The Burning Fire in My Soul

For the last three and a half years, I have been going through a dark night unlike anything I can describe. I had to extricate myself from my world as best as I could in order to move through it. Of course at the time I had no idea it would be for years.

During this time, I was searching for people, writings – any information that would resonate with what I have been experiencing. I couldn’t find anything that resonated fully. A few weeks ago, I flipped through James Harpur’s book, “Love Burning in the Soul,” reading the sections on some of the mystics whose names I had heard recently. The St. John of the Cross information was so familiar, I went to the library and took out “The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross” translated by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez. I have been reading St. John’s explanation of the two stages of the dark night, and it is the first time that someone has truly captured what has been happening.

Meister Eckhart touched upon a certain aspect of it and I have been reading some works on his writings and teachings, but St. John captures it in a way that has left me feeling validated in this experience and like someone else knows what it’s like to be here.

My soul, every part of me longs for understanding, for oneness, for envelopment in the union with all that is, and reading his words have offered a balm and calm in the recognition I feel. Thank you, St. John of the Cross, and for anyone interested, I highly recommend this specific translation.