{"id":7171,"date":"2021-06-04T07:29:34","date_gmt":"2021-06-04T14:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=7171"},"modified":"2021-06-04T07:31:02","modified_gmt":"2021-06-04T14:31:02","slug":"john-of-the-cross-i-entered-the-unknown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2021\/06\/04\/john-of-the-cross-i-entered-the-unknown\/","title":{"rendered":"John of the Cross – I Entered the Unknown"},"content":{"rendered":"

I Entered the Unknown
\nby John of the Cross<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Ivan M. Granger<\/font><\/p>\n

I entered the unknown,
\nand there I remained unknowing,
\nall knowledge transcended.<\/i><\/p>\n

Where I entered I knew not,
\nbut seeing myself there,
\nnot knowing where,
\ngreat things then made themselves known.
\nWhat I sensed I cannot say,
\nfor I remained unknowing,
\nall knowledge transcended.<\/i><\/p>\n

In this peace and purity
\nwas perfect knowledge.
\nIn profoundest solitude
\nI understood with absolute clarity
\nsomething so secret
\nthat I was left stammering,
\nall knowledge transcended.<\/i><\/p>\n

So deep was I within,
\nso absorbed, transported,
\nthat all senses fled,
\nand outer awareness fell away.
\nMy spirit received the gift
\nof unknowing knowing,
\nall knowledge transcended.<\/i><\/p>\n

He who reaches this realm
\nloses himself,
\nfor all he once knew
\nnow is beneath his notice,
\nand his mind so expands
\nthat he remains unknowing,
\nall knowledge transcended.<\/i><\/p>\n

And the higher he rises
\nthe less he knows:
\nThat is the dark cloud
\nthat shines in the night.
\nThe one who knows this
\nalways remains unknowing,
\nall knowledge transcended.<\/i><\/p>\n

This knowing by unknowing
\nis of such exalted power,
\nthat the disputations of the learned
\nfail to grasp it,
\nfor their knowledge does not reach
\nto knowing by unknowing,
\nall knowledge transcended.<\/i><\/p>\n

Of such supreme perfection
\nis this knowledge
\nthat no faculty or method of mind
\ncan comprehend it;
\nbut he who conquers himself
\nwith this unknowing knowing,
\nwill always transcend.<\/i><\/p>\n

And if you are ready to receive it,
\nthis sum of all knowledge is discovered
\nin the deepest ecstasy
\nof the Divine Essence.
\nGoodness and grace
\ngrant us this unknowing,
\nall knowledge transcended.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from This Dance of Bliss: Ecstatic Poetry from Around the World<\/a>, Edited by Ivan M. Granger<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by oddsock<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

St. John of the Cross repeatedly contrasts knowledge with unknowing.<\/p>\n

I entered the unknown,
\nand there I remained unknowing,<\/i>
\nall knowledge transcended.<\/p>\n

The Spanish word rendered here as \u201cknowledge\u201d is ciencia<\/i>, which has the more obvious translation of \u201cscience.\u201d But the poem\u2019s archaic use of \u201cscience\u201d implies not the scientific process, but a more general sense of knowledge acquired through reason and the testimony of the senses.<\/p>\n

And John of the Cross emphasizes that his unknowing is superior.<\/p>\n

He is not advocating ignorance, however. The Spanish saint is instead speaking about the mystical idea of \u201cunknowing,\u201d the state in which all concepts and mental filters have been set aside. In that state of unknowing, we rise above the elaborate constructions of the logical mind and come to rest in pure awareness (\u201cknowing by unknowing\u201d). He is contrasting true, unfiltered knowing, gnosis, with the mere accumulation and organization of information.<\/p>\n

To be unknowing in this sense is to encounter every instant entirely as it is, in pure wonder, without projection, without anticipation or agitation. The intellectual mind\u2014a hugely important tool!\u2014has one very serious weakness: It never encounters the present moment nakedly. It is always processing, analyzing, making everything fit within its comprehension. It never truly witnesses; it only interprets. <\/p>\n

We certainly want to cultivate a critical intellect, but we must always remember that it is not the whole of consciousness. The awareness can step beyond the intellect. To fully apprehend reality, it must.<\/p>\n

So deep was I within,
\nso absorbed, transported,
\nthat all senses fled,
\nand outer awareness fell away.<\/i><\/p>\n

This state of supreme unknowing is not perception in the sense of drawing in and interpreting exterior input through the senses. In normal perception, the intellect sifts and sorts that sensory data and formulates it into a working hypothesis of what reality is. That hypothesis, however, is always an incomplete shorthand that only approximates reality.<\/p>\n

By contrast, the mystic\u2019s unknowing is the centered awareness of unfiltered reality. This awareness does not tilt off its seat in order to reach out through the senses. It is at rest, poised. It witnesses without an egoic agenda. The full awareness in this state of unknowing does not sift reality, it bathes in it.<\/p>\n

Rather than an interpretation, one sees clearly, free from artificial mental constructions\u2013knowing by unknowing.<\/p>\n

And if you are ready to hear it,
\nthis sum of all knowledge is discovered
\nin the deepest ecstasy
\nof the Divine Essence.
\nGoodness and grace
\ngrant us this unknowing,<\/i><\/p>\n

\u2026all knowledge transcended. <\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: John of the Cross<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
The Longing in Between: Sacred Poetry from Around the World (A Poetry Chaikhana Anthology)<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPoetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nReal Thirst: Poetry of the Spiritual Journey<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nTo Touch the Sky: Poems of Mystical, Spiritual & Metaphysical Light<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nFor Lovers of God Everywhere: Poems of the Christian Mystics<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"John<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nJohn of the Cross<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Spain (1542 \u2013 1591) Timeline<\/a>
\nChristian<\/a> : Catholic<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

John of the Cross was born Juan de Ypes in a village near Avila, Spain. His father died when he was young, and he was raised in poverty with his two brothers by his widowed mother.<\/p>\n

In his early 20s, John entered the Carmelite order and moved to Salamanca to further his studies. Among his other teachers was the well-known mystic and poet Fray Luis de Leon.<\/p>\n

Still in his 20s, the young John of the Cross first met the woman who would become his mentor, Teresa of Avila, who was in her 50s at the time. Teresa of Avila was a mystic, a writer, a social activist, and a founder of several monasteries. She had begun a reform movement within the Carmelite Order, advocating a return to simplicity and the essential spirituality that should be at the heart of any monastic order. John of the Cross joined her movement of Discalced Carmelites and quickly became a leading figure himself.<\/p>\n

Members of the unreformed Carmelites felt threatened by the critique from this new movement, and they turned to force, imprisoning and even torturing John of the Cross. He was held in a tiny cell in Toledo for nine months, until he escaped.<\/p>\n

As terrible as this experience must have been, it was during his time of imprisonment that John\u2019s spirituality and poetry began to blossom. The experience of losing everything, of being supremely vulnerable, seems to have brought John of the Cross to a profound state of openness and spiritual insight. <\/p>\n

It was during his imprisonment that John began to write poetry.<\/p>\n

Once he escaped from prison, John continued his work with Teresa of Avila, founding new monasteries and advocating for their spiritual reforms. He spent the rest of his life as a spiritual director among the Discalced Carmelites.<\/p>\n

His two best known works, the Spiritual Canticle<\/i> and Dark Night of the Soul<\/i>, are considered masterpieces of Spanish poetry and esoteric Christianity. Besides these, he wrote many other short poems, along with extensive commentaries on the meaning of his poetry as they relate to the soul\u2019s experience of divine reality.<\/p>\n

More poetry by John of the Cross<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I Entered the Unknown by John of the Cross English version by Ivan M. Granger I entered the unknown, and there I remained unknowing, all knowledge transcended. Where I entered I knew not, but seeing myself there, not knowing where, great things then made themselves known. What I sensed I cannot say, for I remained […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[53,79,532,1722,675,65,1670,700,1610,1815],"class_list":["post-7171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-catholic-poetry","tag-christian-poetry","tag-john-of-the-cross","tag-knowing","tag-knowledge","tag-perception","tag-senses","tag-silence","tag-st-john-of-the-cross","tag-unknown"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7171"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7173,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7171\/revisions\/7173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}