St. John of the Cross

Perhaps you will find this as beautiful and meaningful as I do...

Verses on the Ecstasy of Deep Contemplation

Translated from the Spanish poem

by San Juan de la Cruz (St. John of the Cross) 1542-1591

I entered where I never knew,

and I was left without knowing,

transcending all knowledge.

I never knew where I was entering,

but when I found myself there,

without knowing where I was,

I understood important matters.

I don’t say what I felt,

for I was left without knowing,

transcending all knowledge.

It was the perfect knowledge of peace and piety,

a straight road well understood in deep solitude.

It was something so secret that I was left babbling,

transcending all knowledge.

I was drawn into it,

so absorbed and taken out of myself,

that my feeling was left devoid of all feeling

and my mind was endued with an understanding

by not understanding,

transcending all knowledge.

He who really reaches that point

faints away from himself, he scorns

all that he formerly knew;

and his knowledge increases so much

that he is left without knowing,

transcending all knowledge.

The higher one rises, the less one understands

what the shadowy cloud is

which brightens the night;

therefore he knows

it remains ever unknowing,

transcending all knowledge.

This unknowing knowledge is of such great power

that the scholars can never overcome it by arguing:

for their knowledge does not extend

to this non-understanding

transcending all knowledge.

And this highest way of knowing

is so completely superior

that there is no university

or science that can attempt it:

he who can overcome himself

by a knowing non-knowing will always be

transcending.

And if you want to listen, this highest knowledge

consists of a heightened perception of

the Divine Essence; it is a result of His mercy

to leave one not understanding,

transcending all knowledge.

Original name Juan de Yepes y Álvarez, (born June 24, 1542, Fontiveros, Spain—died December 14, 1591, Ubeda; canonized 1726; feast day December 14), one of the greatest Christian mystics and Spanish poets, doctor of the church, reformer of Spanish monasticism, and cofounder of the contemplative order of Discalced Carmelites. He is a patron saint of mystics and contemplatives and of Spanish poets.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-John-of-the-Cross