Posted inDharma, General News & Announcements

St John of the Cross – To Reach Satisfaction in All

November 15, 2021

Poem Maura Noone quoted in her talk on Thursday November 18, from John of the Cross.

TO REACH SATISFACTION IN ALL

To reach satisfaction in all, desire its possession in nothing.
To come to the knowledge of all, desire the knowledge of nothing.
To come to possess all, desire to possess nothing.
To arrive at being all, desire to be nothing.

To come to the pleasure you have not,
you must go by a way in which you enjoy not.
To come to the knowledge you have not,
you must go by a way in which you know not.

To come to the possession you have not,
you must go by a way in which you possess not.
To come to be what you are not,
you must go by a way in which you are not.

When you turn toward something, you cease to cast yourself upon the all;
For to go from the all to the all, you must leave yourself in all.
And when you come to the possession of all,
you must possess it without wanting anything.

In this nakedness the spirit finds its rest, for when it desires nothing,
nothing raises it up,
and nothing weighs it down,
because it is in the center of its humility.

John of the Cross

 

 

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