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STANZA THE FIRST
On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings
-- oh, happy chance! --
I went forth without being observed,
My house being now at rest.
In this first stanzas the soul sings of the happy
fortune and chance which it experienced in going
forth from all things that are without, and from the
desires[74] and imperfections that are in the
sensual[75] part of man because of the disordered
state of his reason. For the understanding of this it
must be known that, for a soul to attain to the state
of perfection, it has ordinarily first to pass
through two principal kinds of night, which spiritual
persons call purgations or purifications of the soul;
and here we call them nights, for in both of them the
soul journeys, as it were, by night, in darkness.
2. The first night or purgation is of the sensual
part of the soul, which is treated in the present
stanza, and will be treated in the first part of this
book. And the second is of the spiritual part; of
this speaks the second stanza, which follows; and of
this we shall treat likewise, in the second and the
third part,[76] with respect to the activity of the
soul; and in the fourth part, with respect to its
passitivity.
3. And this first night pertains to beginners,
occurring at the time when God begins to bring them
into the state of contemplation; in this night the
spirit likewise has a part, as we shall say in due
course. And the second night, or purification,
pertains to those who are already proficient,
occurring at the time when God desires to bring them
to the state of union with God. And this latter night
is a more obscure and dark and terrible purgation, as
we shall say afterwards.
4. Briefly, then, the soul means by this stanza
that it went forth (being led by God) for love of Him
alone, enkindled in love of Him, upon a dark night,
which is the privation and purgation of all its
sensual desires, with respect to all outward things
of the world and to those which were delectable to
its flesh, and likewise with respect to the desires
of its will. This all comes to pass in this purgation
of sense; for which cause the soul says that it went
forth while its house was still at rest;[77] which
house is its sensual part, the desires being at rest
and asleep in it, as it is to them.[78] For there is
no going forth from the pains and afflictions of the
secret places of the desires until these be mortified
and put to sleep. And this, the soul says, was a
happy chance for it -- namely, its going forth
without being observed: that is, without any desire
of its flesh or any other thing being able to hinder
it. And likewise, because it went out by night --
which signifies the privation of all these things
wrought in it by God, which privation was night for
it.
5. And it was a happy chance that God should lead
it into this night, from which there came to it so
much good; for of itself the soul would not have
succeeded in entering therein, because no man of
himself can succeed in voiding himself of all his
desires in order to come to God.
6. This is, in brief, the exposition of the
stanza; and we shall now have to go through it, line
by line, setting down one line after another, and
expounding that which pertains to our purpose. And
the same method is followed in the other stanzas, as
I said in the Prologue[79] -- namely, that each
stanza will be set down and expounded, and afterwards
each line. |
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73. |
The Codices give neither title nor
sub-title: both were inserted in e.p. ['Desire' is to be taken
as the direct object of 'describes'; 'these' refers to 'sense'
and 'desire,' not to the dark night.] |
74. |
[Lit., 'appetites,' but this word
is uniformly translated 'desires,' as the Spanish context
frequently will not admit the use of the stronger word in
English.] |
75. |
[The word translated 'sensual' is
sometimes sensual, and sometimes, as here, sensitivo. The
meaning in either case is simply 'of sense.'] |
76. |
So Alc. The other authorities
read: 'and of this we shall treat likewise, in the second part
with respect to the activity [of the soul] [these last three
words are not contained in the Spanish of any authority], and
in the third and the fourth part with respect to its
passivity.' E.p. follows this division. Alc., however, seems
to correspond more closely with the Saint's intentions; for he
did not divide each of his 'books' into 'parts' and appears
therefore to indicate by 'part' what we know as 'book.' Now
Book I is in fact devoted to the active purgation of sense, as
are Books II and III to the active purgation of the spirit.
For the 'fourth book,' see General Introduction, IV above. |
77. |
[The word translated 'at rest' is
a past participle: more literally, `stilled.'] |
78. |
[Lit., 'and it in them.' This 'it'
means the soul; the preceding 'it,' the house.] |
79. |
I.e., in the 'Argument.' |
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