Dark Night of the Soul is a term used to describe a specific phase in a person's spiritual life. It is used as a metaphor to describe the experience of loneliness and desolation that can occur during spiritual growth. Spirituality, in a narrow sense, concerns itself with matters of the spirit. ... Look up metaphor in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

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The term and metaphysicality of the phrase "dark night of the soul" are taken from the writings of the Spanish poet and Roman Catholic mystic Saint John of the Cross, a Carmelite priest in the 16th century. Dark Night of the Soul is the name of both a poem, and a commentary on that poem, and are among the Carmelite priest's most famous writings. They tell of his mystic development and the stages he went through on his quest for holiness. The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ... Mysticism from the Greek μυστικός (mystikos) an initiate (of the Eleusinian Mysteries, μυστήρια (mysteria) meaning initiation[1]) is the pursuit of achieving communion or identity with, or conscious awareness of, ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, or insight; and the belief that such experience is an... Saint John of the Cross (Juan de la Cruz) was a Spanish Carmelite friar, born on June 24, 1542 at Fontiveros, a small village near Avila. ... The Order of Our Lady of Mt. ... (15th century - 16th century - 17th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 16th century was that century which lasted from 1501 to 1600. ...

The "dark night" could generally be described as a letting go of our ego's hold on the psyche, making room for change that can bring about a complete transformation of a person's way of defining his/her self and their relationship to God. The interim period can be frightening, hence the perceived "darkness". In the Christian tradition, during the "dark night" one who has developed a strong prayer life and consistent devotion to God suddenly finds traditional prayer extremely difficult and unrewarding for an extended period of time. The individual may feel as though God has suddenly abandoned them, or that their prayer life has collapsed. The ego, superego, and id are the tripartite divisions of the psyche in psychoanalytic theory compartmentalizing the sphere of mental activity into three energetic components: the ego being the organized conscious mediator between the internal person and the external identity. ... The neutrality of this article is disputed. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Christianity. ... Mary Magdalene in prayer. ... This article discusses the term God in the context of monotheism and henotheism. ...

Rather than being a negative event, the dark night is believed by mystics and others to be a blessing in disguise where the individual extends from a state of contemplative prayer to an inability to pray. Particularly in Christianity, it is seen as a severe test of one's faith. The Dark Night comes in two phases: a first "Night of the Senses," and a second "Night of the Spirit." To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Christianity is a monotheistic[1] religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented in the New Testament. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Bernadette Roberts, author of The Path to No-Self, What is Self and The Experience of No-Self states: Bernadette Roberts is a contemplative in the Catholic tradition who writes about her journey to foreground an event that she refers to as no-self--the ending of all consciousness and the revelation of what remains beyond self. ...

"My view of what some authors call the "unitive stage" is that it begins with the Dark Night of the Spirit, or the onset of the transformational process - when the larva enters the cocoon, so to speak. Up to this point, we are actively reforming ourselves, doing what we can to bring about an abiding union with the divine. But at a certain point, when we have done all we can, the divine steps in and takes over. The transforming process is a divine undoing and redoing that culminates in what is called the state of "transforming union" or "mystical marriage", considered to be the definitive state for the Christian contemplative. In experience, the onset of this process is the descent of the cloud of unknowing, which, because his former light had gone out and left him in darkness, the contemplative initially interprets as the divine gone into hiding. In modern terms, the descent of the cloud is actually the falling away of the ego-center, which leaves us looking into a dark hole, a void or empty space in ourselves. Without the veil of the ego-center, we do not recognize the divine; it is not as we thought it should be. Seeing the divine, eye to eye is a reality that shatters our expectations of light and bliss. From here on we must feel our way in the dark, and the special eye that allows us to see in the dark opens up at this time."

In popular culture

Singer/songwriter Loreena McKennitt used "Dark Night of The Soul" as inspiration for the song of the same name on her 1994 LP The Mask and Mirror. Loreena McKennitt live on stage Loreena McKennitt, C.M. (b. ... The Mask and Mirror is an album by Loreena McKennitt released in 1994. ...

Author and humorist, Douglas Adams satirized the phrase with the title of his 1988 Science Fiction novel, The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul. Douglas Noël Adams (11 March 1952 – 11 May 2001) was an English author, comic radio dramatist, and musician. ... The front cover of the US first hardcover edition of The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul. ...

"The Dark Night of the Soul" is the eleventh track on the album "Guilt Show" by The Get Up Kids Guilt Show is the fifth, and last studio album by The Get Up Kids. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

"In the real dark night of the soul, it is always 3 o'clock in the morning." The Crack Up, F. Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an Irish American Jazz Age author of novels and short stories . ...

"In the real dark night of the soul, it is always 3am." In My Darkest Moment, Hanoi Rocks. Hanoi Rocks is a Finnish rock band. ...

"Dark night of my soul." Timelessness, Fear Factory Fear Factory is a long standing and highly influential metal band, based in Los Angeles, California, USA. They have released seven full-length albums and a number of singles and remixes, over the course of which they have evolved from a succession of, as well as steadily pioneered a hybrid...

See also

• Religious experience
• Christian Meditation
• Psychology of religion
• Christian mysticism
• Kohlberg's stages of moral development
• Loevinger's stages of ego development

In religious experience, or sacred experience, the believer comes in contact with transcendental reality. ... Christian meditation is meditation in a Christian context. ... Psychology of religion is psychologys theory of religious experiences and beliefs. ... Mysticism is the philosophy and practice of a direct experience of God. ... Lawrence Kohlberg (October 25, 1927 – January 19, 1987) was born in Bronxville, New York. ... Kohlbergs stages of moral development are planes of moral adequacy conceived by Lawrence Kohlberg to explain the development of moral reasoning. ... Jane Loevinger (born 1918) was a developmental psychologist who developed a theory of personality which emphasized the gradual internalization of social rules and the maturing conscience for the origin of personal decisions. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

References

Bernadette Roberts interview

• The chapter entitled "The Dark Night of the Soul" from Evelyn Underhill's Mysticism at Gnostic.org.
• Underhill, Evelyn. (re-issue 1999). Mysticism Oneworld Publications. ISBN 1-85168-196-5.

Further reading

• May, Gerald G. (2004). The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth. HarperSanFrancisco. ISBN 0-06-055423-1.

External links

• Text of Dark Night of the Soul from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library
• Poem and text of Dark Night of the Soul From The Collected Works of St. John of the Cross, translated by Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, and Otilio Rodriguez, OCD, revised edition (1991), ICS Publications.

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.

• Online verson of Dark Night of the Soul