Dark Night of the Soul II

Dark Night of the Soul II

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Why would anyone want anything to do with the Dark Night of the Soul?

There are a few sayings.  Pressure is what makes the diamond.  Heat is what purifies steel.  

It seems that suffering is a part of the human condition for all people.  Even the privileged and elite go through pain and turmoil between their successful ventures.  We may never see this, though, in many cases where there is a well-crafted advertising image.  

Even if things are going well, it seems that the natural progression is the necessity of adversity before cashing in on any advantage or fortune.  Furthermore, the higher one ascends, it seems like each threshold to cross before the next breakthrough has an even stiffer price to pay.

The entire universe seems to rotate at extremes.  We live on a comfortable planet protected by Jupiter from objects flying at us from outer space.  Our atmosphere provides another layer of protection as that of a womb.  But for the most part, things in the universe are either extremely hot or extremely cold.  There is no room for average or the middle.  Even on Earth, it is strange that we complain of bad weather or climate change, if that is to be believed.  However, the strange thing is our expectation.  Why should we expect normal weather?  We live in Earth womb protection under extremely unlikely conditions.  Thus, when normal things happen in the universe - burning up, freezing up, destruction, explosions, collisions - why are we so shocked?  

Thus, if we want to rise high - to escape the atmosphere of the Earth - we must increase the risk of catastrophe.  Day and night go together.  

When the ruins are cleared after a catastrophe, what is left is really strong.  When the war is over, strong men remain and take over the next age.  Those who survive the deepest sorrow rise up like the phoenix stronger than ever.  

Dark Night of the Soul

When you choose a spiritual path, you choose the cyclic nature of Spirit.  The spirit is wind or breath traditionally speaking.  The wind blows when it blows, and it is still when it is still.  We have no control over the wind.  

Thus, if we ascend the heights of Spirit, we also accept the depths.  It is like going out to the Sea - you ride the crest and the trough of the waves.

The Dark Night of the Soul - what is this?  Nothing works.  Prayer, ritual, meditation, charity - nothing works.  Everything that once worked from where you draw strength no longer works.  Nobody understands you.  Even those who have gone through the Dark Night have no concept because the Dark Night has a strange way of annihilating the Ego to the point where we do not clearly recall the Dark Night - it is like a half remembered dream that does not seem quite real - we may even doubt it ever happened.  This is what happens when Ego fades and all is left is the Void - the For Itself, the Abyss, or whatever words we attach to it.  

Others only see the Persona - our face to the World.  They cannot perceive - perhaps even conceive - that we experience the Void, the Abyss, the Nothing, the No Thing.