Category Archives: Journey to the Center of the Mind

The Seventh Tower: The Center of the Mind

Posted on September 26, 2019 by Vajragoni

Over the course of this series on Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castle, I have been acquiring and utilizing several resources for my own edification as well as sharing their insights when appropriate. As we now arrive at the Seventh Tower, … Continue reading →

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The Sixth Tower: Enraptured!

Posted on September 24, 2019 by Vajragoni

Our spiritual excursion into the Sixth Tower will be marked by graduating from the Illuminative stage into a most extraordinary plunge into the ecstasies of the increasingly Unitive cycle. You see, the soul’s yearning for Absolute Union with the Unborn … Continue reading →

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The Fifth Tower: The Silkworm

Posted on September 19, 2019 by Vajragoni

By now one can realize that Teresa’s Interior Castle is a treatise on profound Unitive Mysticism. What she has been revealing are the later stages of the interior spiritual life. The final stages correspond to the fifth, sixth and seventh … Continue reading →

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The Fourth Tower: The Shepherd’s Whistle

Posted on September 16, 2019 by Vajragoni

We are now leaving the active purgative-stage in the journey to the illuminative and passive stage. In Essence, the spiritual adept is now discerning how the Unborn Spirit is taking a more prominent role in the soul’s development. In order … Continue reading →

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A Taste of Quiet

Posted on September 14, 2019 by Vajragoni

The Fourth Mansion of Teresa’s masterpiece is outstanding and requires a special introductory blog. She writes that “Supernatural experiences begin here.” This is closure of the Purgative Way and the beginning of the Illuminative. It’s also the commencement of the … Continue reading →

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The Third Tower: There is no Security in this Life

Posted on September 10, 2019 by Vajragoni

Undeceive yourself, blessed soul; in this practice all the works that are not governed by true zeal and born of pure love and a purged spirit are clothed in vanity, self-love, and spiritual ambition. (Miguel de Molinos: The Spiritual Guide) … Continue reading →

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The Second Tower: Conformity of the Will

Posted on September 8, 2019 by Vajragoni

TREATS OF THE GREAT IMPORTANCE OF PERSEVERANCE IN ORDER TO ENTER THE LAST MANSIONS, AND OF THE FIERCE WAR THE DEVIL WAGES AGAINST US. HOW ESSENTIAL IT IS TO TAKE THE RIGHT PATH FROM THE VERY COMMENCEMENT OF OUR JOURNEY. … Continue reading →

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The First Tower: Self-gnosis

Posted on September 5, 2019 by Vajragoni

*Please be advised that we are utilizing two different translations of The Interior Castle: The edition by Benedict Zimmerman, and the edition by Kieran Kavanaugh, O.C.D. and Otilio Rodriguez, O.C.D. (O.C.D. =Order of Discalced Carmelites). Teresa continues her narrative of … Continue reading →

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Creepy Crawlies

Posted on September 3, 2019 by Vajragoni

Before reaching the First Tower, or Teresa’s First Mansion, some more preliminary observations are in order. Towers 1-3 manifests the Active phase of Recollection, while Towers 4-7 constitute the Passive Phase of Recollection. Also 1-3 establishes what is known as … Continue reading →

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Journey to the Center of the Mind

Posted on September 1, 2019 by Vajragoni

In October of 2015 work was commenced on a series that described in meticulous detail the process of Right Contemplation as enunciated in the writings of John of the Cross, by and large a spiritual journey through an active purification … Continue reading →

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