Sooner or later, there is nothing left to do but give up. And that is precisely the point, the purpose of the “dizzy spirit.” In each relinquishment, the person’s faculties are further emptied and sensitized and, more important, reliance upon God is deepened. John says God sends this “abominable spirit” not for the soul’s downfall, but to help

So the process of the dark night is neither accomplished on our own nor worked within us by God alone. For Teresa and John, it is a mystical co-participation between God and person. With God as the center of the human soul it can be no other way. Like so many things about the spiritual life, this co-participation is difficult to describe.