Todo y Nada

(All and Nothing)

Todo y nada is the spiritual genius of St. John of the Cross. According to him, "To reach satisfaction in all, desire satisfaction in nothing. To come to possess all, desire the possession of nothing.”

Everything and nothing in his understanding of God: todo y nada.

Some say that the spirituality of Saint John of the Cross can be summed up with just this one word: nothing.

This famous poem by St. John of the Cross is from THE ASCENT OF MOUNT CARMEL expressig the spiritual dialectics of all/nothing (todo/nada) very well. Here the word todo is used 2772 times.

Thus the core of St. John of the Cross' teaching is “nada, nada, nada!” which means “nothing, nothing, nothing” other than God.