In Dark Night of the Soul, St John of the Cross spends a good deal of time on the various imperfections of 'spiritual beginners.' Chapter 5 spends time on the imperfections of spiritual anger of beginners. Here's a paragraph that I thought was worth sharing:
Some souls suffer from another kind of spiritual anger. They watch over others with a kind of restless fervor, perpetually annoyed by the transgressions they perceive. The impulse arises to reprove the other souls in an angry way. Sometimes they even indulge in this nasty urge, elevating themselves as masters of virtue. This is all quite contrary to spiritual meekness.
Dark Night of the Soul, Chapter 5
What he observed and wrote in the 1570's is just as true today. That's what I like about reading these old mystics - they figured out quite a lot way back then, and I benefit from that.
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