{"id":8511,"date":"2024-12-20T11:08:07","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T18:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8511"},"modified":"2024-12-20T11:08:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T18:08:07","slug":"john-of-the-cross-the-fountain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2024\/12\/20\/john-of-the-cross-the-fountain\/","title":{"rendered":"John of the Cross – The Fountain"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fountain
\nby John of the Cross<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by Willis Barnstone<\/font><\/p>\n

How well I know that flowing spring
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night.<\/p>\n

The eternal fountain is unseen.
\nHow well I know where she has been
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night.<\/p>\n

I do not know her origin.
\nNone. Yet in her all things begin
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night.<\/p>\n

I know that nothing is so fair
\nand earth and firmament drink there
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night.<\/p>\n

I know that none can wade inside
\nto find her bright bottomless tide
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night.<\/p>\n

Her shining never has a blur;
\nI know that all light comes from her
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night.<\/p>\n

I know her streams converge and swell
\nand nourish people, skies and hell
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night.<\/p>\n

The stream whose birth is in this source
\nI know has a gigantic force
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night.<\/p>\n

The stream from but these two proceeds
\nyet neither one, I know, precedes
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night.<\/p>\n

The eternal fountain is unseen
\nin living bread that gives us being
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night.<\/p>\n

She calls on all mankind to start
\nto drink her water, though in dark,
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 for black is night.<\/p>\n

O living fountain that I crave,
\nin bread of life I see her flame
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from To Touch the Sky: Poems of Mystical, Spiritual & Metaphysical Light<\/a>, Translated by Willis Barnstone<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by John Wilson<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

As we enter the Christmas season, my thoughts turn to one of my favorite Christian poets, John of the Cross. This is a relatively simple poem, but it touches on several key themes in John of the Cross\u2019s writings: a dark night, unknowing, and a fountain.<\/p>\n

In this poem, John of the Cross is speaking of a secret fountain as if it is a divine, living being \u2014 and it is. This isn\u2019t merely a poetic metaphor, it is a description of actual mystical experience rendered into the language of poetry.<\/p>\n

Mystics throughout the world and in all traditions describe an awareness of a flowing of water, a water that is alive. Coming into contact with that water, touching it, drinking it, feeling it flow inside you and all around you, quickens a new sense of life within. Everything, yourself included, is suddenly seen as radically alive in a way that could not have been imagined before. It is this water that is the foundational \u201cstuff\u201d of the manifest world, all things are formed of it and exist within it.<\/p>\n

Accompanying this is a sense of a rising up and overflowing of energy \u2014 a fountain. This is felt as originating in the seat, beginning to spread out in the solar plexus, flowing generously in the heart, and anointing the crown with a glistening light.<\/p>\n

John of the Cross refers to this fountain as \u201cshe,\u201d equating it with the Holy Spirit in Christian tradition.<\/p>\n

And why is this fountain always discovered \u201cin black of night\u201d? Night, the dark night of the soul, is fundamental to the mystical language developed by John of the Cross. One way to understand it is as the disorienting space of initiation, when the awareness has released its identification with material creation, and waits uncertainly for the Divine. Understood this way, the night is the spiritual threshold. It is within this psychic emptiness that we discover the fountain.<\/p>\n

May this Christmas, Solstice, Hanukkah, New Year be one of healing and renewal. May we all rediscover the spiritual light amidst the dark of winter. Sending love to you all.<\/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":"

The Fountain by John of the Cross English version by Willis Barnstone How well I know that flowing spring \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night. The eternal fountain is unseen. How well I know where she has been \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in black of night. I do not know her origin. None. Yet in her all things begin […]<\/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":[53,79,2578,535,532,534,518,156],"class_list":["post-8511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-catholic-poetry","tag-christian-poetry","tag-dark-night-of-the-soul","tag-fountain","tag-john-of-the-cross","tag-juan-de-la-cruz","tag-kundalini","tag-spanish-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8511","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=8511"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8512,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8511\/revisions\/8512"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}