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In darkness and secure,
By the secret ladder, disguised
-- oh, happy chance! --
In darkness and in concealment,
My house being now at rest.In this second
stanza the soul sings of the happy chance which it
experienced in stripping the spirit of all spiritual
imperfections and desires for the possession of
spiritual things.
This was a much greater happiness to, by reason of
the greater difficulty that there is in putting to
rest this house of the spiritual part, and of being
able to enter this interior darkness, which is
spiritual detachment from all things, whether sensual
or spiritual, and leaning on pure faith alone and an
ascent thereby to God.
The soul here calls this a 'ladder,' and 'secret,'
because all the rungs and parts of it[207] are secret
and hidden from all sense and understanding. And thus
the soul has remained in darkness as to all light of
sense and understanding, going forth beyond all
limits of nature and reason in order to ascend by
this Divine ladder of faith, which attains[208] and
penetrates even to the heights[209] of God.
The soul says that it was travelling 'disguised,'
because the garments and vesture which it wears and
its natural condition are changed into the Divine, as
it ascends by faith. And it was because of this
disguise that it was not recognized or impeded,
either by time or by reason or by the devil; for none
of these things can harm one that journeys in faith.
And not only so, but the soul travels in such wise
concealed and hidden and is so far from all the
deceits of the devil that in truth it journeys (as it
also says here) 'in darkness and in concealment' --
that is to say, hidden from the devil, to whom the
light of faith is more than darkness.
2. And thus the soul that journeys through this
night, we may say, journeys in concealment and in
hiding from the devil, as will be more clearly seen
hereafter. Wherefore the soul says that it went forth
'in darkness and secure'; for one that has such
happiness as to be able to journey through the
darkness of faith, taking faith for his guide, like
to one that is blind,[210] and leaving behind all
natural imaginings and spiritual reasonings, journeys
very securely, as we have said.
And so the soul says furthermore that it went
forth through this spiritual night, its 'house being
now at rest' -- that is to say, its spiritual and
rational parts. When, therefore, the soul attains to
union which is of God, its natural faculties are at
rest, as are likewise its impulses and yearnings of
the senses, in its spiritual part. For this cause the
soul says not here that it went forth with yearnings,
as in the first night of sense.
For, in order to journey in the night of sense,
and to strip itself of that which is of sense, it
needed yearnings of sense-love so that it might go
forth perfectly; but, in order to put to rest the
house of its spirit, it needs no more than
denial[211] of all faculties and pleasures and
desires of the spirit in pure faith. This attained,
the soul is united with the Beloved in a union of
simplicity and purity and love and similitude.
3. And it must be remembered that the first
stanza, speaking of the sensual part, says that the
soul went forth upon 'a dark night,' and here,
speaking of the spiritual part, it says that it went
forth 'in darkness.' For the darkness of the
spiritual part is by far the greater, even as
darkness is a greater obscurity than that of night.
For, however dark a night may be, something can
always be seen, but in true darkness nothing can be
seen; and thus in the night of sense there still
remains some light, for the understanding and reason
remain, and are not blinded. But this spiritual
night, which is faith, deprives the soul of
everything, both as to understanding and as to sense.
And for this cause the soul in this night says
that it was journeying 'in darkness and secure,'
which it said not in the other. For, the less the
soul works with its own ability, the more securely it
journeys, because it journeys more in faith. And this
will be expounded at length in the course of this
second book, wherein it will be necessary for the
devout reader to proceed attentively, because there
will be said herein things of great importance to the
person that is truly spiritual.[212] And, although
they are somewhat obscure, some of them will pave the
way to others, so that I believe they will all be
quite clearly understood. |