CHAPTER XVI.

Showeth how the soul journeys securely when in darkness.
In darkness and in safety.
The darkness of which the soul here speaks, relates, as I have said,* to the desires and powers of sense, interior and spiritual, all of which are deprived of their natural light in this night, that, being purified as to this, they may be supernaturally enlightened. The desires of sense and spirit are lulled to sleep and mortified, unable to relish anything either human or divine •. the affections of the soul are thwarted and brought low, become helpless, and have nothing to rest upon ; the imagina- tion is fettered, and unable to make any profitable reflections, the memory is gone, and the will, too, is dry and afflicted, and all the faculties are empty, and, more- over, a dense _ and^heavy cloud overshadows the soul, distresses it and holds it as if it were far away from God. This is the darkness in which the soul says that it travels in safety.
2. The reason of this safety has been clearly shown : for usually the soul never errs, except under the influence
♦ Ch. iii.
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of its desires, or tastes, or reflections, or understanding-, or affections, wherein it generally is overabundant, or defective, changeable, or inconsistent ; hence the in- clination to that which is not becoming. It is therefore clear that the soul is secure against being led astray by them, when all these operations and movements have ceased. Because then the soul is delivered, not only from itself, but also from its other enemies — the world and the devil — who, when the affections and operations of the soul have ceased, cannot assault it by any other way or by any other means.
3. It follows from this, that the greater the darkness and emptiness of its natural operations in which the soul travels, the greater is its security. For as the prophet saith, ‘ Perdition is thine own, O Israel ; only in Me is thy help/* The perdition of the soul is exclusively its own work — the result of its own operations, of its unsubdued desires, interior and sensual — and its salva- tion, saith God, cometh from Me only. When the soul is hindered from giving way to its imperfections there descend upon it forthwith the blessings of union with God, in its desires and faculties which that union will render heavenly and divine.
4. If, therefore, while this darkness lasts, the soul will look within, it will very clearly see how slightly the desires and the faculties have been diverted towards vain
♦ Os. xiii. 9.
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and unprofitable matters, and that it is secure itself against vainglory, pride and presumption, empty rejoicing, and many other evils. It is quite clear, there- fore, that the soul which is in this darkness is not only not lost, but that it gains much, for now it acquires virtue.
5. But here a question arises : Why is it — seeing that the things of God are profitable and beneficial to the soul, and a source of security — that the desires and faculties are so darkened by Him in this night that they cannot have any joy in spiritual things or occupy them- selves with them as with other things, but are, in some way, less able to do so ? To this I reply, that it is then very necessary for the soul not to act and be devoid of pleasure even in spiritual things, seeing that its faculties and desires are base and impure ; and even if they have pleasure in, and are familiar with, divine and super- natural things, that can be only in a mean way.
6. It is a philosophical axiom that all that is received is received according to the condition of the recipient. From this it follows that the natural faculties — being without the requisite purity, strength, and capacity for the reception and fruition of divine things in their way, which is divine, but only in their own, which is mean and vile — must be in darkness with regard to the divine way, so as to secure their perfect purgation. That being weaned, purified, and brought to nothing, they may lose
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their own mode of acting and receiving, and may be thus disposed and tempered for the reception and fruition of that which is divine in a high and noble way ; which cannot be if the old man do not die first. Hence it is that all spiritual graces if they do not descend from the Father of lights upon the human will and desire, however much a man may exercise his taste, desire, and faculties about God, and however much he may seem to succeed, are still not divinely nor perfectly enjoyed.
7. As to this I might here show, were this the proper place, that there are many whose tastes and affections, and the operations of whose faculties are directed to God and to spiritual things, who may imagine all this to be supernatural and spiritual, when in reality it is nothing more, perhaps, than acts and desires most natural and human. As they regard ordinary matters, so also do they regard good things, with a certain natural facility which they have in directing their faculties and desires to anything, whatever it may be. If I can find an opportunity in the course of this discussion, I propose to enter upon this question,* and describe some of the signs by which we may know when the motives and interior acts of the soul in the things of God are natural only, when they are spiritual only, and when they are natural and spiritual together. It is enough for us here to know that the interior acts and movements of the soul, if they * Living Flame, St. iii. Bk. 4.
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are to be divinely influenced by God, must be first of all lulled to sleep, darkened and subdued, in their natural state, so far as their capacity and operations are con- cerned, until they lose all their strength.
8. O spiritual soul, when thou seest thy desire obscured, thy will arid and constrained, and thy faculties incapable of any interior act, be not grieved at this, but look upon it rather as a great good, for God is delivering thee from thyself, taking the matter out of thy hands ; for however strenuously thou may est exert thyself, thou wilt never do anything so faultlessly, perfectly, and securely as now — because of the impurity and torpor of thy faculties — when God, taking thee by the hand, is guiding thee in the dark as one that is blind, along a road and to an end thou knowest not, and whither thou couldst never travel by the help of thine own eyes and thine own feet, however strong thou mayest be.
9. The reason why the soul not only travels^ securely when it thus travels in the dark, but makes even greater progress, is this 2 In general the soul makes greater progress when it least thinks so, yea, most frequently when it imagines that it is losing. Having never before experienced the present novelty w r hich dazzles it, and disturbs its former habits, it considers itself as losing, rather than as gaining ground, when it sees itself lost in a place it once knew, and in which it delighted, travelling by a road it knows not, and in which it has no pleasure.
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As a traveller into strange countries goes by ways strange and untried, relying on information derived from others, and not upon any knowledge of his own — it is clear that he will never reach a new country but by new ways which he knows not, and by abandoning those he knew — so in the same way the soul makes the greater progress when it travels in the dark, not knowing the way. But inasmuch as God Himself is here the guide of the soul in its blindness, the soul may well exult and say , 4 In darkness and in safety/ now that it has come to a knowledge of its state.
10. There is another reason also why the soul has travelled safely in this obscurity ; it has suffered : for the way of suffering is safer, and also more profitable, than that of rejoicing and of action. In suffering God gives strength, but in action and in joy the soul does but show its own weakness and imperfections. And in suffering, the soul practises and acquires virtue, and becomes pure, wiser, and more cautious.
11. There is another and stronger reason why the soul travels securely when in darkness. This reason is derived from the consideration of the light itself, or dark wisdom. The dark night of contemplation so absorbs the soul, and brings it so near unto God, that He defends it, and delivers it from all that is not God. For t jie soul is now, a s it were, under medical treatment for t he re covery of its health, which is God Himself : God
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compels it to observe a particular diet, and to abstain from all hurtful things, the very desire for them being subdued. The soul is treated like a sick man respected by his household, who is so carefully tended that the air shall not touch him, nor the light shine upon him, whom the noise of footsteps and the tumult of servants shall not disturb, and to whom the most delicate food is given most cautiously by measure, and that nutritious rather than savoury.
12. All these advantages — they all minister to the safe-keeping of the soul — are the effects of this dim contemplation, for it brings the soul nearer to God. The truth is, that the nearer the soul comes to Him it perceives that darkness is greater and deeper because of its own weakness ; thus the nearer the sun the greater the darkness and distress wrought by its great bright- ness, because our eyes are weak, imperfect, and defective. Hence it is that the spiritual light of God is so immeasurable, so far above the understanding, that when it comes near to it, it dims and blinds it.
13. This is the reason why David said that God made darkness His hiding-place and covert. His tabernacle around Him, dark water in the clouds of the air.* The dark water in the clouds of the air is the dim contemplation and divine wisdom in souls, as I am going to explain, of which they have experience as a
* Ps. xvii. 12.
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thing near to the pavilion where He dwells, when God brings them nearer to Himself. Thus, that which in God is light and supreme splendour, is to man thick darkness, as S. Paul saith,* and as the royal prophet David explains it in the same psalm, saying : ‘ Because of the brightness of His presence the clouds passed/t that is, clouds and darkness over the natural under- standing, ‘ the light of which/ saith the prophet Isaias, 1 is darkened in the mist thereof/J
14. O wretched condition of this life wherein it is so difficult to find the truth ! That which is most clear and true, is to us most obscure and doubtful, and we there- fore avoid it though it is most necessary for us. That which shines the most, and dazzles our eyes, that we embrace and follow after, though it is most hurtful to us, and makes us stumble at every step. In what fear and danger then must man be living, seeing that the very light of his natural eyes, by which he directs his steps, is the very first to bewilder and deceive him when he would draw near unto God. If he wishes to be sure of the road he travels on, he must close his eyes and walk in the dark, if he is to journey in safety from his domestic foes, which are his own senses and faculties.
15. Well hidden and protected then is the soul in the dark waters close to God. For as the da rk waters are
* Acts xxii. 11. ‘I did not see for the brightness of that light/ f Ps. xvii. 13. X I s - v * 3°-
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a .t abernacle and dwelling-place for God Himself, so the v^ are also to th e soul perfect safety and protection, though in darkness, where it is hidden and protected from itself, as I have said,* and from all the injuries that created things may afflict. It is of souls thus protected that David spoke when he said in another psalm : ‘ Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy face, from the disturbance of men. Thou shalt protect them in Thy tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues.'f These words comprehend all kinds of protection ; for to be hidden ‘in the secret of the face* of God ‘from the disturbance of men/ is to be strengthened in the dim contemplation against all the assaults of men. To be protected in His ‘ tabernacle from the contradiction of tongues/ is to be engulfed in the dark waters, which is the tabernacle of which David speaks. That soul, therefore, whose desires and affections are weaned, and whose faculties are in darkness, is set free from all the imperfections which war against the spirit, whether they proceed from the flesh, or from any other created thing. The soul, therefore, may well say, ‘ In darkness and in safety.'
1 6. Another reason, not less conclusive, why the soul, though in darkness, travels securely, is derived from that courage which it acquires as soon as it enters within the dark, painful, and gloomy waters of God.
♦ § I. f Ps. XXX. 21, 22.
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Though it be dark, still it is water, and therefore cannot but refresh and strengthen the soul in all that is most necessary for it, though it does so painfully and in darkness. For the soul immediately discerns in itself a certain courage and resolution to do nothing which it knows to be displeasing unto God, and to leave nothing undone which ministers to His service, because this love, which is dim, is most watchful and careful of what it is to do, and what it is to leave undone, for His sake, so as to please Him. It looks around and considers in a thousand ways whether it has done anything to offend Him, and all this with much more solicitude and care- fulness than it ever did before, as I said when speaking of this anxious love.* Here all the desires, all the strength, and all the powers of the soul, recollected from all besides, direct all their efforts and all their energies to the service of God only. Thus the soul goes forth out of itself, away from all created things, to the sweet and delightsome union of the love of God, ‘in darkness and in safety.'