• Welcome to Religious Forums, a friendly forum to discuss all religions in a friendly surrounding.

    Your voice is missing! You will need to register to get access to the following site features:
    • Reply to discussions and create your own threads.
    • Our modern chat room. No add-ons or extensions required, just login and start chatting!
    • Access to private conversations with other members.

    We hope to see you as a part of our community soon!

Dark Night of the Soul

Scarlett Wampus

psychonaut
This is quite an obscure topic, but after reading a thread on surrendering the self/ego I wanted to bring it up. For those who are unfamiliar with the phrase check out Wikipedia's concise entry, 'Dark Night of the Soul'.

Its important to distinguish other forms of human angst from the Dark Night because otherwise any discussion about it will get mixed up. I can't help but bring my own bias to the description, so keeping in mind that this is likely to be a skewed description, I see the two phases of the Dark Night as having something close to this signature: -

The first phase is the Night of the Senses. What was experienced as an ongoing spiritual life can become difficult in a new way when, after a certain amount of 'spiritual' experience, what had previously held much sensual value starts to conflict with an emerging spiritual awareness that is on the borderline of consciousness. For example, sex, drugs, rock'n'roll, or anything that had strongly sensual dimensions that enriched an individuals life start to feel devoid of meaning. Because the burgeoning changes in awareness are not familiar to the ego (even if they are understood conceptually), and thus not familiar landmarks in the world it has come to recognise, the individual feels as if something has gone wrong somewhere. This can typically manifest in hopelessness, confusion, sense of loss and social isolation. The ego will fight back, for example by seeking greater sensual indulgence, but dissatisfaction almost inevitably leads the individual to withdraw.

Eventually, perhaps many years later, the second phase will take hold (though imo the first is likely still-ongoing, so its a kind of progression). This is the Night of the Spirit. The core spiritual ideals of the personality begin to crumble away, and with them, their motivating force. In addition to the already present apathy concerning sensual pleasure the resulting despondency can prove crippling. Even though contemplation continues much of the result can come to be seen as dry & hollow, its significance akin to nostalgic shadows or futile daydreams. So prayer, meditation, and other practices no longer give respite like they used to but become a struggle, often seeming pointless. There is also a kind of pain that becomes stronger during all this (imo). I do not mean physical & emotional pain, or even the empathy with the physical & emotional pain of others that leads to compassion (that can become stronger too), but something more subtle yet substantial behind these. The soul hurts basically, it wants certain things, and as the impulse to deal with this grows it comes into conflict with what made life worthwhile before, though this conflict may only be dimly perceived. Seeking social status, material luxury, what was considered reaching spiritual heights, etc. all become undermined during the Dark Night, but until it is almost over it is not clear why (again, even if you understand what is happening conceptually)

Hmm, I've made a hash of that. Anyway, possible questions: Have you gone through something that you would recognise as the Dark Night? How would you describe it? What happened to you during this process?
 

opuntia

Religion is Law
You are right, it is an obscure topic. I quite see that the ego is mentioned in the piece you linked to. It is my understanding that the ego is a conciliator between the id, superego, and the world.

"The ego, super-ego, and id are the divisions of the psyche according to the psychoanalytic theory developed by Sigmund Freud. The id contains 'primitive desires' (hunger, rage and sex), the super-ego contains internalized norms, morality and taboos, and the ego mediates between the two and may include or give rise to the sense of self." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego%2C_superego%2C_and_id

This has been described in other terms such as nature and nurture, heredity and environment. The following article specifies nature and nurture:

"Today nearly everyone agrees that the interaction of innate and environmental factors accounts for both the development of a trait and behavior in an individual and the variations in a trait or behavior among individuals. Nature and nurture are inextricably intertwined. Both nature and nurture are fully involved in the development of any behavior." Patricia H. Miller, Theories of Developmental Psychology (W. H. Freeman and Co., 1983), pp. 23-24.

Nature we can do nothing about except control the urges; but nurture is another question. We can overcome nurture by supplanting it with another set of rules.

The Putneys stated that our society can sometimes validate erroneous thought and behavior and our overcoming includes going against social norm:

"Political, economic, educational, religious, and other social institutions reflect the demands people make of them, even when these demands are disfunctional. Social institutions are systems through which collective action is taken, and collective action reflects the motivations of the individual participants. If the members of a society are caught up in misdirection and customarily pursue bogus satisfactions, they will shape the institutions of their society to serve these pursuits.

"Conversely, social institutions exert a formative influence on the people who participate in them. An individual learns most of his modes of thought and action from his family, his school, his occupation; he is unlikely to question or to avoid misdirections which they encourage. The relation between individual problems and social problems is one of mutual causation: inadequate social institutions shape a neurotic people, and neurotic people erect and defend inadequate social institutions." Snell Putney & Gail Putney, The Adjusted American: Normal Neuroses in the Individual and Society (Harper & Row, 1966), p. 186.

Part of religion is in overcoming the world. Jesus said:

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33; KJV).

Paul the Apostle also said:

"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12:2).

The true religion of Christ was iconoclastic, where He ran against the norms of Jewish society and religion and eventually paid for it with His life. There is a price to be paid for withdrawing from this world and sometimes a dark night occurs where you are truly alone in your thoughts and feelings because you are treading in new territory where few people go--between this world and God, purgatory if you will.

Does this make sense?
 
Top