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This is not about some mystical experience that happen to a man who chose solitude. What amazed the most about the life of John of The Cross which I started reading since I was 6 years old, was his search to be devoted follower. I love such intimacy. He asked hard questions amidst loneliness, and persecution.
When I was baptized as catholic, my mother chose John in spanish Juan, honoring John of The Cross. This is real daily life for many devoted christians then and now.I'd just can stop reading in it, learning, growing. Be able to talk to God practically face to face. She wanted me to become a devoted catholic and a priest.
He had this intimate dialogues with God looking for meaning surrounded by fears and sorrows. We all had or will have dark nights of the soul to face in this world. Well, God has some humor and I became a christian pastor and a Christ follower. The book translated part of his soul seach.
Content seemed to be repetitive. I plowed through to the end. I should reread it but just can't bring myself to do it again. It was with great anticipation that I received this book. Very disappointed with the translation - long cumbersome sentenances with archaic and obsure words make it most difficult to read.
If this is the only translation available, be prepared to put lots of mental effort into extracting the ideas of St. The translator packages the content into seemingly endless, rambling run-on sentences that seem to go on forever and are terribly difficult to read. If you can find another translation of this book, buy it instead of this book. This book really well describes the painful experiences and their significance on the spiritual journey of St. John from this murky prose. However, the translation by E. John. Allison Peers is absolutely horrible.
This is my #1 favorite of all them. Not only for Christians, this book would be perfect for those having a Kundalini Awakening, learning alchemy, or having any type of awakening of energy in the body.Shortly after my own Kundalini Awakening, I began to read all the books written by the saints of every religion. It shows that the dark is really light with nothing left to reflect off of. This is one of the best books I ever read. If you are going through any kind of spiritual transformation, this is the book for you.
I only mention all this because it sets the context for this review. Later in the book, Saint John's powerful metaphors, describing higher and higher states of devotional ecstasy, again parallel many of the mystical stories of the ancient east about the soul and its relationship with the Divine. Secondly, I did not read this particular translation.
But more than this, the dark night is also that state we must reach to quiet the chatter of the mind, which enables us to venture out into the darkness (or unknown) to meet our Divine Self/Lover. To me, this book underscores my personal belief that true mysticism is the unifying factor that transcends any religious boundaries.If you have NOT read this fabulous book simply because you believe it is only for Catholics, pick up a copy and see it through the eyes of the Universal Mystic, unbound by any socio-religious pre-conceptions. When I read Saint John's words, I was reminded of the ancient Vedic story of the cowherd girls stealing out in the middle of the night to meet their beloved Krishna, as well as the story of Buddha leaving his father's court to find enlightenment whilst everyone else slumbered.
First of all, I need to let you know that I read this book about 7 years ago. The "dark night" is firstly that lonely, shadowy place in which we find ourselves when we cry out to the Universe/God to tell us who we are and why we were born. This is and will always be one of my favourite books.Lynn Serafinn, author of "The Garden of the Soul: lessons from four flowers that unearth the Self"
Thirdly, I must mention that I was raised a Catholic, and was later a scholar of Indian mysticism for more than 20 years. When I read this book, what most struck me about Saint John's "Dark Night" was how similar it was to eastern mysticism.
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