Prayer directed towards self-knowledge and humility is important. No complicated steps (don’t think much – love much). Teresa does value discursive meditation, especially on the Gospels. Prayer: Although prayer methods are secondary, St.
People: These people are free from serious sin and want to avoid offending God (so the King does dwell in their castle), yet they are still immersed in worldly matters and pleasures (a weak relationship with the King, so they scarcely see His light). Teresa’s 1st way of obtaining water, that of drawing the water up from a well by using a bucket, which entails a great deal of human effort. Also, when we know the joys of contemplative fulfilment, we will be much more likely to make the sacrifices that are entailed in reaching it. Encouragement: When we understand the sacrifices and difficulties that are a normal part of the journey to our destination, we will not be surprised but rather encouraged to see our growth along the way.With this knowledge, we will how the best way to approach prayer (since we pray differently according to the stage one’s prayer has reached). Self-knowledge: By knowing all of the stages of growth in prayer, we come to know almost automatically where we are on the journey – something St.It is not like a video game where we jump from one level to the next. Also, note that the seven mansions are more of a continuity (a gradual and imperceptible growth) rather than separate rooms.
Note that this vision bears remarkable similarities to the final vision in the New Testament: chapter 21 of the book of Revelation (private and public revelation matchup). The closer we approach the centre, the greater the light. In the centre of crystal castle is the Sun, or the King, who gives all the splendour and beauty to the rest of the castle. Teresa’s Interior Castle came after she received a vision from Christ, picturing “the soul as if it were a castle made of a single diamond or of a very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms, just as in Heaven there are many mansions” (1). “Interior Castle is a book on the maturing process we find both in prayer and in the rest of life, for the two cannot be separated” (81). “The saint’s Interior Castle is not only her most mature work it is also the all-time classic on the question of the development of prayer from its incipient beginnings to its mature fullness in the transforming union” ( Fire Within, 73). Teresa of Avila wrote Interior Castle under “the power of obedience” (xxiii) towards the end of her life, starting the book on June 2, 1577, and finishing it on November 29 of the same year. John of the Cross, and the Gospel-On Prayer.
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