The Interior Castle

OW SWEETNESS AND TENDERNESS IN PRAYER DIFFER FROM CONSOLATIONS.
EXPLAINS HOW ADVANTAGEOUS IT WAS FOR ST. TERESA TO COMPREHEND THAT THE
IMAGINATION AND THE UNDERSTANDING ARE NOT THE SAME THING. THIS CHAPTER
IS USEFUL FOR THOSE WHOSE THOUGHTS WANDER MUCH DURING PRAYER.

1. Graces received in this mansion. 2. Mystic favours. 3. Temptations
bring humility and merit. 4. Sensible devotion and natural joys. 5.
Sweetness in devotion. 6. St. Teresa's experience of it. 7. Love of
God, and how to foster it. 8. Distractions. 9. They do not destroy
divine union. 10. St. Teresa's physical distractions. 11. How to treat
distractions. 12. They should be disregarded. 13. Self-knowledge
necessary.

1. Now that I commence writing about the fourth mansions, it is
requisite, as I said, [107] to commend myself to the Holy Ghost and
to beg Him henceforth to speak for me, that I may be enabled to treat
these matters intelligibly. Henceforth they begin to be supernatural
and it will be most difficult to speak clearly about them, [108]
unless His Majesty undertakes it for me, as He did when I explained the
subject (as far as I understood it) somewhat about fourteen years ago.
[109] I believe I now possess more light about the favours God grants
some souls, but that is different from being able to elucidate them.
[110] May His Majesty enable me to do so if it would be useful, but
not otherwise.

2. As these mansions are nearer the King's dwelling they are very
beautiful, and so subtle are the things seen and heard in them, that,
as those tell us who have tried to do so, the mind cannot give a lucid
idea of them to those inexperienced in the matter. People who have
enjoyed these favours, especially if it was to any great extent, will
easily comprehend me.

3. Apparently a person must have dwelt for a long time in the former
mansions before entering these; although in ordinary cases the soul
must have been in the last one spoken of, yet, as you must often have
heard, there is no fixed rule, for God gives when, how, and to whom He
wills [111] --the goods are His own, and His choice wrongs no one.
[112] The poisonous reptiles rarely come into these rooms, and, if
they enter, do more good than harm. I think it is far better for them
to get in and make war on the soul in this state of prayer; were it not
tempted, the devil might sometimes deceive it about divine
consolations, thus injuring it far more. Besides, the soul would
benefit less, because all occasions of gaining merit would be
withdrawn, were it left continually absorbed in God. I am not confident
that this absorption is genuine when it always remains in the same
state, nor does it appear to me possible for the Holy Ghost to dwell
constantly within us, to the same extent, during our earthly exile.

4. I will now describe, as I promised, the difference between sweetness
in prayer and spiritual consolations. It appears to me that what we
acquire for ourselves in meditation and petitions to our Lord may be
termed sweetness in devotion.' [113] It is natural, although
ultimately aided by the grace of God. I must be understood to imply
this in all I say, for we can do nothing without Him. This sweetness
arises principally from the good work we perform, and appears to result
from our labours: well may we feel happy at having thus spent our time.
We shall find, on consideration, that many temporal matters give us the
same pleasure--such as unexpectedly coming into a large fortune,
suddenly meeting with a dearly-loved friend, or succeeding in any
important or influential affair which makes a sensation in the world.
Again, it would be felt by one who had been told her husband, brother,
or son was dead, and who saw him return to her alive. I have seen
people weep from such happiness, as I have done myself. I consider both
these joys and those we feel in religious matters to be natural ones.
Although there is nothing wrong about the former, yet those produced by
devotion spring from a more noble source--in short, they begin in
ourselves and end in God. Spiritual consolations, on the contrary,
arise from God, and our nature feels them and rejoices as keenly in
them, and indeed far more keenly, than in the others I described.

5. O Jesus! how I wish I could elucidate this point! It seems to me
that I can perfectly distinguish the difference between the two joys,
yet I have not the skill to make myself understood; may God give it me!
I remember a verse we say at Prime at the end of the final Psalm; the
last words are: Cum dilatasti cor meum'--When Thou didst dilate my
heart: [114] To those with much experience, this suffices to show the
difference between sweetness in prayer and spiritual consolations;
other people will require more explanation. The sensible devotion I
mentioned does not dilate the heart, but generally appears to narrow it
slightly; although joyful at seeing herself work for God, yet such a
person sheds tears of sorrow which seem partly produced by the
passions. I know little about the passions of the soul, or I could
write of them more clearly and could better define what comes from the
sensitive disposition and what is natural, having passed through this
state myself, but I am very stupid. Knowledge and learning are a great
advantage to every one.

6. My own experience of this delight and sweetness in meditation was
that when I began to weep over the Passion I could not stop until I had
a severe headache; [115] the same thing occurred when I grieved over
my sins: this was a great grace from our Lord. I do not intend to
inquire now which of these states of prayer is the better, but I wish I
knew how to explain the difference between the two. In that of which I
speak, the tears and good desires are often partly caused by the
natural disposition, but although this may be the case, yet, as I said,
these feelings terminate in God. Sensible devotion is very desirable if
the soul is humble enough to understand that it is not more holy on
account of these sentiments, which cannot always with certainty be
ascribed to charity, and even then are still the gift of God.

7. These feelings of devotion are most common with souls in the first
three mansions, who are nearly always using their understanding and
reason in making meditations. This is good for them, for they have not
been given grace for more; they should, however, try occasionally to
elicit some acts such as praising God, rejoicing in His goodness and
that He is what He is: let them desire that He may be honoured and
glorified. They must do this as best they can, for it greatly inflames
the will. Let them be very careful, when God gives these sentiments,
not to set them aside in order to finish their accustomed meditation.
But, having spoken fully on this subject elsewhere, [116] I will say
no more now. I only wish to warn you that to make rapid progress and to
reach the mansions we wish to enter, it is not so essential to think
much as to love much: therefore you must practise whatever most excites
you to this. Perhaps we do not know what love is, nor does this greatly
surprise me. Love does not consist in great sweetness of devotion, but
in a fervent determination to strive to please God in all things, in
avoiding, as far as possible, all that would offend Him, and in praying
for the increase of the glory and honour of His Son and for the growth
of the Catholic Church. These are the signs of love; do not imagine
that it consists in never thinking of anything but God, and that if
your thoughts wander a little all is lost. [117]

8. I, myself, have sometimes been troubled by this turmoil of thoughts.
I learnt by experience, but little more than four years ago, that our
thoughts, or it is clearer to call it our imagination, are not the same
thing as the understanding. I questioned a theologian on the subject;
he told me it was the fact, which consoled me not a little. As the
understanding is one of the powers of the soul, it puzzled me to see it
so sluggish at times, while, as a rule, the imagination takes flight at
once, so that God alone can control it by so uniting us to Himself
[118] that we seem, in a manner, detached from our bodies. It puzzled
me to see that while to all appearance the powers of the soul were
occupied with God and recollected in Him, the imagination was wandering
elsewhere.

9. Do Thou, O Lord, take into account all that we suffer in this way
through our ignorance. We err in thinking that we need only know that
we must keep our thoughts fixed on Thee. We do not understand that we
should consult those better instructed than ourselves, nor are we aware
that there is anything for us to learn. We pass through terrible
trials, on account of not understanding our own nature and take what is
not merely harmless, but good, for a grave fault. This causes the
sufferings felt by many people, particularly by the unlearned, who
practise prayer. They complain of interior trials, become melancholy,
lose their health, and even give up prayer altogether for want of
recognizing that we have within ourselves as it were, an interior
world. We cannot stop the revolution of the heavens as they rush with
velocity upon their course, neither can we control our imagination.
When this wanders we at once imagine that all the powers of the soul
follow it; we think everything is lost, and that the time spent in
God's presence is wasted. Meanwhile, the soul is perhaps entirely
united to Him in the innermost mansions, while the imagination is in
the precincts of the castle, struggling with a thousand wild and
venomous creatures and gaining merit by its warfare. Therefore we need
not let ourselves be disturbed, nor give up prayer, as the devil is
striving to persuade us. As a rule, all our anxieties and troubles come
from misunderstanding our own nature.

10. Whilst writing this I am thinking of the loud noise in my head
which I mentioned in the Introduction, and which has made it almost
impossible to obey the command given me to write this. It sounds as if
there were a number of rushing waterfalls within my brain, while in
other parts, drowned by the sound of the waters, are the voices of
birds singing and whistling. This tumult is not in my ears, but in the
upper part of my head, where, they say, is placed the superior part of
the soul. I have long thought that this must be so because the flight
of the spirit seems to take place from this part with great velocity.
[119] Please God I may recollect to explain the cause when writing of
the latter mansions, this not being the proper place for it. It may be
that God has sent this suffering in my head to help me to understand
the matter, for all this tumult in my brain does not interfere with my
prayer, nor with my speaking to you, but the great calm and love and
desires in my soul remain undisturbed and my mind is clear.

11. How, then, can the superior part of the soul remain undisturbed if
it resides in the upper part of the brain? I cannot account for it, but
am sure that I am speaking the truth. This noise disturbs my prayer
when unaccompanied with ecstasy, but when it is ecstatic I do not feel
any pain, however great. I should suffer keenly were I forced to cease
praying on account of these infirmities. We should not be distressed by
reason of our thoughts, nor allow ourselves to be worried by them: if
they come from the devil, he will let us alone if we take no notice of
them; and if they are, as often happens, one of the many frailties
entailed by Adam's sin, let us be patient and suffer them for the love
of God. Likewise, since we must eat and sleep without being able to
avoid it, much to our grief, let us acknowledge that we are human, and
long to be where no one may despise us. [120] Sometimes I recall
these words, spoken by the Spouse in the Canticle; [121] truly never
in our lives have we better reason to say them, for I think no earthly
scorn or suffering can try us so severely as these struggles within our
souls. All uneasiness or conflict can be borne while we have peace in
ourselves, as I said; but if, while seeking for rest amidst the
thousand trials of the world--knowing that God has prepared this rest
for us--the obstacle is found in ourselves, the trial must prove
painful and almost insufferable.

12. Take us therefore, O Lord, to where these miseries can no longer
cause us to be despised, for sometimes it seems as if they mocked our
souls. Even in this life God delivers us from them when we reach the
last mansion, as by His grace I will show you. Everybody is not so
violently distressed and assaulted by these weaknesses as I have been
for many years, [122] on account of my wickedness, so that it seems
as if I strove to take vengeance on myself. [123] Since I suffer so
much in this way, perhaps you may do the same, so I shall continue to
explain the subject to you in different ways, in order to find some
means of making it clear. The thing is inevitable, therefore do not let
it disturb or grieve you, but let the mill clack on while we grind our
wheat; that is, let us continue to work with our will and intellect.

13. These troubles annoy us more or less according to the state of our
health or in different circumstances. The poor soul suffers; although
not now to blame, it has sinned at other times, and must be patient. We
are so ignorant that what we have read and been told has not sufficed
to teach us to disregard wandering thoughts, therefore I shall not be
wasting time in instructing and consoling you about these trials.
However, this will help you but little until God chooses to enlighten
you, and additional measures are needed: His Majesty wishes us to learn
by ordinary means to understand ourselves and to recognize the share
taken in these troubles by our wandering imagination, our nature, and
the devil's temptations, instead of laying all the blame on our souls.
__________________________________________________________________

[107] First Mansions, ch. i. 1.

[108] There are two kinds of contemplation: acquired or natural, and
infused or supernatural. In their widest sense, including many
remarkable phenomena of Natural religion, and, of course, the most
wonderful manifestations recorded in the Old Testament, they form the
system called Mysticism and are the proper object of Mystical theology.
Natural or acquired contemplation is based upon an idealistic turn of
mind which enables the soul to gaze upon the Godhead (simple gaze, as
St. Teresa calls it) without approaching Him by the laborious process
of reasoning, and in so doing embraces Him with its affective powers;
like a person who, devoid of technical skill, takes in and is enamoured
by, the beauty of a painting. Infused contemplation is the highest act
of the Gifts of the Holy Ghost of Knowledge and Wisdom. It is often
impossible, nor is it always essential, to determine where acquired
contemplation ends and infused contemplation begins. But it should be
borne in mind that both the one and the other are operations and not
merely a passive state or mere fruition. Even the highest form of
contemplation, the Beatific Vision, is a supernatural act of the soul,
an operation of unending duration. A ship moved by a gentle breeze is
rightly said to be actually sailing though the rowers are at rest.

[109] Life, ch. xii. 11.

[110] Life, ch. xvii. 7.

[111] Philippus a SS. Trinitate, Summa Tleologiæ Mysticæ, pars iii.
tract. i. disc. iii. art. 2. Life, ch. xv. 11, xxii. 22, 23. Way of
Perf. ch. xvi. 4, xli. 2. Concep. ch. v. 3.

[112] S. Matt. xx. 15: Aut non licet mihi quod volo facere?'

[113] Way of Perf., ch. xix. 8. Castle, M. iv. ch. ii. 4. The first
three mansions of the Interior Castle correspond with the first water,'
or the prayer of Meditation, explained in ch. xi-xiii. of the Life; the
fourth mansion, or the prayer of Quiet, with the second water,' Life,
ch. xiv. and xv.; the fifth mansion, or the prayer of Union, with the
third water,' Life, ch. xvi. and xvii.; and the sixth mansion, ecstasy,
etc., with the fourth water,' Life, ch. xviii.-xxi.

[114] Ps. cxviii. 32. Way of Perf. ch. xxviii. 11.

[115] Life, ch. iii. 1.

[116] Life, ch. xii. 2-4..

[117] Found. ch. v. 2. Way of Perf. ch. xxxi. 6, 12. Life, ch. xv, 16,
ch. XXX. 19.

[118] Life, ch. xv. 9, 10.

[119] Second Relation addressed to Fr. Rodrigo Alvarez.

[120] Way of Perf. ch. xxxiii. 8. Life, ch. xxi. S. Rel. ii. 12.

[121] According to Fr. Gracian the Saint here refers to Cant. viii. 1:
Et jam me nemo despiciat.'

[122] Way of Perf. ch. xvii. 2.

[123] Way of Perf. ch, xxxi. 9.
__________________________________________________________________