Dark Night of the Soul

Having walked the path of the Dark Night of the Soul, I know it is one of the most difficult experiences we have to encounter while on earth. For each one, the experience will differ, depending on one's psychology and the karmic circumstances the experience will take.

God never gives us more than we can handle, and knowing that, know that you can make it through this absence of Light, while you soul is tried and tested. I would rather not lay out my personal experience, but send you to another site that has some wonderful teachings on both the Dark Night of the Soul link can be found at the bottom of this page.

Saint John of the Cross wrote one of the most well known spiritual canticles on the story of the soul. For those who want to experience the Dark Night in prose I recommend Saint John. Below is a short excerpt and following it the website link.

DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL
by
Saint John of the Cross

DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH

"He soars on the wings of Divine love . . ."

"It is perhaps not an exaggeration to say that the verse and prose works combined of St. John of the Cross form at once the most grandiose and the most melodious spiritual canticle to which any one man has ever given utterance.

The most sublime of all the Spanish mystics, he soars aloft on the wings of Divine love to heights known to hardly any of them. . . . True to the character of his thought, his style is always forceful and energetic, even to a fault.

When we study his treatises- principally that great composite work known as the Ascent of Mount Carmel and the Dark Night- we have the impression of a mastermind that has scaled the heights of mystical science; and from their summit looks down upon and dominates the plain below and the paths leading upward. . . . Nowhere else, again, is he quite so appealingly human; for, though he is human even in his loftiest and sublimest passages, his intermingling of philosophy with mystical theology; makes him seem particularly so. These treatises are a wonderful illustration of the theological truth that graced far from destroying nature, ennobles and dignifies it, and of the agreement always found between the natural and the supernatural- between the principles of sound reason and the sublimest manifestations of Divine grace."

For a link to his book click here.

Excert from Koinonia House Ministry:

What Is "the Dark Night"?

The dark night or the night season is simply the transition we make from depending upon our own sight and our own selves to a total dependence upon Christ and His faithfulness. This shift brings us into a new way of knowing God. During this time God moves us from simply "feeling good about Him" to a deeper awareness of Him and an intimacy never before known.

Different Labels for the Dark Night

• The Dark Night of the Soul
• Night of Confusion
• Jacob's Ladder
• A Secret Ladder
• The Divine Darkness
• Journey into the Desert
• A Night of Love

I like to call the dark night a "night of love."
The dark night is a night of love because it's a time in which we come to know and perceive our Beloved in a way we never have before.  Our initial surrender to God usually comes before we understand what abandoning ourselves to His will really means.  Before we understand that He must not only purge the sin from our souls, but also crucify our own self-centered ways.  When we first come to Christ and are saved, we are positionally united with Him, but we really don't know Him intimately. 

There is a deeper and more abiding union - an experiential oneness with Him - that He desires for every one of us where we can experience His presence and His joy and rest in the midst of any circumstance.  This experiential union, as we have said before, does not happen automatically, but only as we become more and more sanctified or holy in body, soul and spirit.  In other words, in order to enter into the Holy Place of our hearts where God dwells and enjoy intimacy with Him, we, too, must first become holy as He is holy.  Holiness is the only "ticket" inward.  God cannot commune and fellowship with anyone who is not holy and sanctified.

Click here for more on the Dark Night from this website.

Back to top