Spirituality

The Dark Night of the Soul

You aren't going mad, you are just having an Existential Crisis

The “dark night of the soul” is a term that goes back a long time.

The “dark night (of the soul)” in Roman Catholic spirituality describes a spiritual crisis. Aka a spiritual depression or Existential Crisis.

It is often confused as clinical depression — and with good reason as it mimics all the symptoms of depression. But, unlike depression which is in your head, this is in your very soul.

During the dark night, you question your place in life. Nothing makes sense anymore, and it seems as if there’s no purpose to anything. It can be triggered by some uncontrollable, external event, such as a bereavement or disaster.

It can also be triggered by something happening that you can’t explain away. Something that seems to invalidate your beliefs. Or perhaps you feel that everything you achieved or believed in life has suddenly fallen apart, or appears to have been a lie.

What has collapsed is the whole conceptual framework for your life — the meaning you had given it in your mind. Your expectations. Your understanding.

So that results in you entering a dark place mentally. That dark place is what spiritualists call “The dark night of the soul”. Think of it as the cocoon phase of a transformation. But unlike a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, this will feel more like a drug addict detoxing.

It will be hard mentally and physically, but you will emerge from this dark place with a transformed state of consciousness.

You will become awakened. The dark night is a deep and painful dip that must be experienced before you can find enlightenment.

The dark night of the soul is like a kind of death — but what actually dies is the ego.

In hindsight, most people who’ve gone through this transformation realized that they had to go through it, to evoke a spiritual awakening. There simply was no other way.

And it can also come right at the moment in which you have every reason to be content. You believe you “should” be happy. So, when you suddenly find yourself hitting rock bottom, it can come as a bit of a shock.

What’s actually happening is you’re starting to realize how the external, material things didn’t serve you.

Your delusions about what you thought mattered are now breaking down around you. The part of you that is still chasing things outside of yourself in a pursuit to make you happy, is now dying. And once it does, you can begin actually doing things that make you whole.

A lot of people feel the need to detox or purge certain things from their life. They may start eating healthier or wanting to exercise, clean their home of excess material belongings, or remove people from their lives. Some people also experience more physical symptoms such as unexplainable chills, or heaviness or lightness.

It can also disrupt your sleep patterns. You may feel exhausted one minute then wired the next. Your appetite may also swing from being ravenous to not hungry. You may also suffer mood swings. This is your body going through a growth phase while it is calibrating. You may also feel the need to just slow down and take stock.

It is also normal to feel lost and unsure where you should be going or what you should be doing. You simply don’t know who you are anymore.

We spend so much of our lives doing what is expected of us that when this limitation is removed, we have no idea what to do. They are entering a new life and a new way of living. And it can be overwhelming since they have no idea where their life is headed.

There is no longer a need to please other people or conform to what they expect of you. There is a realization that fitting in and trying to always please others is ego-based behavior. There is no longer a need to be better than others or try and make people like you.

You start to realize what people are talking about when they say we are living in a socially conditioned, disingenuous life where we are on autopilot. It appears that everything from our hobbies and life interests through to our partners is based on what “society” expects of us.

Fear-based religions no longer have the same hold over you. You may want to now learn how to harness your mind and awaken your own power to help others. Eastern philosophies, Spirituality, and similar practices such as meditation and healing now start to resonate.

Repressed, buried memories, and past events will now start to surface. This will allow you to face them and heal them.

You will not want to be around others even though you don’t want to be alone either. Being around people can be overwhelming. You may feel resentment towards humanity and also a deep sadness.

It is normal to feel suicidal and withdrawn. You will start to get in touch with mortality. You may grieve people who have not died and also question the point of going on.

You will suffer as a means to feel empathy towards others. Things that did not bother you before now evoke powerful emotions as you feel the emotions of others. This will allow you to feel and recognize true suffering in others. You will develop greater patience and understanding towards others — even strangers.

You will notice signs and coincidences everywhere. Strange, inexplicable things will happen. This will help you to recognize you are on the right track.

We all come to the darkness to resolve our own unique set of circumstances.

Quite often, we fight the idea of change, to the point of exhaustion before collapsing in what defeat. When we stop fighting, we allow ourselves to be overtaken by something that was better for us all along. We hear people talking about surrendering and it sounds like giving in to the enemy. In this instance, it means to stop fighting against it, accept it, and let it happen. Trust in the Universe and the process.

Trust that the dark night will turn to a new dawn. The night does not last forever. Upon completing this journey, you will become enlightened. You will then be able to help others also find their way, through their darkness and see the light of their new dawn.

Not everyone travels this journey. It is generally only bestowed upon the lucky few that have a strong spiritual path ahead of them. Although when you are going through it you may feel anything but lucky.