…the distance that lies between what creatures are in themselves and what God is in himself…

All creatures of heaven and earth are nothing when compared to God, as Jeremiah points out: Aspexi terram,et ecce vacua erat et nihil;et caelos,et non erat lux in eis ( I looked at the earth, and it was empty and nothing; and at the heavens, and I saw they had no light ) [Jer.4:23].

By saying that he saw an empty earth he meant that all its creatures were nothing and that the earth too was nothing.

In stating that he looked up to the heavens and beheld no light, he meant that all the heavenly luminaries were pure darkness in comparison to God.

All creatures considered in this way are nothing and a person’s attachments to them are less than nothing since these attachments are an impediment to and deprive the soul of transformation in God-just as darkness is nothing and less than nothing since it is a privation of light.

… all the being of creatures compared to the infinite being of God is nothing …

All the beauty of creatures compared to the infinite beauty of God is the height of ugliness.

All the grace and elegance of creatures compared to God’s grace is utter coarseness and crudity. That is why a person captivated by this grace becomes highly coarse and crude in God’s sight.

Compared to the infinite goodness of God, all the goodness of the creatures of the world can be called wickedness. Nothing is good save God only [Lk.18:19].Those who set their hearts on the good things of the world become extremely wicked in the sight of God.

All the world’s wisdom and human ability compared to the infinite wisdom of God is pure and utter ignorance, as St.Paul writes to the Corinthians: Sapentia hujus mundi stulitia est apud Deum ( The wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight)[Cor.3:19].

Those, therefore, who value their knowledge and ability as a means of reaching union with the wisdom of God are ignorant in God’s sight and will be left behind, far away from this wisdom.

All the sovereignty and freedom of the world compared to the freedom and sovereignty of the Spirit of God is utter slavery, anguish, and captivity. Those, then, who are attached to prelacies or to other such dignities and to freedom of their appetites will be considered and treated by God as base slaves and captives, not as offspring.

All the delights and satisfactions of the will in the things of the world compared to the delight that is God are intense suffering, torment, and bitterness. Those who link their hearts to these delights, then, deserve in God’s eyes intense suffering, torment and bitterness. They will not be capable of attaining the delights of the embrace of union with God, since they merit suffering and bitterness.

All the wealth and glory of creation compared to the wealth that is God is utter poverty and misery in God’s sight. The person who loves and possess these things is completely poor and miserable before God and will be unable to attain the richness and glory of transformation in God; the miserable and poor is very far from the supremely rich and glorious.

…We are not discussing the mere lack of things; this lack will not divest the soul if it craves for all these objects. We are dealing with the denudation of the soul’s appetites and gratifications. This is what leaves it free and empty of all things, even though it possesses them. Since the things of the world cannot enter the soul, they are not in themselves an encumbrance or harm to it; rather, it is the will and appetite dwelling within it that cause the damage when set on these things.

David says on this subject: Pauper sum ego,et in laboribus a juventute mea ( I am poor and in labors from my youth )[ Ps.88:15]. Even though he was manifestly rich, he says he was poor because his will was not fixed on riches; and he thereby lived as though really poor. On the other hand, had he been actually poor, without his will being so, there would have been no true poverty, because the appetite of his soul would have been rich had full.


From The Collected Works of St.John of the Cross trans. by Kieran Kavanaugh and Otilio Rodriguez.