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miladyofscott's review against another edition
2.0
This is not the season for me to sit down and read this book and that’s okay.
St. John of the Cross didn’t have 4 kids under 6 who needed his attention. He didn’t have to squeeze in paragraphs in the drop off line and take copious notes on what he meant by spiritual consolation. He was a contemplative and sometimes all I have time and energy to contemplate is whether I can have a full coke or if I need to get a Diet Coke. And that’s okay.
His words are very deep, and loaded with meaning. His intent is to speak into why it’s important that we actively seek to remove from our hearts anything that is higher than Christ. To go through this purgation where the only person of consolation to us is God himself, and that the things of this world are all counted as wickedness in comparison.
There is good to this for all people, but what he says in many many pages needed to be summed up quickly, because frankly I just didn’t have time to read that over and over again.
St. John of the Cross didn’t have 4 kids under 6 who needed his attention. He didn’t have to squeeze in paragraphs in the drop off line and take copious notes on what he meant by spiritual consolation. He was a contemplative and sometimes all I have time and energy to contemplate is whether I can have a full coke or if I need to get a Diet Coke. And that’s okay.
His words are very deep, and loaded with meaning. His intent is to speak into why it’s important that we actively seek to remove from our hearts anything that is higher than Christ. To go through this purgation where the only person of consolation to us is God himself, and that the things of this world are all counted as wickedness in comparison.
There is good to this for all people, but what he says in many many pages needed to be summed up quickly, because frankly I just didn’t have time to read that over and over again.
anotherpath's review
5.0
Aldous Huxley says something somewhere about the writings of the Saints and Mystics being more interesting than the Gospel itself, and while I don't always agree, with Dark Night I do.
Here we have an analysis of the negative side of spiritual life that some go through to find God. I think the poetry of the idea that God uses this dark night, which the individual finds unbearable, to gift him with the humility and perspective needed to join communion with him.
Idk. So often religion and enlightenment seem like they're saying, "Eat it, until you enjoy it." And that feels like an excuse to weakness here.
Still. This is a read and reread.
Here we have an analysis of the negative side of spiritual life that some go through to find God. I think the poetry of the idea that God uses this dark night, which the individual finds unbearable, to gift him with the humility and perspective needed to join communion with him.
Idk. So often religion and enlightenment seem like they're saying, "Eat it, until you enjoy it." And that feels like an excuse to weakness here.
Still. This is a read and reread.
ninj's review
2.0
A real struggle. Obtuse. Had moments of interest, as it moved out of the first night of the senses into the second night of the spiritual, and also later on discussing the different colours the soul wears to shield itself from flesh, world and devil as it rises up the ladder. Clarified a number of lines from the Dark Night poem that I would not have interpreted otherwise.
Phrasing didn't help, literally took the record for most commas in a sentence from Wollstonecraft.
Phrasing didn't help, literally took the record for most commas in a sentence from Wollstonecraft.