The timing could not be better for a new translation of Dark Night of the Soul, which offers a guide to the way humanity can helpfully, and hopefully, approach times of great darkness and crises of faith.
Dark Night comprises both the Songs of the Soul written by John of the Cross (later canonized as Patron Saint of Spanish poets), and his accompanying commentary. Persecuted, tortured and imprisoned as a religious outcast during the Spanish Inquisition, John composed the passionate Songs of the Soul to describe his spiritual journey through despair to transcendence and ultimate union with the divine, despite possessing "No other light, no other guide / Than the one burning in my heart."
Having long been in love with the brilliance and quasi-erotic mysticism of St John's words, Taoseña Mirabai Starr determined to bring them to a wider audience. The poem and commentary have never been published in English by anyone outside the Catholic Church, but, as a poet and lecturer in philosophy and world religions, she has created a translation that speaks to all seekers of universal truths. "The dark night is about being fully present in the tender, wounded emptiness of our own souls," writes Starr.
To encourage readers from non-Christian perspectives to open to the heart of John's message, Starr replaces the loaded words "sin", "evil" and "hell" with terms that express the illusion of separation from the Beloved. Similarly, she translates El Diablo as "the fragmented self".
John's struggle will be utterly recognizable to anyone who no longer gets any kicks from their chosen spiritual practice, no longer feels the hand of God at work, the ecstasies and sudden awakenings that make the whole damn effort worthwhile.
"Say prayer starts to dry up on your tongue. Sacred literature becomes fallen leaves, blows away. Meditation brings no serenity anymore. Devotion grows brittle, cracks. The God you bow down to no longer draws you," writes Starr in her illuminating introduction. In other words, what's it all about anyway? This is what John calls the "Dark Night of the Senses", a purification whereby the bereft practitioner stumbles onward, still craving those moments of bliss that no longer fall into her lap, disillusioned by the promises of enlightenment that now seem like a great cosmic joke. John explores the traps of spiritual pride, greed, envy and anger, all the diversions that prevent the wandering soul from simply being one with the sacred stillness at the center of her quest.
Just get out of the way, John urges. Surrender to the Beloved without the frenzy of activity, expectation, desire or intent. "It would be as if a painter were composing a portrait and the model were shifting because she felt like she had to be doing something! She would be disturbing the master's work, preventing him from accomplishing his masterpiece."
He then depicts what he labels "The Dark Night of the Spirit", the annihilation of any concepts about God, the absolute and spirituality - all those intellectual notions that serve the self and help us feel in control as we puzzle through this messy, mysterious life. John challenges the seeker to abandon such ideals: "When the Soul is stripped bare of her old skin, God clothes her afresh."
Entering a bleak Dark Night of the Soul may seem a poor reward to the earnest devotee, but John presents it as a gift from God - a sign that the faithful are ready to stand on their own two feet, without the constant fireworks of revelation to fuel their commitment. "The ladder of love is so secret that God alone can measure it."
Starr's translation is beautifully written, an ardent and graceful interpretation rich in inspiration. It's one of those books that you can open to any page and find an image to hearten and heal. The prose takes on a dreamlike quality as the words ring across four centuries to work their numinous magic, bypassing the rational mind and reaching deep into the soul that seeks.
©2002 Tania Casselle
