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The Obscure Night of The Soul

Gelesen von Ed Humpal

(4,625 Sterne; 28 Bewertungen)

The Obscure Night of the Soul, better know today as The Dark Night of the Soul, is the distilled teaching of St John of the Cross, who reintroduced and revolutionized Christian Contemplation in the 16th Century. The text remains in print until this day, and has been an inspiration to seekers for centuries. St John's method is known as the Via Negativa, defined in Wikipedia as "a type of theological thinking that attempts to describe God, the Divine Good, by negation, to speak only in terms of what may not be said about the perfect goodness that is God...In brief, negative theology is an attempt to clarify religious experience and language about the Divine through discernment, gaining knowledge of what God is not (apophasis), rather than by describing what God is. The apophatic tradition is often, though not always, allied with the approach of mysticism, which focuses on a spontaneous or cultivated individual experience of the divine reality beyond the realm of ordinary perception, an experience often unmediated by the structures of traditional organized religion or by the conditioned role-playing and learned defensive behavior of the outer man." - Summary by Ed Humpal and Wikipedia (5 hr 1 min)

Chapters

Argument and Stanzas

3:57

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Book I, Chapter 1, Imperfections of Beginners

5:54

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Book I, Chapter 2, Imperfections of Pride

9:35

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Book I, Chapter 3, Imperfections of Avarice

4:30

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Book I, Chapter 4, Imperfection of Luxury

7:42

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Book I, Chapter 5, Imperfections of Anger

2:36

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Book I, Chapter 6, Imperfections of Spiritual Gluttony

8:33

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Book 1, Chapter 7, Imperfections of Envy and Spiritual Sloth

4:48

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Book I, Chapter 8, Explanation of "The Obscure Night."

5:21

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Book I, Chapter 9, Signs that One is Walking in this Night

11:33

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Book I, Chapter 10, Conduct upon Entering this Night

6:51

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Book I, Chapter 11, Explanation of the Second Line of the Stanza

7:22

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Book I, Chapter 12, Benefits of the Night of Sense

12:37

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Book I, Chapter 13, Other Benefits of the Night of Sense

10:12

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Book I, Chapter 14, Explanation of the Last Line of the First Stanza

6:06

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Book II, Chapter 1, The Second Night, That of the Spirit

4:37

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Book II, Chapter 2, Imperfections of Proficients

5:07

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Book II, Chapter 3, Introduction

4:14

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Book II, Chapter 4, The Second Stanza, Spiritually Explained

2:44

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Book II, Chapter 5, Obscure Contemplation is Pain and Torment for the Soul

8:21

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Book II, Chapter 6, Other Sufferings in this Night

8:52

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Book II, Chapter 7, Trials of the Will

11:18

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Book II, Chapter 8, Trials of the Soul

6:23

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Book II, Chapter 9, How this Night Enlightens the Mind While It Brings Darkness…

12:36

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Book II, Chapter 10, Explanation of this Purgation by a Comparison

7:46

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Book II, Chapter 11, Passion of Divine Love the Fruit of these Afflictions

7:45

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Book II, Chapter 12, How this Night is like Purgatory, How Divine Wisdom Illumi…

6:17

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Book II, Chapter 13, Other Sweet Effects of the Dark Night

10:50

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Book II, Chapter 14, The Last Lines of the First Stanza Spiritually Explained

1:57

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Book II, Chapter 15, Explanation of the Second Stanza

16:14

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Book II, Chapter 16, How the Soul Travels Securely in Darkness

15:12

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Book II, Chapter 17, Obscure Contemplation is Secret

9:57

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Book II, Chapter 18, This Secret Wisdom is also a Ladder

5:49

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Book II, Chapter 19, The First Five Degrees of the Mystic Ladder

9:36

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Book II, Chapter 20, The Other Five Degrees

6:32

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Book II, Chapter 21, The Meaning of 'Disguised'

9:57

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Book II, Chapter 22, Happiness of the Soul

1:47

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Book II, Chapter 23, The Wonderful Hiding Place of the Soul

13:40

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Book II, Chapter 24, The Last Line of the Second Stanza Explained

4:03

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Conclusion

2:37

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Bewertungen

Indispensable for those who want to be holy

(5 Sterne)

This great spiritual classic can be intimidating and discouraging for those who are not ready for it. Readers should start with John's Spiritual Canticle or Living Flame of Love. These works inspire one toward a greater love of God and put the difficult teachings on purgation in context. For those who want to surrender all, John's guidance through the purgation that is necessary is unrivaled in all of Christian history.

(5 Sterne)

I find this an excellent read for anybody who finds themselves trapped in a state of apathy or just disassociation from what they used to consider their meaning or what they valued. St John is writing similar to Nietzsche and Jung would write many centuries later. I find, even being five plus centuries old, it still resonates today. Also an excellent reading.