While imprisoned in a tiny cell for his attempts to reform the Church, sixteenth-century Spanish mystic John
of the Cross composed many of his now classic poems of the soul's longing for God. Written on a scroll smuggled
to him by one of his guards, his songs are the ultimate expression of the spiritual seeker's journey from estranged
despair to blissful union with the divine. After escaping his captors, John fell into a state of profound ecstasy
and wrote Dark Night of the Soul. Later, he added an important commentary to his poem to guide other searching
souls along the arduous path to communion with God. Here, for the first time, a scholar unaffiliated with the Catholic
Church has translated this timeless work. Mirabai Starr, who has studied Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism, lends
the seeker's sensibility to John's powerful text and brings this classic work to the twenty-first century in a
brilliant and beautiful rendering.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Preface
Introduction
Prologue
Book I Night of Sense
Book II Night of the Spirit
