17. The Interior Castle: The Very Center of The Soul

St. Teresa explains the important difference between spiritual betrothal and spiritual marriage with analogies. She says spiritual betrothal is like the joining of two candle flames: they can be put together to create one flame, but they can just as easily be drawn apart again. Spiritual marriage is more like rain that falls into a river, or like a stream that merges into the ocean. The waters come together and cannot be separated.