Poem of St John of the Cross 1542-1591

I came into the unknown
and stayed there unknowing
rising beyond all science.

I did not know the door
but when I found the way
unknowing where I was
I learned enormous things
but what I felt I cannot say
for I remained unknowing
rising beyond all science.

It was the perfect realm
of holiness and peace
In deepest solitude
I found the narrow way;
a secret giving such release
that I was stunned and stammering
rising beyond all science.

I was so far inside
so dazed and far away
my senses were released
from feelings of my own.
My mind had found a surer way;
a knowledge by unknowing
rising beyond science.

And he who does arrive
collapses as in sleep
for all he knew before
now seems a lowly thing
and so his knowledge grows so deep
that he remains unknowing
rising beyond all science.

The higher he ascends
the darker is the wood;
it is the shadowy cloud
that clarified the night
and so the one who understood
remains always unknowing
rising beyond all science.

This knowledge by unknowing
is such a soaring force
that scholars argue long
but never leave the ground
Their knowledge always fails the source
to understand unknowing
rising beyond all science.

This knowledge is supreme
crossing a blazing height;
though formal reason tries
it crumbles in the dark,
but one who would control the night
by knowledge of unknowing
will rise beyond all science.

And if you wish to hear:
the highest science leads
to an ecstatic feeling
of the most holy Being;
and from his mercy comes his deed:
to let us stay unknowing
rising beyond all science.