Frater Gary’s description of his encounter with the Dark Night reminded me of a book I read many years ago. “Shibumi” by John Trevanian (more commonly known as the author of “The Eiger Sanction”, which was made into a film starring the young Clint Eastwood) is a novel which examines the spiritual emptiness of the capitalist world and, despite being very dated, and in some ways kind of hokey, makes some very sublime points. If you haven’t read it yet, soror Faye, you should. It has interesting things to say about the state of elegant simplicity that martial artists and Eastern philosophers strive for. If you’re interested in a description of the book, you can find one at http://www.mysteryinkonline.com/shibumi.htm
What’s significant in this context is that the main character of the novel has had the habit since childhood of mentally retiring to a scene in his mind of a beautiful sunlit meadow. This place is his refuge, his inspiration, his consolation. Later in life he tells his mentor/father-figure about this habit, and the mentor says, “Why, you’re a mystic!”
At some point in the novel, a horrible act perpetrated by his arch foe destroys the peaceful, sublime life the hero has built up for himself at a remote country estate. The rage and anger at this injustice take over his being, and he suddenly discovers he is unable to “attune” to this place he has used as his refuge all his life. And this, to him, is hell.
Interesting parallel, wouldn’t you say?
That having been said, I happened to come across several references to the Dark Night in various sources around the time Fra. G. posted on the subject. I would like to preface the following by saying that I am only repeating what these sources (all of them Rosicrucian) say on the subject. I don’t feel I have any authority on the subject. (Every mystic should make a very clear distinction between what he knows intellectually and what he knows from experience or from internal - i.e. intuitive - knowledge.)
From what I’ve read, what distinguishes the Dark Night, is that it is the most difficulty one can possibly experience in life, that is: it is that level of hardship which brings the sufferer right to the breaking point, and which requires a person to use every spiritual resource they have managed to accumulate in order to survive it. The bright side is that if one manages to survive by sticking to one’s virtues (love, truth, patience, etc.) it brings a great leap to the soul’s evolution.
What I found puzzling about the sources I read, is that they say the Dark Night only happens once in an incarnation. They say that it is a test the soul agrees to undergo when the person is at the proper stage of preparation in that particular lifetime to face the challenge.
I wondered, because I went through a particularly trying period in my early twenties that I have (perhaps ignorantly) referred to as my Dark Night. I definitely emerged from those experiences a changed, I daresay better man. But I am still relatively young (45). And I am learning many valuable things at this point in my life. It’s not that I look forward to having a really hard time sometime in the future (Boy! Doesn’t that sound perverse!), but I would be disappointed to think that I’ve passed my big chance at advancement in this lifetime.
Is it possible that there are several little Dark Nights in a lifetime as well as The Big One? Truly, every adversity that’s endured with virtue brings spiritual rewards. Maybe there’s no point in trying to figure out if the particular rough patch you’re going through is The Big One or not. Since we should know that all adversity is to be endured – not only endured, but TRANSMUTED - with our highest virtues, then it should be enough to always do our best, no matter what the circumstances.
I think it is when your soul is stripped of the very foundations of belief. (ex: kindness is a weakness and the bad guys rule the world).
The the despair and anguish so deep it is fathomless. So bleak the soul is stripped of anger, hate, hope, joy, love, etc. and no longer even tries to protest the unprovoked misery. The only thing left to feel is pain, it fills the soul completely. The soul is lost in this bleak and profoundly dark abyss until it is rescued by the faith of the heart (it never leaves). The heart remembers love and beauty and that God is, was, will always be.
That is how St John of the Cross could write with joy and wonder at the embrace of love, the beauty he wrote of he found in his faith and love of God. Love so complete and cherished all the more because of the time when the soul was so filled with pain, every other feeling fell away.
The "dark night of the soul" is imprinted forever after, not the pain as much as the moving experience of God's embrace of love. I think the the darker the night, the more wonderful and cherished the feeling of God's love and closeness. God wipes away the pain and the soul shines, the world is filled with beauty even if that world is a place of suffering.
I believe this kind of elevation of the soul is a one time unique event. The circumstances that bring about such elevation of the soul could last for years, maybe even a lifetime.
Theo,
No one can say with absolute certainty, whether there are more than one dark nights or not. One thing I have learned is to take someones pronouncements of absolute certainties with a grain of salt. When I was taking the Rosicrucian studies, I remember the monographs declaring, that we should be walking question marks in our search for answers. It is not a sin to question the veracity of mystical studies. We should not take everything on faith. We should also seek within for the answers. The studies can prepare you to learn about things through direct experience, or they can just be an intelectual pursuit. In my postings on this web site, I try to keep to things which I have first hand knowledge of. I feel that many students have had plenty of theory, but not enough experience. If the students hear from one who has had many of the experiences they read about,and hear about my experiences in reaction to mystical teachings, it may give them a better idea of things. Not that they should try to mimic mine, or anyone elses path, for we are all experiencing things from our own perspectives which will not be the same from one person to another. When I was younger, I used to always wonder where I was in the scheme of things, and compare myself with those who were more advanced than me. This is a fruitless exercise. Follow your own path and dont worry about someone elses. Sometimes I visualize that the path to enlightenment is a ladder of a hundred steps reaching into the heavens. During my own Journey, sometimes I have thought I was halfway up the ladder, then at other times (after a spectactular failure), I was on the bottom rung barely hanging on.
Gary
