What is the Dark Night of the Soul?

(Email excerpt) - The simplest way of expressing the essence of a dark night of the soul is that it is a time that involves a deep and painful feeling of being abandoned and left alone, as if God/the Divine has forsaken you.

If you’re familiar with Jesus and his story of the crucifixion, when he was on the cross, he cried out, “Father, why have you forsaken me?” This moment captures the crux of the dark night of the soul.

It’s during these times, sometimes a single night, sometimes a few months, that we experience a death and rebirth, like Jesus. The part of us that’s doubtful of how supported, cared for and connected we are by and to the divine dies during the dark night of the soul so that real trust and faith can be born within us.

Even though Jesus was aware of his divine nature, when he was at his lowest on the cross, his humanity came forth as he expressed his doubt. “Father, why have you forsaken me?” is in other words asking, “Am I really a divine being or merely a human?”

And as the story goes, Jesus died and was then resurrected. Upon his resurrection, as his dark night of the soul turned, he was reborn, fully aware of his divinity and unbreakable connection to the divine. His faith was perfected.

The dark night of the soul is something that we may all have to experience on this path, especially at the later stages. I have been through a few myself. The earliest ones were the most difficult as I had little to no trust at all going into them. 

Today, whenever I experience a challenge, I know that the divine never abandons anyone and that it really cannot. It is what we are. I have learned this not through a teaching, but through direct experience alone. It is for this reason that I honor and respect the dark nights of the soul that have shaped me into who and what I am today.

---