Teresa of Ávila was sixty-two years old when she wrote her masterpiece. Ordered by her confessor to set down her teachings on prayer, she produced in a few months a work that would guide seekers for centuries. She called it "The Interior Castle."
"I thought of the soul as a castle," she wrote, "made of a single diamond or of very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms, just as in heaven there are many mansions. At the center of the castle dwells the King — and this is where we must travel."
"Consider your soul as a castle
With seven concentric dwelling places.
Most people live in the outer courtyard,
Never entering their own home.
The King waits in the innermost room —
But most never make the journey."
The first three mansions, Teresa explained, correspond to the beginning stages of prayer. Here the soul still relies heavily on its own efforts. It practices meditation, struggles against distraction, tries to live virtuously. These stages are valuable but precarious — many turn back when difficulties arise.
The fourth mansion marks a transition. "Here," Teresa wrote, "the supernatural begins to mingle with the natural. The soul does less; God does more. Prayer becomes simpler. The faculties begin to quiet. This is the prayer of recollection — not something we do, but something that happens to us."
"At first you seek God.
Then you realize God is seeking you.
At first you strive to pray.
Then prayer prays itself in you.
At first you work.
Then you learn to let God work."
The fifth and sixth mansions describe what Teresa called "the prayer of union" — states in which the boundaries between self and God begin to dissolve. Here the soul experiences ecstasies, raptures, visions. But Teresa warned: "Do not seek these experiences. They are not the goal. They are signposts along the way. Many become attached to spiritual experiences and never reach the center."
The seventh mansion is the innermost room — what Teresa called "the spiritual marriage." Here there are no more raptures, no more extraordinary experiences. There is only simple union. "The soul lives in God and God lives in the soul. The two have become one, yet they remain distinct. This is the mystery at the heart of the castle."
What does the soul do in the seventh mansion? "It serves," Teresa answered. "It loves. It works. The highest contemplation does not withdraw from the world but returns to it, transformed. Martha and Mary become one. Action and contemplation are no longer separate."
Teaching 21
Your soul is a castle with many rooms. At the center, the King waits. The journey inward passes through stages: from effort to surrender, from seeking to being sought, from experiences to simple union. The end is not withdrawal but transformed service.