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3.87 AVERAGE
3.87 AVERAGE
mindy0608's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
The Interior Castle uses beautiful imagery to explain all of the different stages of prayer and provides many insights into how to advance towards the most inner rooms.
I will say that it is easy reading at first, because Christians probably relate at least a little bit to the experiences of the first few mansions. It does get rather dry once you get to the mansions that you cannot relate to. St. Theresa also tends to restate herself and is at times wordy.
However, you can tell how humble and gracious St. Theresa is. I felt like I got to know her better through reading this book.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and have gained many insights into how to become more holy.
I will say that it is easy reading at first, because Christians probably relate at least a little bit to the experiences of the first few mansions. It does get rather dry once you get to the mansions that you cannot relate to. St. Theresa also tends to restate herself and is at times wordy.
However, you can tell how humble and gracious St. Theresa is. I felt like I got to know her better through reading this book.
Overall, I enjoyed this book and have gained many insights into how to become more holy.
venusdoom517's review against another edition
informative
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
xander_reader_'s review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
lzak's review against another edition
challenging
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
cbrown12496's review against another edition
They don't write 'em like they used to. The writings of St. Teresa have meant so much to me over the last couple of years; her honesty, humility, and charity are a balm to those who, like me, often chafe at the hubris that characterizes so much of contemporary spiritual writing. "Few tasks which I have been commanded to undertake by obedience have been so difficult as this present one of writing about matters relating to prayer," she writes. "for one reason, because I do not feel that the Lord has given me either the spirituality or the desire for it; for another, because for the last three months I have been suffering from such noises and weakness in the head that I find it troublesome to write even about necessary business."
Right off the bat, it's profound humility that gives shape to this most insightful little guide. And as Teresa demonstrates at each stop through the Interior Castle that is the human soul, it's humility that gives shape to the whole of contemplative life. Humility, of course, doesn't consist of self-denigration, but self-knowledge. The whole of this book is an invitation to practice that kind of humility. It's easy, then, to see why Simone DeBeauvoir said of her, "Saint Teresa is one of the only women to have lived the human condition for herself, in total abandonment."
With that in mind, a good deal of what Teresa has to say is quite challenging. If humility is the groundwork on which the Interior Castle is built, complete abandonment to divine will (read: detachment) is the only real means of entry. I wouldn't, therefore, recommend this as introductory text to contemplation (or to the corpus of St. Teresa at all, for that matter). Since Teresa was so fond of Song of Solomon, it's best to heed the Bride's words to the Daughters of Jerusalem: "Do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready!"
Right off the bat, it's profound humility that gives shape to this most insightful little guide. And as Teresa demonstrates at each stop through the Interior Castle that is the human soul, it's humility that gives shape to the whole of contemplative life. Humility, of course, doesn't consist of self-denigration, but self-knowledge. The whole of this book is an invitation to practice that kind of humility. It's easy, then, to see why Simone DeBeauvoir said of her, "Saint Teresa is one of the only women to have lived the human condition for herself, in total abandonment."
With that in mind, a good deal of what Teresa has to say is quite challenging. If humility is the groundwork on which the Interior Castle is built, complete abandonment to divine will (read: detachment) is the only real means of entry. I wouldn't, therefore, recommend this as introductory text to contemplation (or to the corpus of St. Teresa at all, for that matter). Since Teresa was so fond of Song of Solomon, it's best to heed the Bride's words to the Daughters of Jerusalem: "Do not stir up or awaken love until it is ready!"
callmenoona's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
5.0
If you get it, you get it.
shany_strawberry's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.0