Ref#18: The two kinds of imperfections according to John of the Cross:
[A]. Actual imperfections such as smoking, drinking, drug addicton, sexual addition, etc.
(the stains that are fresh) which are purged by the purgation of sense,
and [B]. Habitual imperfections or knots in the heart (the stains that are
old and long standing) which are purged during the Dark Night of the Soul.
'These proficients [those who are on the road to Divine
Union] have two kinds of imperfections: the one kind is habitual;
the other actual. The habitual imperfections are the imperfect
habits and affections which have remained all the time in the
spirit, and are like roots, to which the purgation of sense has
been unable to penetrate. The difference between the purgation
of these and that of the other kind is the difference between the
root and the branch, or between the removing of a stain which is
fresh and one which is old and of long standing. For, as we said,
the purgation of sense is only the entrance and beginning of
contemplation leading to the purgation of the spirit, which, as
we have likewise said, serves rather to accommodate sense to
spirit than to unite spirit with God. But there still remain in the
spirit the stains of the old man, although the spirit thinks not
that this is so, neither can it perceive them; if these stains be not
removed with the soap and strong lye of the purgation of this
night, the spirit will be unable to come to the purity of Divine
Union.'
Saint John of the Cross, Dark Night of the Soul, translated and
edited by E. Allison Peers, mainly from the 16th century
manuscript #3446 (Image Books, Doubleday, Garden City, N.Y.,
1959), 93.
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