomeditate [5] on the spiritual journey, and begins them forth from the state of beginners, which is the state of Into the dark night souls begin to enter when God draws in the earlier manner. It must be contemplated [4]. none from a prayer. Their soul no longer feels God’s presence tion. They still labor, although they find little sweetness or ners cannot, or dare not to detach themselves from medita- pleasures and “appetite” for meditation. Despite that, begin- At the outset of this spiritual life reform, we gradually lose (John of the Cross 1973, I, 29–32). the emotional aspect of this “sweet” encounter with God us from seeing and reaching God, since all we had seen was John compares it to tearing through “the veil” that hindered so that God can elevate us to a more profound spiritual life. which belongs to the desire” (John of the Cross 1962, I, 3, 1), The night of the spirit is “the privation of every kind of pleasure room. Even if they cannot be seen, they did not change at all. the room, the visual faculty is nourished by the objects in the night is indeed the darkness; when we turn the light off in of the Cross 1959, I, 7, 5–I, 8, 1). What John describes as the in order to advance to a higher level of love for God (John of the senses, through which a mystic detaches from himself gins with a passive purgation of the dark night. It is the night Just like a small child learning to walk alone, a mystic be- Cross 1973, II, 27). initial trials, they are unwilling to suffer them (John of the perfection, yet when He wills to conduct them through the They persistently beseech God to bring them to the state of of life, and seek the broad road of their own consolation. spiritual life. They shun the trials, flee from the narrow road them. In reality, they are unwilling to enter the maturity of starts to disappear. There are many who want God to guide the joy and consolation the soul had encountered before, abandoning all that brings it consolation. In that moment, an easy task. The soul, just as a child, feels reluctant about God must wean us from the “breasts of consolation”. It is not In order to embark on a more advanced path of spiritual life, in which one easily finds pleasure. are images and different forms and techniques of meditation God. What prevails in this stage of spiritual life, nevertheless, us when talking about the actual presence and actions of and purity of faith itself, which is the main determinant for a sign of fervor rather than something arising from the depth experience of immediate closeness to God might only be chological experience based only on the idea of faith. The The experience of faith can be easily confused with a psy- RADoVAn ŠoLTÉS
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