Prayer begins to feel dry and empty, a test of humility.God’s voice comes through the words of teachers, friends, and sacred texts. In the second dwelling, the soul learns to recognize God’s quiet voice amid the noise of the world.The soul moves beyond rote prayer to intimate conversation with God. to recognize her own limitations and praise the greatness of God” through the practice of prayer. Teresa saw that the soul’s only hope, as Starr says, “is to cultivate a discipline of humility and self-knowledge. In the first dwelling, the soul becomes aware that there is a castle to be explored and discovers her own longing for God.Through contemplative prayer, the soul moves through seven mansions or dwellings of the interior castle, ever drawing closer to the center: Teresa believed that God is ever alluring and inviting us home and that our longing for God is the core motivation of our beings. (Jung’s father and five uncles were all Protestant ministers.) This led to his major criticism of Christianity: it was all external and intellectual there was no inherent connection between God and the soul. Jung found so lacking in the 20 th century Swiss Calvinism in which he was raised. To know the self is to know God.” This is exactly the connection that C.G. The path to God, then, leads us on a journey of self-discovery.

The human soul is so glorious that God himself chooses it as his dwelling place. Starr writes: “The journey to union with the Beloved is a journey home to the center of ourselves. Teresa received a vision of a crystal castle inside the human soul, with God, the Beloved, at its center. If you want me to do this thing, you’re going to have to speak through me.’” Apparently, God did. “‘Beloved,’ she prayed, ‘I have no idea what to say here. Mirabai Starr beautifully describes how Teresa turned to God for help and the vision that ensued. Her health, never good, was growing progressively worse. The Prologue explains how reluctant she was to write another book. Her mystical masterpiece, The Interior Castle, written in only two months’ time when she was sixty-two, describes the stages of spiritual growth with amazing insight. Teresa of Ávila, Part III: The Interior CastleĪs you will see in her writings, Teresa of Ávila was quite astute psychologically.

St teresa of avila interior castle