Reviews for Dark Night of the Soul

The average rating for Dark Night of the Soul based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-05-31 00:00:00 Erik Griffin Although I received some insight from reading this treatise on spirituality, I feel I am too much of a beginner to comprehend many of the interior experiences that are touched upon here, particularly in the latter part of the work. I suspect my own darkness and aridity--which is at times considerable--is neither as dark, nor as potentially luminous, as the darkness that lies in the heart of this great saint. I would however recommend it anyway; there is much here for even a beginner to treasure. But the poem of which this treatise is a commentary is something else again. Inspired by the "Song of Solomon," it is a lyrical, passionate cry, the yearning of a human heart for the Divine that any lover can understand. This new translation by Mirabai Starr is clear, modern and accessible.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-08-13 00:00:00 Brian Irick I took this book up on my 10-day Mount Shasta retreat and it became the reverberating background of my whole experience. In the translation by mystic scholar Mirabai Starr, St. John of the Cross's description of the phases of the soul as she ('el alma') nears unity with God far transcends any traditional definitions of Catholicism. The 'Dark Night of the Soul' is not merely a period of intense depression -- it is the annihilation of the ego, the final stage when spiritual rituals, symbols and beliefs no longer suffice and there is no comfort but emptiness: the awareness that 'I Am Nothing.' In every major religion from Buddhism to Judaism, enlightenment or spiritual union or perfect consciousness is described as the ultimate Nothing. Zero. The dissolution of self into Oneness. Like Rumi's devotional poetry to the eternal presence within, St. John of the Cross posits the soul as lover and God as Beloved. "In the darkness of night, the wounded soul rises up in response to the affections of the will. Like a lioness or a she-bear that goes looking for her lost cubs, the wounded soul goes anxiously forth in search of her God. In darkness, she feels only his absence. She feels like she is dying with love for him." Mind, body and soul are purified and illuminated in preparation for total union -- and the process, according to John, is excruciating. The price, as Rumi says, is your life. But to know God means to know yourself, and as Jung said, "The way to light is through the darkness." For anyone who is "inflamed by love-longing," this book is a beautiful and validating guide. "Love is like a fire. It rises perpetually upward, yearning to be absorbed at its very center."