Paths to Contemplation - 43

The Night of the Senses and infused contemplation

There may be another reason  for the sensory, emotional and intellectual dryness of the Night of the Senses.  It is at this stage that God may begin to reveal Godself directly to the soul, bypassing the natural means of human knowledge.  This more direct experience of God is not so strong  that the soul is clear about what is happening.  But it is strong enough that there is a “disconnect” between this experience and the person’s natural faculties.

The natural faculties – the senses, emotion and the intellect – cannot experience God directly.  Consequently, when God begins to reveal Godself more directly to the soul, the natural faculties are left behind.  They cannot take part in this experience in any direct way.  True, the experience of God may bring great joy or immeasurable peace, but these feelings are not the experience of God.  They result from it.  And, more frequently than not, the initial stirring of infused contemplation, which is the direct experience of God, does not confer these feelings.  They confer instead confusion on the natural faculties which literally do not know, because they cannot know, what is happening.

The natural faculties will, of course, continue to function, trying to do what they did before during a time of prayer, but they will have no success.  Therefore, it will seem that the prayer that once was so helpful is now worse than useless since, instead of God seeming present to the pray-er, God seems more distant than ever.

An analogy may be helpful in understanding what is happening.  It is as if a person is looking directly into a powerful searchlight.  The light is so bright that it blinds the eyes rather than helping them to see.  So, too, the “light” of God when it first shines directly on the soul is so intense that the soul thinks itself in darkness.

However, we must always remember that infused contemplation is a gift.  God will grant it when God thinks it will help the soul to make spiritual progress, and withhold it otherwise.  Whether infused contemplation is present in the Night of the Senses, or absent, the Night of the Senses is a necessary transition for most souls to a deeper relationship with God and purer love that is not founded on consolations and feelings.  Our love of God must become more love of God because God alone is worthy of our total, absolute and unconditional love.   It is only in the love of God that we can most deeply love ourselves and other human beings.  It is only in loving God with all our hearts and souls and minds and strength that we find our fulfillment as rational creatures of God.