What does it mean to go through the dark night of the soul?

The dark night of the soul is a stage in personal development when a person undergoes a difficult and significant transition to a deeper perception of life and their place in it. In other words: the dark night of the soul is the obscuration of the true self.

What does a dark night of the soul feel like?

The Dark Night of the Soul is a period of utter spiritual desolation, disconnection, and emptiness in which one feels totally separated from the Divine. Those who experience the Dark Night feel completely lost, hopeless, and consumed with melancholy.

What is dark night of the senses?

Description: Beginners travel on the spiritual road to God in an inferior way and are wrapped up in their own selfish desires. Just when they are experiencing the greatest of delight in spiritual exercises, God changes all of the light into darkness. …

What is dark night of the soul Catholic?

The term “dark night (of the soul)” in Roman Catholic spirituality describes a spiritual crisis in the journey toward union with God, like that described by St. John of the Cross. While this spiritual crisis is usually temporary, it may endure for a long time.

Where did dark night of the soul originate?

The phrase “dark night of the soul,” can be traced back to a 16th-century Spanish poem by the Roman Catholic mystic San Juan de la Cruz, or Saint John of the Cross. It is most commonly used within certain Christian traditions to refer to an individual’s spiritual crisis in the course of their union with God.

What does your soul want during dark night?

The soul desires growth and expansion. It pulls you towards a direction of love, joy, and peace because the soul knows that you are ready for growth. During the Dark Night process, the soul brings so much energy to the new path that going against it or resisting it is futile. You are just slowing down your process of spiritual evolution.

What is the Dark Night process and how to deal with it?

During the Dark Night process, the soul brings so much energy to the new path that going against it or resisting it is futile. You are just slowing down your process of spiritual evolution. Therefore, the best way to deal with your Dark Night is to surrender and follow the guidance of your soul.

Is there a definitive work in the soul?

A definitive work has been accomplished in the soul. The dark night of the soul doesn’t come at the beginning of one’s journey to God. Traditionally, spiritual directors identify three primary stages (or ways) of growth in holiness.

What happens in the dark night of the senses?

In the dark night of the senses, God purifies us of our attachments to the things of the world — physical comfort, physical pleasure, material success, popular acclaim — as well as of our consolations in prayer. Sorrows afflict us, and things that used to comfort us — food, sex, shopping, compliments, even the liturgy — no longer do.