The Dark Night of the SoulChapter II. Of certain imperfections of proficients

1. Habitual imperfections of proficients; roots of sin. 2. Fulness of mind.

3. Actual imperfections of proficients: self-deception. 4. Pride and presumption. 5. Necessity of spiritual night for perfection. 6. Continuation. PROFICIENTS labour under two kinds of imperfections; one habitual, the other actual. The habitual imperfections are their affections and imperfect habits which still remain, like roots, in the mind, where the purgation of sense could not penetrate. The difference between the purgation of these and of the others, is like the difference between plucking out a root, and tearing off a branch; or removing a fresh, and an old stain. For, as I have said, the purgation of sense is, for the spirit, merely the gate and entrance of contemplation, and serves rather to bend sense to the spirit than to unite the latter with God. The stains of the old man still remain in the spirit, though not visible to it, and if they be not removed by the strong soap and lye of the purgation of this night, the spirit cannot attain to the pureness of the divine union,

2. They suffer also from fulness of mind, and natural rudeness which every man contracts by sin; from distraction and dissipation of mind, which must be refined, enlightened, and made recollected in the sufferings and hardships of this night. All those who have not advanced beyond the state of proficients are subject to these habitual imperfections, which cannot co-exist, as I said before,! with the perfect state of union with God in love.

3. But all are not subject to actual imperfections in the same way; some, whose spiritual good is so much on the surface, and so much under the influence of sense, fall into greater unseemlinesses and dangers, of which I spoke in the beginning of this book. For as their mind and sense and feelings are full of fancies whereby they very often see imaginary and spiritual visions—all this, together with other pleasurable impressions, befall many of them in this state, wherein the devil and their own proper fancy most frequently delude the soul—and as satan is wont with so much sweetness to insinuate, and impress these imaginations, they are easily deluded and influenced by him, because they do not take the precaution to resign themselves into the hands of God, and defend themselves vigorously by faith against these visions and impressions, For now the devil causes many both to believe in vain visions and false prophecies, and to presume that God and His saints are speaking to them: they also frequently believe in their own fancies.

4. Now, too, satan is wont to fill them with pride and presumption; and they, led on by vanity and arrogance, make a show of themselves in the performance of exterior acts which have an air of sanctity, such as ecstasies and other appearances, They thus become bold with God, losing holy fear, which is the key and guard of all virtue. Some of them become so entangled in manifold falsehoods and delusions, and so persist in them, that their return to the pure road of virtue and real spirituality is exceedingly doubtful. They fall into this miserable condition because they gave way to these spiritual imaginations and feelings with overmuch confidence when they began to advance on the road of spirituality.

5. I have much to say of these imperfections of theirs, and how much more incurable these are than the others, because they consider them as more spiritual than those; but I shall pass on. One thing, however, I must say, to establish the necessity of the spiritual night which is the purgation of the soul that is to go on to perfection, that there is not one among the proficient, however great may be his exertions, who can be free from many of these natural affections and imperfect habits, the purification of which must, as I have said, necessarily precede the divine union,

6. Besides, and I have said it before, because the spiritual communications reach also to the lower part of the soul, they cannot be as intense, pure, and strong, as the divine union demands, and, therefore, if that is to be spirit where—perfectly detaching sense and spirit from all sweetness and from all imaginations—it will travel on the road of faith dark and pure, the proper and adequate means of union, as it is written: ‘I will espouse thee to Me in faith,’ that is, I will unite Myself to thee in faith.