When Success Brings Suffering — The Interior Castle

Teresa reveals a harsh truth: the closer you get to spiritual fulfillment, the more you'll suffer. She describes the sixth mansion, where souls wounded by divine love face their greatest trials yet. The irony is brutal, just when someone begins living with genuine integrity, the world turns against them. Friends desert them, calling them fake or deluded. Family members warn others to stay away.

Even praise becomes torture because the person knows any good in them comes from God, not their own efforts. Teresa speaks from experience here, having endured decades of suspicion and ridicule. But the external attacks pale beside the internal torments. God often sends severe physical illness at this mansion, testing the soul's commitment. Worse are the spiritual trials, periods of complete darkness where prayer feels impossible, where God seems absent, and where past sins loom large in memory.

Confessors, often inexperienced with mystical states, may increase rather than ease these fears. The soul feels utterly abandoned, unable to find comfort anywhere. Yet Teresa insists these trials serve a purpose: they strip away the last vestiges of self-reliance and prepare the soul for complete union with God. The only remedy is to wait for God's mercy while performing works of charity. These sufferings aren't punishments but purifications, burning away everything that isn't love.