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Vanunu replied, “I haven’t read him.”
Not many have, and even fewer understand what he was talking about. John and Theresa greatly agitated the church hierarchy during the time of the Spanish Inquisition for exercising their rights of freedom of conscience, thought, speech and the press, for both were prolific writers. John was slandered and abused for his views and spent months in prison in solitary praying and writing.
John wrote about contemplative prayer-the prayer of silence, no longer a common practice today, but it was back in the days of John of the Cross. John wrote about the contemplative life as the way to divine union of the soul with God in this life. This can only happen through making friends with the silence; and the silence has many demons one will face, for in the silence our egos can be dismantled. In silence we are faced with our self and that can be a most painful process; but we also get glimpses of the infinite and come to realize who we are meant to be. That requires an open heart and is the way to a transformed mind, what Jesus was talking about when he said you must be born again-to see with new eyes that God is in everyone and every circumstance…
Vanunu told me, "In 1963 the Zionists came to my village and encouraged everyone to migrate to Israel…When we arrived in Israel, the Interior Minister assigned us to Beersheba...there was only desert, but I walked a few hours everyday so I could be in the Old City. I started exploring around a Mexican-looking town, never talking with anyone, but always watching everyone.
"Even the school supplies were inferior to those I had had in Morocco. Even the ice cream was not ice cream; it was just ice, and there was no Pepsi. I didn’t like it at all, and wondered why I had to be there. There were only Jewish people around; I never saw an Arab or Palestinian then, and the old mosque was uninhabited.
"I preferred to be alone, but I was never lonely. Even when I walked with my father on Saturday to pray, I didn’t talk, but I wondered about God and truth. My father became even more orthodox as I turned away. I couldn’t accept all the teachings and decided I would not accept any of them.
"At fourteen years old, I began to doubt, and by sixteen, I left Judaism for good. I didn’t know if God even existed, and I didn’t even care. I decided I would decide for myself what is good and what is bad; I didn’t need anyone telling me the rules. For me, it was about doing to others what I wanted them to do to me. I didn’t need any other rule.
"I was sent to Yeshiva, the Jewish boarding school in the Old City. I experienced a great disconnect from God. I didn’t talk to anyone about any of it. I kept everything within and continued to wonder about finding my way, my direction, and the purpose of my life. I have always searched for answers.
"I kept my mouth shut about not following the faith and excelled in secular studies. With everything else, I just went through the motions…I was angry…I had become [an] outcast… forever ignored by the other students. The isolation became very comfortable, and I began walking in the desert alone every night without any fear. I would just walk around and imagine that I would find my way, and have some success.”
John of the Cross knew freedom and contentment in every circumstance. His every thought, deed and action rose up from within his heart/conscience and poured out of him in actions, prose and poetry; the visible expressions of his love for God and god in all people. John of the Cross wrote about the soul united with God and he express in words, what is inexpressible: a mystical experience.
All are called to be mystics; and like the prophets, mystics are misunderstood and misinterpreted.
While imprisoned, John of the Cross penned poetry to express God's Agape love for all; pure, perfect and transforming when it becomes sacrificial love: love in action-doing something compelled by compassion to help another at great cost to oneself and doing it all for love of God first, which also leads to love of everyone else.
In paraphrase of Jesus, no greater love is there that of the one who has lay down his/her life; agenda for another-be it enemy or friend. In 1987, from Ashkelon Prison, Vanunu wrote: "I have no choice. I'm a little man, a citizen, one of the people, but I'll do what I have to. I've heard the voice of my conscience and there's nowhere to hide."
God speaks to everyone in what we call our conscience/heart/gut.
When Vanunu emerged from his windowless tomb sized cell after 18 years on April 21, 2004, he boldly affirmed:
"I am not harming Israel. I am not interested in Israel. I want to tell you something very important. I suffered here 18 years because I am a Christian, because I was baptized into Christianity. If I was a Jew I wouldn't have all this suffering here in isolation for 18 years. Only because I was a Christian man."
