Such obscurity and attachment, followed by God-given clarity, liberation of love, and deepening of faith, are consistent hallmarks of the dark night of the soul.9 Often, this liberation results in a remarkable release of creative activity in the world. This is especially obvious in Teresa’s case. Once paralyzed by uncertainty and self-doubt, she

For Teresa and John, the dark night—indeed all of life—is nothing other than the story of a love affair: a romance between God and the human soul that liberates us to love one another.

the soul finds its existence through a loss of control to those powers greater than human experience.