jeeeeenniferh's review against another edition
4.5
4.5 stars
Honestly quite life changing
There were so many truth bombs that helped me to fully comprehend and understand the "dark nights" I endure and have endured. It was quite astonishing, actually, how St. John of the Cross was fully able to put into words what I experienced and continue to experience during these extended periods of suffering in my life (especially considering my own failure in putting them into words). The only reason why I would not yet rate it 5 stars is because I know that I still failed to fully comprehend this work in all its glory, and I believe I would need many more reads in order to truly appreciate the masterpiece that it is.
Awesome quotes to convince you to read it:
"For the nearer the soul approaches Him, the blacker is the darkness which it feels and the deeper is the obscurity which comes through its weakness; just as, the nearer a man approaches the sun, the greater are the darkness and the affliction caused him through the great splendor of the sun and through the weakness and impurity of his eyes. In the same way, so immense is the spiritual light of God, and so greatly does it transcend our natural understanding, that the nearer we approach it, the more it blinds and darkens us" (85).
"Therefore, O spiritual soul, when thou seest thy desire obscured, thy affections arid and constrained, and thy faculties bereft of their capacity for any interior exercise, be not afflicted by this, but rather consider it a great happiness, since God is freeing thee from thyself and taking the matter from thy hands. For with those hands, howsoever well they may serve thee, thou wouldst never labor so effectively, so perfectly and so securely (because of their clumsiness and uncleanness) as now, when God takes thy hand and guides thee in the darkness, as though thou wert blind, to an end and by a way which thou knowest not. Nor couldst thou ever hope to travel with the aid of thine own eyes and feet, howsoever good thou be as a walker" (83-84).
Honestly quite life changing
There were so many truth bombs that helped me to fully comprehend and understand the "dark nights" I endure and have endured. It was quite astonishing, actually, how St. John of the Cross was fully able to put into words what I experienced and continue to experience during these extended periods of suffering in my life (especially considering my own failure in putting them into words). The only reason why I would not yet rate it 5 stars is because I know that I still failed to fully comprehend this work in all its glory, and I believe I would need many more reads in order to truly appreciate the masterpiece that it is.
Awesome quotes to convince you to read it:
"For the nearer the soul approaches Him, the blacker is the darkness which it feels and the deeper is the obscurity which comes through its weakness; just as, the nearer a man approaches the sun, the greater are the darkness and the affliction caused him through the great splendor of the sun and through the weakness and impurity of his eyes. In the same way, so immense is the spiritual light of God, and so greatly does it transcend our natural understanding, that the nearer we approach it, the more it blinds and darkens us" (85).
"Therefore, O spiritual soul, when thou seest thy desire obscured, thy affections arid and constrained, and thy faculties bereft of their capacity for any interior exercise, be not afflicted by this, but rather consider it a great happiness, since God is freeing thee from thyself and taking the matter from thy hands. For with those hands, howsoever well they may serve thee, thou wouldst never labor so effectively, so perfectly and so securely (because of their clumsiness and uncleanness) as now, when God takes thy hand and guides thee in the darkness, as though thou wert blind, to an end and by a way which thou knowest not. Nor couldst thou ever hope to travel with the aid of thine own eyes and feet, howsoever good thou be as a walker" (83-84).
ninj's review against another edition
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.
ashponders's review against another edition
3.0
Not quite as uh, mystic, as I was hoping? Probably my own fault, not Johnny's.
jarichan's review against another edition
3.0
Wenn man Bücherchallenges und Weiterbildung für die Arbeit vereinen kann - passt. Denn für die Challenge brauchte ich ein "Dark" im Titel und es schadet bei meinem Beruf bestimmt nicht, wenn ich ein wenig über die Schriften von Johannes vom Kreuz Bescheid weiss.
Für mich persönlich ist diese Art von Spiritualität schon viel zu tiefgreifend. Man muss sehr gläubig sein, um vom Kreuz in diese Tiefen zu folgen. Das Buch beginnt mit der Stanze und danach erklärt der Autor Schritt für Schritt, was es mit den einzelnen Zeilen auf sich hat und wie man sich der Dunklen Nacht zu widmen hat.
Unterlegt mit Auszügen aus der Bibel führt vom Kreuz in einer poetischen, aber deswegen ab und zu auch schwer zu lesenden Sprache, durch die Nächte des Gebetes. Für religiöse Menschen bestimmt eine tiefschürfende und bewegende Erfahrung.
Für mich persönlich ist diese Art von Spiritualität schon viel zu tiefgreifend. Man muss sehr gläubig sein, um vom Kreuz in diese Tiefen zu folgen. Das Buch beginnt mit der Stanze und danach erklärt der Autor Schritt für Schritt, was es mit den einzelnen Zeilen auf sich hat und wie man sich der Dunklen Nacht zu widmen hat.
Unterlegt mit Auszügen aus der Bibel führt vom Kreuz in einer poetischen, aber deswegen ab und zu auch schwer zu lesenden Sprache, durch die Nächte des Gebetes. Für religiöse Menschen bestimmt eine tiefschürfende und bewegende Erfahrung.
virtualmima's review against another edition
1.0
Read for instructions on how to give yourself mental illness.