Ascent to Love The Spiritual Teaching of St. John of the Cross

In Ascent to Love, analysis is applied to John of the Cross. There is a "disturbing contradiction" in John's writings between his Ascent and Dark Night on the one hand, and Spiritual Canticle and Living Flame on the other. In the latter he seems to be saying that we should detach ourselves from crude consolations in order to enjoy something immensely superior, but "I deliberately say 'seems'. It is tempting to speculate, to advance theories for this apparently blatant inconsistency but that would not serve the purpose of this book. It is enough to remark that for the majority of readers the impression is such as I have given. If John is really saying what these people think he is then we are justified in disregarding him in given instances.