Dark Night of the Soul [Paperback]

While imprisoned in a tiny prison cell for his attempts to reform the Church, sixteenth-century Spanish mystic John of the Cross composed many of his now classic poems of the soul’s longing for God. Written on a scroll smuggled to him by one of his guards, his songs are the ultimate expression of the spiritual seeker’s journey from estranged despair to blissful union with the divine

After escaping his captors, John fell into a state of profound ecstasy and wroteDark Night of the Soul. Later, he added an important commentary to his poem to guide other searching souls along the arduous path to communion with God. Here, for the first time, a scholar unaffiliated with the Catholic Church has translated this timeless work. Mirabai Starr, who has studied Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism, lends the seeker’s sensibility to John’s powerful text and brings this classic work to the twenty-first century in a brilliant and beautiful rendering

Dark Night of the SoulForeword
Preface
Introduction
Prologue
Book I: Night of Sense
Book II: Night of the Spirit“What a beautiful translation!…Starr offers us an entryway and a path into this sixteenth-century mystic’s mind, and gives us a fine, personal introduction to begin our luminous journey.”—Natalie Goldberg, bestelling author of Writing Down the Bones

 

“Mirabai Starr’s admirably modernized translation restores to us a classic in all its unflinching candor.”—Andrew Harvey, bestselling author of The Direct Path

 

“I am grateful for Mirabai Starr’s fluid, inviting translation of this important text.”—from the Foreword by Thomas Moore, bestselling author of Care of the Soul

 

“Starr, who teaches philosophy and religious studies at the University of New Mexico, offers an engaging and evocative new translation of John's most famous treatislC¯