Libro Segundo — Declaración
The Purgation of the Soul
The soul enters into a state of spiritual poverty and darkness, stripping away natural attachments to prepare for a deeper union with God.
1. Now understanding this song in light of contemplative purgation—or nakedness and poverty of spirit, which here are almost one and the same thing—we can explain it in this way, and the soul says as follows: In poverty, abandonment, and the unsupportedness of every grasp my soul had taken—that is, in darkness of my understanding and distress of my will, and in attachment and anguish as regards the memory—leaving me in the dark in pure faith (which is a dark night for those natural powers), with only the will touched by pain and afflictions and by longings of love for God, I went out from myself: that is, from my low way of understanding, from my weak manner of loving, and from my poor and scanty way of tasting God, without the sensory nature or the devil getting in the way.12
Transformation of the Faculties
The soul's faculties—understanding, will, and memory—are annihilated in their natural operation and renewed through divine grace.
2. That was a great happiness and good fortune for me; because, once the faculties, passions, appetites, and affections of my soul—with which I felt and tasted God in so low and limited a way—had finished being annihilated and brought to rest, I went out from my own human dealing and operation into the operation and dealing of God, namely: My understanding went out of itself, turning from human and natural into divine; because, uniting with God through this purgation, it no longer understands by its own natural strength and light, but by the divine Wisdom with which it was united. My will moved beyond itself and became divine; because it is united with divine love, it no longer loves in a base way using its natural strength, but with the strength and purity of the Holy Spirit. Consequently, the will no longer acts toward God in a human way. In the same way, the memory has been transformed into eternal apprehensions of glory.3 Finally, through this night and the purgation of the old man, all the powers and affections of the soul are renewed in divine dispositions and delights.4 The verse follows:
The Dark Night Begins
The soul begins its journey into the dark night, the essential condition for divine union.
In the dark of night.
Read the original Latin
1. Entendiendo ahora esta canción a propósito de la purgación contemplativa, o desnudez y pobreza de espíritu, que todo aquí casi es una misma cosa, podémosla declarar en esta manera, y que dice el alma así:
En pobreza, desamparo y desarrimo de todas las aprensiones de mi alma, esto es, en oscuridad de mi entendimiento y aprieto de mi voluntad, en afición y angustia acerca de la memoria, dejándome a oscuras en pura fe (la cuales noche oscura para las dichas potencias naturales) sólo la voluntad tocada de dolor y aflicciones y ansias de amor de Dios, salí de mí misma, esto es, de mi bajo modo de entender, y de mi flaca suerte de amar, y de mi pobre y escasa manera de gustar de Dios, sin que la sensualidad ni el demonio me lo estorben.
2. Lo cual fue grande dicha y buena ventura para mí; porque, en acabándose de aniquilarse y sosegarse las potencias, pasiones, apetitos y afecciones de mi alma, con que bajamente sentía y gustaba de Dios, salí del trato y operación humana mía a operación y trato de Dios, es a saber:
Mi entendimiento salió de sí, volviéndose de humano y natural en divino; porque, uniéndose por medio de esta purgación con Dios, ya no entiende por su vigor y luz natural, sino por la divina Sabiduría con que se unió.
Y mi voluntad salió de sí, haciéndose divina, porque, unida con el divino amor, ya no ama bajamente con su fuerza natural, sino con fuerza y pureza del Espíritu Santo; y así la voluntad acerca de Dios no obra humanamente. Y, ni más ni menos, la memoria se ha trocado en aprensiones eternas de gloria.
Y, finalmente, todas las fuerzas y afectos del alma, por medio de esta noche y purgación del viejo hombre, todas se renuevan en temples y deleites divinos. Síguese el verso:
En una noche oscura.
Notes
- 1 ↩Parenthetical reading: source has "(la cuales noche oscura para las dichas potencias naturales)"; translated as the intended "la cual es noche oscura…" ("which is a dark night for those natural powers").
- 2 ↩"sensualidad" rendered as "sensory nature" (the lower sensory appetite in San Juan's anthropology), not modern "sensuality".
- 3 ↩aprensiones keeps San Juan’s technical sense of interior grasps or hold of the memory, not modern anxiety; rendered as ‘apprehensions’.
- 4 ↩Spanish temples here means temper/disposition/attunement of the soul (from templar), not architectural temples; rendered as 'dispositions'.
Dark Night of the Soul companion
A daily portion of stillness
Chosen Portion delivers one short contemplative reading and a guided moment of silence each day — the ascent, one step at a time.
Chosen Portion is the paced doorway into this collection: it portions the dense mystical treatises into one daily reading plus guided silence, exactly as the 14-day plan teaches.
- Daily bite-sized excerpts from the contemplative classics, never a wall of text
- A built-in timed stillness practice that grows from 2 minutes to 10
- Gentle progression through the tradition — the app remembers where you are on the ascent