-
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
- Thread starter asketikos
- Start date
A
angellous_evangellous
Guest
I have. Just be patient.
A
angellous_evangellous
Guest
My understanding is that you can't do anything to make it end.
I've had four or five dark nights and the longest was about three months. But each one completely revitalized my prayer and worship life -- it increases faith because God seems infinitely farther away.
Alex_G
Enlightner of the Senses
Alex_G
Enlightner of the Senses
Ah ok, is that something like what Jesus was said to go through before dying on the cross?
Is it something you think is spiritually necessary to reach some higher enlightenment?
I guess by definition it will be something only privy to the theists, but i wonder if it represents something more fundamental about human nature and the conscious experience, meaning that atheists experience it also, the only difference being, the subject matter to which it is associated, or attributed to.
Alex
asketikos
renouncing this world
Maybe, I think you are referring to when he said "why have you forsaken me."
I don't know if it's necessary, I hope not, but maybe it is - because it is a spiritual and emotional suffering, and suffering brings us closer to God.
i think you're right, Alex, that it is something that theists go through - because faith takes so much investment, the way you lead your life, the choices you make, are based and centered around your faith, that when you feel isolated from it, you question all those choices.
But maybe atheists have their own dark nights, the kinds where they question their existence, especially if they believe it has no divine purpose.
I don't know if it's necessary, I hope not, but maybe it is - because it is a spiritual and emotional suffering, and suffering brings us closer to God.
i think you're right, Alex, that it is something that theists go through - because faith takes so much investment, the way you lead your life, the choices you make, are based and centered around your faith, that when you feel isolated from it, you question all those choices.
But maybe atheists have their own dark nights, the kinds where they question their existence, especially if they believe it has no divine purpose.
Biblestudent_007
Active Member
I have the specific book on it by St. John of the Cross.
Its usually associated with Catholic spirituality. FYI
Its usually associated with Catholic spirituality. FYI
simon kole
Member
May I ask you some questions first?
If God asked you why he should admit you into his heaven, what would your answer be?
Civil Shephard
Active Member
Sin. A word not easily defined and a condition not always easily detected. Our unbelief is sin even when we've convinced ourselves that we do still believe... our thought and actions bare us out. But occasionally someone leading a sinless life goes through the same thing a sinful person goes through... the world was not worthy of them some believe.
I don't know... my darkest nights are behind me I believe if I don't continue to fall in the sin of unbelief. If I find that rest and do not harden my heart when I hear our Saviors voice. But the farmer does not plow the ground forever... eventually he plants the seeds and goes and takes his rest. But the farmer is always there watching in heart if not with his eyes... little seedlings must grow and hopefully the tares won't go undetected... but they do go undetected... only I know that at harvest the tares won't go with the wheat into the barn.
Anywho... so the dark night of the soul? I get them... but I pray for a time of refreshing and a plowing of my heart the hardened soil of my mind hardened by the dirty feet of flattery and contempt of others who I feel don't want to know God as much as I do. Then that feeling itself makes me kick myself for being self righteous... making me remember to do kindness to the least and most spiteful of us... lest I let my oil run out on the next dark night.
Last edited:
ImmortalPhoenix
Member
Dark Night of the Soul
"Dark night of the soul" sounds like a threatening and much to be avoided experience. Yet perhaps a quarter of the seekers on the road to higher consciousness will pass through the dark night. In fact, they may pass through several until they experience the profound joy of their true nature.
Many seekers would encourage the dark night experience if they knew what it was. However, to one engaged in the dark night, suffering seems unending.
The dark night occurs after considerable advancement toward higher consciousness. Indeed, the dark night usually occurs like an initiation before one of these special seekers is admitted into regular relationship with higher consciousness. The dark night also occurs to those who do not seek relationship but immersion or unity in the higher consciousness. While the term dark night of the soul is used broadly, its general meaning — in the field of higher consciousness — is a lengthy and profound absence of light and hope. In the dark night you feel profoundly alone.
Source: Dark Night of the Soul
Yes I experienced it once. It changed my life forever. I think Gandhi put it best. "With my faith in God, I would have been a rambling lunatic." Except I became a rambling lunatic. 7 years of atheism, with a sudden knowledge of God will to that to you.
"Dark night of the soul" sounds like a threatening and much to be avoided experience. Yet perhaps a quarter of the seekers on the road to higher consciousness will pass through the dark night. In fact, they may pass through several until they experience the profound joy of their true nature.
Many seekers would encourage the dark night experience if they knew what it was. However, to one engaged in the dark night, suffering seems unending.
The dark night occurs after considerable advancement toward higher consciousness. Indeed, the dark night usually occurs like an initiation before one of these special seekers is admitted into regular relationship with higher consciousness. The dark night also occurs to those who do not seek relationship but immersion or unity in the higher consciousness. While the term dark night of the soul is used broadly, its general meaning — in the field of higher consciousness — is a lengthy and profound absence of light and hope. In the dark night you feel profoundly alone.
Source: Dark Night of the Soul
Yes I experienced it once. It changed my life forever. I think Gandhi put it best. "With my faith in God, I would have been a rambling lunatic." Except I became a rambling lunatic. 7 years of atheism, with a sudden knowledge of God will to that to you.
asketikos
renouncing this world
that is a good question simon kole
i don't think i would be able to give Him an answer
asketikos
renouncing this world
Yes i agree, it is a sin.
The dark night seems to be a sense, a bizarre sense, of God leaving you.