Dark Night of the Soul

Beware of this book - the Christian message of St John of the Cross has been removed in this 'paraphrase' - I will not call it a translation. A great Christian book is turned into a New Age book!

A life review guide (21/21 people found this helpful)

This book answersed all of the questions i had, in terms of my own spiritual journey. It explains why the dark days are so awful and why the light days are so in abundance with joy. Having read many spiritual guidance books, in religeons across the board, i found this to be the definative guide to understanding my own true existence.
God has to make us endure pain, desolation and deep emotion in order for us to appreciate and fully understand the path we are on. If we had only 'positive' days we would not endlessley search for spiritual fulfillment. This journey is fully explained in this book and its a reflective tool that we can use daily to enchance our understanding of a spiritual journey.
The soul is illuminated by positive experiences, the serenity felt lulls the soul into feeling comfortable. however, each stage of the journey brings a deeper, and more desolate emotion. Through this book, you learn to battle through this, and achieve a sense of calm that enables you to proceed to the next stage.
Its a book that i am able to read again and again, each time gaining a deeper understanding of my own spiritual journey. Well worth a read!.

Read it when the Spirit leads you to (9/10 people found this helpful)

This is a classic book - richly descriptive of spiritual realities, and providing sound guidance by a Doctor of the Church. It is probably best to have had an introduction to the spiritual life first, try 'The Introduction to the devout life' by St Francis de Sales; for a contremporary and helpful introduction try Fr Thomas Dubay ' Prayer Primer' and his introduction to St John of the Cross ' The Fire within'.

Just a note - St John would have laughed at the idea that the devil is only your own ego! Or that God is a deeper region of yourself! This book takes seriously the idea of growing closer to a real god who is passionately in love with you, expect to be challenged to change and grow.

A book for those further along the spiritual path (10/17 people found this helpful)

You have to read this book at the right time; if you read it too early into your spiritual contemplations it probably won't make any sense and the wisdom on offer might fail to connect. Ideally you'd read this book only after you've begun to feel the presence of the Spirit alive within you, but then suddenly, or gradually, you find yourself deeply confused and even abandoned by it. That is the perfect time to absorb this very wise, knowing book, written by a man who obviously underwent the entire process of spiritual awakening and union with what the religions call God - which is really, actually a deeper region of your own self that you have the potential to experience directly, although not until you give up the spiritual quest: a daunting, painful period aptly known as the dark night of the soul. What stops this material getting a five star rating is the occasional lack of clarity in the writing style. St. John may have been a true mystic but he was no Hemingway or Shakespeare and at times the text is unnecessarily dense and overly complicated. But this is a trifling criticism, out-weighed by the timelessly valid insights supplied on each page. One final piece of vital advice, wherever you read the word "devil" (mentioned very often) you'd do well to consider this as a reference to the Ego, your own, rather than interpreting the phrase to mean the actual existence of Christianity's arch enemy. A great deal of important understanding falls into place when you do this. In fact, it would help if the Introduction section to all translations stressed that the term "devil" should not be read literally but metaphorically. Overall, though, this book is an invaluable spiritual guide.

Soul food (2/4 people found this helpful)

This is a book that speaks to me at a very deep level. Reading it has been like listening to beautiful music! Mirabai Starr's translation of this great classic flows and is easy to read and understand. Some of Starr's prose reads like poetry - a pleasure to enjoy over and over again. Here is Light for your journey, especially when the path is dark.

St. John of the Cross

Reader Reviews:

Beware (1/1 people found this helpful)

A life review guide (21/21 people found this helpful)

Read it when the Spirit leads you to (9/10 people found this helpful)

A book for those further along the spiritual path (10/17 people found this helpful)

Soul food (2/4 people found this helpful)

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