{"id":124,"date":"2009-03-10T02:06:32","date_gmt":"2009-03-10T02:06:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lifeasprayer.wordpress.com\/?p=124"},"modified":"2013-01-15T20:12:05","modified_gmt":"2013-01-16T01:12:05","slug":"dark-night-of-the-soul-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/dark-night-of-the-soul-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark Night of the Soul- Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Q: Where did the term \u201cdark night of the soul\u201d come from? <\/em><\/p>\n

R: The phrase first turned up in the poetry of Spanish Carmelite monk John of the Cross in the 16th Century. He composed many poems while in torment in prison.<\/p>\n

Q: \u201cDark\u201d seems awfully negative, is it?<\/em><\/p>\n

R: In Spanish the term is closer to the word \u201cobscure\u201d. Though the process may be confusing and painful, \u201cdark\u201d is not implying a negative state. It is a description, especially once one is aware of the progression of growth involved, and knows how the dawn will approach.<\/p>\n

Q: Is the \u201cdark night of the soul\u201d the same as depression? <\/em><\/p>\n

R: No. It\u2019s also not <\/em>a \u201cspiritual term\u201d for the suffering of someone who needs help for trauma\/abuse, medical treatment for illness (mental and otherwise), and\/or therapy. Sometimes the two states are seen hand-in-hand, and many times they are not.<\/p>\n

Q: Are there different kinds of \u201cdark nights\u201d of the soul? <\/em><\/p>\n

R: Yes. John of the Cross spoke of a \u201cdark night\u201d involving the senses, and one involving the spirit. One may have numerous dark nights of the senses. (I will go into more detail in future posts.)<\/p>\n

Q: What is a good way to recognize a \u201cdark night\u201d. <\/em><\/p>\n

R: A dark night of the senses may \u201cfeel\u201d as though modes of prayer, experiencing the spiritual, or spiritual practices don\u2019t \u201cwork\u201d or satisfy. God may \u201cfeel\u201d out of reach, distant, unavailable, or gone. It may feel like a dry period, or a time of being in a spiritual dessert. (This is not cause for discouragement or alarm, but for stamina. It is a Divine invitation for growth, and greater spiritual depth beyond what one knows. I will elaborate on what is taking place more in future posts.)<\/p>\n

Next time I will post about the \u201cdark night and \u2018union with God\u2019,\u201d the process of the \u201cdark night,” any questions\/responses that come in from this post, and more. Come back soon. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Information taken from my reading: Gerald G. May, M.D. The Dark Night of the Soul: A Psychiatrist Explores the Connection Between Darkness and Spiritual Growth<\/em>. Harper San Francisco, 2004.<\/p>\n

My (upcoming) book Life as Prayer: A New Paradigm for contemporary Spirituality Inspired by Ancient Piety<\/em> dedicates a whole chapter to this topic. I will update this blog with details as this work continues. Thanks for your interest. I welcome your thoughts and comments.<\/p>\n

Now, Read PART II<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quick responses\/explanations of the phrase “dark night of the soul” (Part 1)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[205,434,459,638,795,877,4024,5191,18,5995,994,1001,4753,1400,1472,1503,1550,1616,1757,1763,5971,5347,2016,2054,5175,2249,2325,5844,4018,2534,2593,5651,6040,60,4770,3030,3161,3184,74,75,6539,79,5611,3429,3444,3493,3565,3663,3711,4641,89,3768],"class_list":["post-124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-authors","tag-ancient","tag-blog","tag-book","tag-chip-macgregor","tag-connection","tag-cross","tag-dark-night","tag-darkness","tag-depression","tag-depth","tag-discouragement","tag-divine","tag-dry","tag-future","tag-god","tag-good","tag-growth","tag-help","tag-illness","tag-in","tag-invitation","tag-john","tag-life","tag-listening-to-god","tag-medical","tag-monk","tag-needs","tag-negative","tag-night","tag-personal-growth","tag-poetry","tag-post","tag-practices","tag-prayer","tag-process","tag-senses","tag-spanish","tag-spiritual","tag-spiritual-growth","tag-spiritual-practices","tag-spirituality","tag-suffering","tag-taking","tag-thoughts","tag-time","tag-treatment","tag-update","tag-welcome","tag-will","tag-word","tag-work","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11307,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124\/revisions\/11307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisadelay.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}