The Ascent of Mount CarmelChapter IV. The necessity of passing truly through the dark night of sense, which is the mortification of the desire, in order to enter on the road of union with God

The soul must of necessity—if we would attain to the divine union of God—pass through the dark night of mortification of the desires, and self-denial in all things. The reason is this; all the love we bestow on creatures is in the eyes of God mere darkness, and while we are involved therein, the soul is incapable of being enlightened and possessed by the pure and simple light of God, unless we first cast that love away. Light hath no fellowship with darkness, for as St. John saith, ‘The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.’¹ Two contrary qualities, as the philosophers say, cannot co-exist in the same subject. Darkness, which is the love of creatures, and light, which is God, are unlike and contrary to one another, for as St. Paul saith to the Corinthians, “What fellowship hath light with darkness?’t The light of the divine union cannot, therefore, dwell in the soul if these affections are not cast away.

2. The affection and attachment which the soul feels for the creature renders the soul its equal and its like, and the greater the affection the greater will be the likeness. Love begets a likeness between the lover and the object of his love, and so the Psalmist, speaking of those who set their heart upon idols, says, ‘Let them that make them become like unto them, and all that have confidence in them.’ Thus, he who loves the creature becomes vile as that creature itself, and in one sense even viler, for love not only levels, but subjects also the lover to the object of his love.

3. He, therefore, who loveth anything beside God renders his soul incapable of the divine union and transformation in God, for the vileness of the creature is further removed from the greatness of the Creator than darkness is from light. All things in heaven and earth are nothing in comparison with God. ‘I beheld the earth,’ saith He, ‘and lo, it was void and a thing of nothing, and the heavens, and there was no light in them.’* The earth, ‘void and nothing,’ signifies that the earth and all it contains are nothing, and the heavens without light, that all the lights of heaven, in comparison with God, are perfect darkness. Thus all created things, with the affections bestowed upon them, are nothing, because they are a hindrance, and the privation of our transformation in God, just as darkness is nothing, and less than nothing, being the absence of ‘light. And as he who is in darkness comprehends not the light, so the soul, the affections of which are given to the creature, shall never comprehend God. Until our soul is purged of these affections we shall not possess God in this life in the pure transformation of love, nor in the life to come in the beatific vision. To make this more clear I shall enter into some particulars.

4. The whole creation, compared with the infinite being of God, is nothing; and so the soul, the affections of which are set on created things, is nothing, and even less than nothing before God, because love begets equality and likeness, and even inferiority to the object beloved. Such a soul, therefore, cannot by any possibility be united to the infinite being of God, because that which is not can have no communion with that which is. All the beauty of the creation, in comparison with the infinite beauty of God, is supreme deformity, for ‘grace is deceitful and beauty is vain,' and so the soul, the affections of which are set on the beauty of any created thing whatever, shows before God nothing but deformity

c * Her. iv. 23. + Prove. xxxi. 30.

and can never be transformed in beauty, which is God, because deformity cannot attain unto beauty. All the grace and comeliness of creation, compared with the grace of God, is supreme disgrace and supreme disfavour, and that soul, therefore, which is captivated by the grace and comeliness of created things is in the eyes of God in disfavour and disgrace, incapable of the infinite grace and beauty, for that which is ill-favoured is far removed from that which is infinitely gracious.

5. All the goodness of the whole world together, in comparison with the infinite goodness of God, is wickedness rather than goodness, for ‘none is good but only God,’⁴ and that soul is, therefore, wicked before God, the affections of which are set on the things of this world; and as wickedness can have no fellowship with goodness, so that soul cannot be united in perfect union with God, who is the supreme goodness.

6. All the wisdom of the world, and all human cunning, compared with the infinite wisdom of God, is simple and supreme ignorance, ‘for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.’ +t He, therefore, who shall labour to attain to union with the wisdom of God, in reliance on his own wisdom and skill, is supremely ignorant, and infinitely distant therefrom: for ignorance knoweth not what wisdom is. They who consider themselves gifted with knowledge are in the eyes of God most ignorant, ‘professing themselves to be wise, they become fools.’⁵ They alone attain to the divine wisdom who, like children and ignorant ones, lay aside their own wisdom, and serve God in love. This is the wisdom to which St. Paul refers, saying, ‘Let no man deceive himself; if any man among you seem to be wise in this world, let him become a fool that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.’* Ignorance, therefore, rather than knowledge, becomes that soul which strives after union with the wisdom of God.

7. All the liberty and power of the world, compared with the power and liberty of the Spirit of God, is but supreme slavery, wretchedness, and captivity; and so he who loves superiority and dignities, and the indulgence of his desires, stands before God, not as a son who is free, but as a person of mean condition, the slave of his passions, because he submits not to the holy teaching, which saith, ‘He that is the greater among you, let him become as the younger.”¢ Such an one will never attain to the true liberty of spirit attainable in the divine union, because slavery has no fellowship with liberty, liberty dwelleth not in a heart subject to desires, for that heart is in captivity, but in that which is free, the heart of a son. It was for this reason that Sara said unto Abraham: ‘Cast out this handmaid and her son, for the son of the handmaid shall not be heir with my son Isaac.’ ¢

8. All the sweetness and all the pleasures which all the things of this world furnish to the will are, in comparison with the sweetness and pleasure which is God, supreme pain, torment, and bitterness. He, therefore, wr Air. 18) 19. + S. Luke xxii. 26. Gen. xxi. 10. who shall set his heart upon them is, in the eyes of God, worthy of pain, torment, and bitterness, and can never attain to those delights with which the divine union abounds.

9. All the riches and glory of the whole creation compared with the true riches, which is God, is supreme poverty and meanness, and he who sets his heart upon them is, in God’s sight, supremely poor and mean, and can never attain to the blessed estate of riches and glory, which is the transformation of the soul in God; for that which is mean and poor is infinitely distant from that which is supremely rich and glorious.

10. For this cause, then, the divine wisdom bewails men; namely, because they make themselves loathsome, mean, wretched, and poor, through their love for that which is beautiful, rich, and noble in the eyes of the world. ‘O men, to you I cry, and my voice is to the sons of men. O little ones, understand subtlety, and ye unwise mark. Hear, for I will speak of great things. . .. With me are riches and glory, glorious riches and justice. For my fruit is better than gold and precious stone, and my blossoms than chosen silver. 1 walk in the way of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment, that I may enrich them that love me, and may replenish their treasures. * Here God addresses Himself to those who set their affections on the things of this world; He calls them little ones, because they make themselves — little, like the object of their love. He bids them ‘understand subtlety,’ and ‘mark,’ because He is speaking of great things, and not of little things, such as they are. He tells them that great riches and glory, objects of their love, are with Him and in Him, and not where they think they shall find them. ‘Glorious riches and justice’ are with wisdom. For though the things of this world may seem to men to be something, yet let them take notice, the things of God are better. The fruit of wisdom is better than gold and precious stones, and that which wisdom produces in the soul is preferable to the chosen silver which they love. This is applicable to every kind of affection to which we are liable in this life.