To reach satisfaction in all,desire it’s possession in nothing.To come to the knowledge of all,desire the knowledge of nothing.To come to possess all,desire the possession of nothing.To arrive at being all,desire to be nothing.

The way of the imperfect spirit: goods of heaven, glory, joy, knowledge, consolation, rest.

To come to the pleasure you have not,you must go by a way in which you enjoy not.To come to the knowledge you have not,you must go by a way in which you know not.To come to the possession you have not,you must go by a way in which you possess not.To come to be what you are not,you must go by a way in which you are not.

The path of Mount Carmel, the perfect spirit: nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, and even on the Mount — nothing.

When you turn toward something,you cease to cast yourself upon the all.For you to go from the all to the all,you must leave yourself in all.And when you come to the possession of all,you must possess it without wanting anything.

The way if the imperfect spirit: goods of heaven, possessions, joy, knowledge, consolation, rest.

In this nakedness the spirit finds its rest,for when it covers nothing, nothing raises it up, and nothing weighs it down, because it is in the center of its humility.—from the sketch of Mount Carmel by St. John of the Cross [punctuation added/altered]