This book is one of the most well-known, and certainly one of the most well-loved of the Spiritual classics. It reads like an instruction manual on the deeper life of prayer, meditation and soaking in the presence of God. This book is an important milestone in the spiritual literature for its sheer frankness and practicality. She delves here into the experience of closer communion with God, with helpful tips and cautions; the problems with dry periods, what they may mean and what to do in the midst of them; the importance of following Christ into the depths, yet remaining accountable, and many more of the delicate, triumphant, and also realistic aspects of pursuing God. In this book St. Teresa lays out the mysteries of sweetness in prayer, the prayer of quietude, union with God; she explores prophetic utterances, raptures, the "flight of the spirit", visions of the mind and visions of the imagination, and being drawn into the chamber of God's presence to become the literal bride in the earth.