Oh, lamps of fires,
In whose splendors the deep caravans of sense which were dark and blind
With strange brightness
Give heat and light together to their Beloved!

It must be understood that this enlightenment of splendor is not like a material fire which, with its burst of flame, enlightens and heats things that are outside it, but is like one that heats things that are within it, as is the soul in this state. For this reason, the soul says: ‘In whose splendors’: that is to say, it is ‘within’—not ‘near’ but ‘within’—its splendors, in the flames of the lamps (Divine infusion), the soul being transformed into flame. And so we shall say that it is like the air which is within the flame and is enkindled and transformed into fire, for flame is naught else but enkindled air; and the movements made by this flame are not simply those of air nor simply those of fire, but of air and fire together, and the fire causes the air that is enkindled within it to burn. –St John of the Cross ‘Living Flame of Love’