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.
Return to stage 11 analysis.