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Chapter One The Journey Begins The Active Night of the Senses If you are ready to make the radical choice to do whatever it takes to obtain the high calling to total transformation in Christ (divine union), then take note that the first step will be painful. But the “pain” will be purifying and ultimately will end in sweetness, interior stillness, freedom, peace and repose. As mentioned in the Introduction, a “beginner” for Saint John of the Cross is one who is all in, so to speak, and has already established a life of prayer, but has not yet surrendered fully to the will of God. If that is you, then it is time to let God draw you deeper into a life of prayer so as to enter through what Saint John calls the “night of the senses.”
This first dark night, the night of the senses, is divided into two parts: active and passive. This chapter will attempt to present Saint John’s teaching for beginners on the active night of the senses.
Summary of the “Active Night of the Senses” The goal of the “active night of the senses” is to free your soul from the lowest forms of pleasure, so that you can more fully seek God who also produces within you the highest form of spiritual delight, resulting from the perfection of divine union with Him.
In this step, the person must engage in intentional acts of self-denial and must also seek to know God in a new and deeper way through the prayer of meditation. Selfishness must be stripped away, and all the deceptive pleasures flowing from sinful attachments and unhealthy desires must be eliminated. The reason for this is that we are easily deceived about that which is good for us. In the beginning of our spiritual journey, we still cling to the pleasure that comes from sin and from the many other things of this world. We may still believe that the things that satisfy us are money, sensual delights, excessive food or the satisfaction of other disordered cravings. And while those things do produce a certain form of temporary delight, the end result is slavery and bondage. Therefore, God wants you free. So this first step involves you making specific choices to turn away from these deceptive attachments and desires while, at the same time, you grow in your knowledge of the glorious truths that God wants to reveal to you.
This life of meditation, inspiration and consolation is the way that God initially nourishes the soul as if it were a small infant. The infant is fed pure warm milk, caressed, carried, and treated with delicate care. All of these delicacies and consolations are from God and assist the soul during the active night of the senses.
as to obtain freedom from all of your attachments to inordinate pleasures you have formed by giving in to your sensory appetites and desires.
It’s how you were made. The key to understanding your appetites is to realize that you always desire that which your appetites perceive as good. It’s impossible to desire something that you perceive as bad. Even if the desire you have is, in fact, bad for you, you will not desire it because you perceive it as bad; rather, you will desire it because your appetites are confused and perceive the object of your desire as something good. Another important distinction to make regarding the various appetites we have is that there are natural appetites and voluntary ones.
The voluntary appetites, however, are the ones that are more concerning. These are desires we have that originated because of some decision we made, such as choosing a sin, or choosing to give in to a natural appetite in an indulgent way.
The truth is that another dose of heroine is not good for that person. But nonetheless, the person who is addicted to heroin desires the drug because the appetites are enslaved to this drug and the appetites are drawn to the satisfaction that comes from the euphoric feeling of pleasure the body receives when taking the drug.
It only comes after you willingly tried it out. Thus, it is a voluntary appetite. More will be said on this shortly in the section entitled “voluntary.”
AI Summary
The Mystical Journey to Divine Union by John Paul Thomas presents key insights from the Christian Mysticism tradition. The 10 passages above capture the essential teachings.
Core Themes:
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Key Passages: Highlights 1, 3, and 10 are particularly representative.
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