Bradley DiTeresi is an established Kansas City entrepreneur who has achieved positive results in real estate investments. A practicing Catholic whose faith is important, Bradley DiTeresi regularly reads the works of leading thinkers within the church, from Saint Augustine to St. John of the Cross.

St. John lived in late 16th century Spain, a time of immense upheaval, as Spain emerged as a colonial power and Reformation ideas began to trickle into the region. Accomplished as a poet and artist, he created a depiction of the crucifixion that speaks to viewers to his day, and inspired Salvador Dali’s famous 20th century work on the same theme.

Today, St. John is identified by many with the concept of the “dark night of the soul,” or striving through personal challenges to find spiritual redemption. However, he was a complex thinker who did not simply place elevated value on visions and locutions. Instead, he viewed as snares whatever might block a pathway to God. Feeding the spiritual emotions, visions could easily be transmuted to serving personal needs, rather than those of God.

To attain a higher spiritual plane, it was thus necessary to see clearly beyond emotional clouds and find true perception. St. John’s dark night of the soul was that which comes from exploring the various facets of thought and spirituality and coming to a profound, unified spiritual existence.