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jeeeeenniferh's review against another edition
4.5
4.5 stars
Honestly quite life changing
There were so many truth bombs that helped me to fully comprehend and understand the "dark nights" I endure and have endured. It was quite astonishing, actually, how St. John of the Cross was fully able to put into words what I experienced and continue to experience during these extended periods of suffering in my life (especially considering my own failure in putting them into words). The only reason why I would not yet rate it 5 stars is because I know that I still failed to fully comprehend this work in all its glory, and I believe I would need many more reads in order to truly appreciate the masterpiece that it is.
Awesome quotes to convince you to read it:
"For the nearer the soul approaches Him, the blacker is the darkness which it feels and the deeper is the obscurity which comes through its weakness; just as, the nearer a man approaches the sun, the greater are the darkness and the affliction caused him through the great splendor of the sun and through the weakness and impurity of his eyes. In the same way, so immense is the spiritual light of God, and so greatly does it transcend our natural understanding, that the nearer we approach it, the more it blinds and darkens us" (85).
"Therefore, O spiritual soul, when thou seest thy desire obscured, thy affections arid and constrained, and thy faculties bereft of their capacity for any interior exercise, be not afflicted by this, but rather consider it a great happiness, since God is freeing thee from thyself and taking the matter from thy hands. For with those hands, howsoever well they may serve thee, thou wouldst never labor so effectively, so perfectly and so securely (because of their clumsiness and uncleanness) as now, when God takes thy hand and guides thee in the darkness, as though thou wert blind, to an end and by a way which thou knowest not. Nor couldst thou ever hope to travel with the aid of thine own eyes and feet, howsoever good thou be as a walker" (83-84).
Honestly quite life changing
There were so many truth bombs that helped me to fully comprehend and understand the "dark nights" I endure and have endured. It was quite astonishing, actually, how St. John of the Cross was fully able to put into words what I experienced and continue to experience during these extended periods of suffering in my life (especially considering my own failure in putting them into words). The only reason why I would not yet rate it 5 stars is because I know that I still failed to fully comprehend this work in all its glory, and I believe I would need many more reads in order to truly appreciate the masterpiece that it is.
Awesome quotes to convince you to read it:
"For the nearer the soul approaches Him, the blacker is the darkness which it feels and the deeper is the obscurity which comes through its weakness; just as, the nearer a man approaches the sun, the greater are the darkness and the affliction caused him through the great splendor of the sun and through the weakness and impurity of his eyes. In the same way, so immense is the spiritual light of God, and so greatly does it transcend our natural understanding, that the nearer we approach it, the more it blinds and darkens us" (85).
"Therefore, O spiritual soul, when thou seest thy desire obscured, thy affections arid and constrained, and thy faculties bereft of their capacity for any interior exercise, be not afflicted by this, but rather consider it a great happiness, since God is freeing thee from thyself and taking the matter from thy hands. For with those hands, howsoever well they may serve thee, thou wouldst never labor so effectively, so perfectly and so securely (because of their clumsiness and uncleanness) as now, when God takes thy hand and guides thee in the darkness, as though thou wert blind, to an end and by a way which thou knowest not. Nor couldst thou ever hope to travel with the aid of thine own eyes and feet, howsoever good thou be as a walker" (83-84).
ashponders's review against another edition
3.0
Not quite as uh, mystic, as I was hoping? Probably my own fault, not Johnny's.
virtualmima's review against another edition
1.0
Read for instructions on how to give yourself mental illness.
drealuc's review against another edition
2.0
My low star rating is not for the poetry of St. John, which is truly the most beautiful and inspiring poetry I have ever read.
The translation was absolutely terrible. St. John was a master wordsmith, creating beauty not only in the content of his words, but in the form as well - crafting them to sound like music as they are being read. In his notes, the translator discusses his attempt to focus on the poetic form rather than on merely the content of the poems so that his English version would also have a musical quality. I would argue that in an attempt to translate poetically rather than directly, he went too far and practically erased the content. The translation falls flat. It removes all the mysticism and beauty and leaves behind bland generic English rhymes that are far removed from the original meaning.
For instance:
Que bien se yo la fonte, que mana, y corre:
aunque es de noche.
The poem, composed while St. John was wrongfully and horrifically imprisoned for 9 months, is about his joy in being able to know and trust in God and to see His goodness DESPITE being in such a terrible place. His words throughout the poem “aunque es de noche” - even though / despite it being night. In contrast, the translation is blandly written as “in the dark of night,” which removes any implication of struggle or conflict, which is inherent in understanding where St. John is writing from.
Another example:
y que el en sus mismas manos
al mismo Dios tomaria
This poem describes the promise to Simeon that he would not see death until “he in his very own hands would take God Himself.” What a beautiful and awe-ful promise of being able to hold God himself in one’s arms. Contrast that with the pathetic translation “the good old man would dandle the marvelous boy.” How could it even compare?
Don’t pick up this version, trust me. If you were to simply read the English translation you would think St. John the most uninspired poet of all time.
The translation was absolutely terrible. St. John was a master wordsmith, creating beauty not only in the content of his words, but in the form as well - crafting them to sound like music as they are being read. In his notes, the translator discusses his attempt to focus on the poetic form rather than on merely the content of the poems so that his English version would also have a musical quality. I would argue that in an attempt to translate poetically rather than directly, he went too far and practically erased the content. The translation falls flat. It removes all the mysticism and beauty and leaves behind bland generic English rhymes that are far removed from the original meaning.
For instance:
Que bien se yo la fonte, que mana, y corre:
aunque es de noche.
The poem, composed while St. John was wrongfully and horrifically imprisoned for 9 months, is about his joy in being able to know and trust in God and to see His goodness DESPITE being in such a terrible place. His words throughout the poem “aunque es de noche” - even though / despite it being night. In contrast, the translation is blandly written as “in the dark of night,” which removes any implication of struggle or conflict, which is inherent in understanding where St. John is writing from.
Another example:
y que el en sus mismas manos
al mismo Dios tomaria
This poem describes the promise to Simeon that he would not see death until “he in his very own hands would take God Himself.” What a beautiful and awe-ful promise of being able to hold God himself in one’s arms. Contrast that with the pathetic translation “the good old man would dandle the marvelous boy.” How could it even compare?
Don’t pick up this version, trust me. If you were to simply read the English translation you would think St. John the most uninspired poet of all time.
simonvv's review against another edition
5.0
The further this book got, the more complex. I understood the first halve, but after that.
Topic: spiritual progress through purgation
Topic: spiritual progress through purgation
mimima's review against another edition
3.0
This meditation on the "Dark night of the Soul" is very Catholic and as such, talks a lot about purgatory and the purging that this night causes. While this is not my faith tradition's teaching, I found a lot of value in the acknowledgement of this night and that we must push though it.