{The Dark Nights}[20th March 1988]

[Redbook5:109][19880320:2300]{The Dark Nights}[20th March 1988]

.2300

I think that in an earlier Journal volume* I identified the Outer Circle, lower hemisphere, with the Dark Night of the Soul, of St. John of the Cross – in fact, checking back, with aridity described in a Times review of a book on the D[ark] N[ight] o[f] t[he] S[oul]:** I was being more cautious*** than I remembered. But a quick glance at the contents page of my copy (which was in store when I wrote the Vol III entry* in Scotland) suggests strongly that the Outer Circle corresponds**** to the Dark Night of the Senses, since St. John uses the same order of Vices# as I have placed from Ordination to Simplification.

The Dark Night of the Spirit, of course, follows the Dark Night of the Senses; or accompanies it, according to the translator's introduction#* to 'The Cloud of Unknowing'#**

#***

19880321.0850

Having begun to read it – I see that the order of vices is not necessarily the order of their occurrence.

*ref. III, [[Redbook3:37-38][19870326:1543r]{Corruption and Aridity: The Dark Night of the Soul}[26^th March 1987],] 37-38

**[Trouble is, I can't get out of my head The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul (Douglas Adams, 1988).... <20180213>]

***[in the entry referred to than ‘remembered’ in the opening words of this journal entry, presumably.]

****or can correspond

#ref IV. [(e.g.) [Redbook4:144-145][19871020:2058b]{Angelic Hierarchies [continued (20)]}[20th October 1987] (presumably)]

#*by Clifton Woltes (Penguin Classics 1961,1978)

#**[The Cloud of Unknowing (Middle English: The Cloude of Unknowyng) is an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century. The text is a spiritual guide on contemplative prayer in the late Middle Ages. The underlying message of this work suggests that the way to know God is to abandon consideration of God's particular activities and attributes, and be courageous enough to surrender one's mind and ego to the realm of "unknowing", at which point one may begin to glimpse the nature of God. (Wikipedia)]

#***{cf. VI.[] 267,269.}

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