Hello Everyone!
Some may have heard the term Dark Night of the Soul and are not sure what it means. I will try to explain, based on my own experiences. After one has made a sincere effort to become a mystic, there comes a point when ones relationship to God, the Divine, The All, or whatever term you prefer, Comes into question. You may have been able to easily attune with God previously, but now are having difficulty attuning and are starting to doubt that you had ever attuned. Along with this you may have some unpleasant experiences. But having unpleasant experiences Does Not, I repeat Does Not mean you are going through a Dark Night.
For me, the last nine months has been one unpleasant experience after another, and some would say that I am very unlucky. My parents were ill, my wife had surgery, my son was in a motorcycle accident, my father ultimately passed away unexpectedly, after having recovered amazingly well from his illness several months previously. Recently I was severely injured and almost died myself, with excruciating pain for seven days. My career is in shambles because of attending to the above incidents. I am recovering nicely, but there are psychological scars from all that has happened.
However, this was NOT a Dark Night Of the Soul.
During the worst of it, I never lost my connection with God. When you have that connection, you can go through anything.
I went through a Dark Night of the Soul in 1989, after having been on the mystical path for nearly twenty years. Since I was a young child, I always found it easy to attune with God. My experiences as a child are what led me to the mystical path. All of a sudden, that easy attunement stopped and it was very difficult to attune as I had previously. After several months passed without definite attunement, which I had previously, I began to doubt my experiences, and thought that maybe I was fooling myself. After having had definite experiences of God, to have that end was like hell. It was a dfficult time but outwardly my life was ok. My marriage and career were going fine, and I enjoyed experiencing my young son growing up. Eventually my attunement with God returned after a year or so, and I made some major changes(Positive) after that.
So based on my experience, I would say that a Dark Night of the soul is when you have achieved some success with attunement with God, and then lose it. You may or may not have some unpleasant life experiences during that time.

Gary E. Morse

It WAS an experience I knew very well.
I used to go to my basement and scream in the dark;
I had just HAD it with my perceptions of Life.
Now I AM reconnecting with God in a Mysterious Awesome way.
It is about time.
A lot of Good people helped...
I have breakthrough crying.



Why do We go through Dark Night of the Soul?

I never experienced this which probably tells a lot about me. I do find it enigmatic that whenever I tried to do something a bit better things went wrong very quickly. I figured nothing worthwhile would be easy and I made a sort of commitment that I wouldn't abandone at the first sign of difficulty.

The shamans mention spirit guides which flee if they don't feel welcome in your life. They can always return. They are a part of you even if you disown them. But I never felt I lost any spirituality. Quite the opposite: I fretted lowering the drawbridge too long or too often .....who knows what might enter?


>Gruntal

I think the Dark Night of the Soul illustrates when one feels disconnected from God and maybe yourself or your fundamental beliefs are scattered by despair. Yet one maintains faith in God. Like Job or St John of the Cross.

The Sense of Mystery and Awe I experience is transient,
and when I am outside of it,
I really don't remember it.
It most likely is a feature of My Schizo~Affective Disorder.
I am back to My dry analytical Self,
but I am not unhappy.
To Me the Knowledge of the First Cause
has to be consistent and unquestionably True.
I have had moments where I read something Mystical,
and find MySelf agreeing,
"Of course This makes Sense. Why would It not be True?"
Fratre Gary E. Morse, how do You attune with the Divine,
and what does It feel like?

Faye,
Thank you for your question. I will try to answer the best I can. When I was a child about four years old , I began to experience a floating sensation. This would occur many times when I had retired for the night, or upon waking up also. And also sometimes when sitting comfortable in a chair. After several moments of this very pleasant sensation there would come a deeper awareness. I was in a state that could only be described as infinite love. I became very devout, and my upbringing in the Catholic faith, and schooling, which required daily attendance at Mass, only increased my ability. Many times throughout the day, I would find myself falling into a peaceful bliss. My teachers were constantly yelling at me to quit "daydreaming " and pay attention. Fortuneately, I never listened. Years later, when I began following a definite course in mysticism, I heard the analogy of musical tuning forks. Instinctively, That felt like what happens to me during attunement. I would be vibrating at a certain set of frequencies and , and that frequency would adjust to and match a higher set of frequencies. This is the best I can describe it.
Gary