The Secret Ladder

St John of the Cross (1542-1591) is well known as the poet of the Dark Night and the foremost exponent of mystical contemplation. He is regarded as one of Spain’s greatest writers and is officially venerated in the Catholic Church as ‘Mystical Doctor’. Yet his ideas are difficult to grasp and widely misunderstood. John’s poems are complex spiritual allegories, the hidden meaning of which he explains in a series of commentaries. The image of the ‘secret ladder’ represents mystical contemplation, by which the soul ascends to union with God. But the commentaries are often harder to interpret than the poems themselves.