Paths to Contemplation - 48

Signs of the Night of the Soul

In discussing signs of the advent of the Night of the Soul or its characteristics, we should be aware that the Night is not necessarily continuous, nor do all souls that enter it experience it in the same way.  Indeed, since each soul has its own peculiar obstacles to union, God need not treat each soul alike.  Moreover, in God’s mercy, the rigors of the Night may be interspersed with periods of deep consolation to strengthen the soul for what must yet take place.  Spiritual growth is generally not continually upward, but may encounter plateaus and even times when the soul regresses at times before moving ahead again.  In one aspect of spirituality, the soul may be advanced, yet in another it may still be a novice.  Do not make too much of the signs and characteristics, because like Kubler-Ross’s five stages of grief and the much discussed characteristics of near-death experience, what follows are generalizations.  Individual experiences may differ.

The signs of the Night of the Soul are not unlike those of the Night of the Senses.  There is dryness in prayer, a sense of abandonment by God, and a confused state of mind and memory.  

But these signs are more intense than in the Night of the Senses because the soul at this stage has a more developed intimacy with God and has generally been gifted with profound experiences of infused contemplation.  Although the soul enduring the Night of the Senses loves God, the soul in the Night of the Soul is consumed by a love of God of the most intense sort.  God is the beloved for whom the soul longs with a longing that surpasses description.  Thus, when the soul feels as if God, its beloved, has abandoned it, the grief is particularly painful.  It is worse than if a beloved spouse of many years passed away suddenly, or, even worse, left to live with someone else.

Such symptoms may have causes other than the Night of the Soul, for example, clinical depression or the loss of a spouse, so the soul needs markers to discern whether she is truly in the Night of the Soul.  As always, a wise and compassionate spiritual director may be an invaluable help.  

A key sign of the Night is spiritual dryness of a particularly intense sort.  It is not just that one derives no pleasure from the senses.  One derives no pleasure even from spiritual things that used to bring great joy.  The soul has experienced the presence of God; thus, this absence of pleasure is not the same as that experienced in the Night of the Senses when the soul is being led to passive contemplation.  God, who was once near, is now absent in a painful and devastating way.

But because the soul has enjoyed a special friendship with God in contemplative prayer, it is now as if the heart’s one and only love has fled.  There is a longing for the beloved, a desire to be reunited with the object of the heart’s desire that is painful in the extreme.   Those who have not had a burning desire for God will never experience this feeling.  The soul has found God in the depths of unitive love and now the beloved is gone.  The poignant search of the bride for her bridegroom described in the SONG OF SONGS comes immediately to mind.

On my bed, at night,  I sought him

whom my heart loves.

I sought but did not find him.

So I will rise and go through the City;

in the streets and in the squares

I will seek him whom my heart loves.

. . . I sought but did not find him.

In the Night, the soul is bitterly aware of its powerlessness.  It can no longer meditate; spiritual reading is like eating dust.  And yet the soul’s longing continues.  The state is not caused by laziness or an unwillingness to pray.  It is caused by an inability to pray.  And yet, at this time, there may be a sense that God is acting powerfully within the soul to purify it and teach it pure and unconditional love.  

The psychiatrist Gerald May, a member of the faculty of the Shalem Institute near Washington, D.C., which has a respected program to train spiritual directors as well as other programs related to spiritual formation, in his book CARE OF MIND, CARE OF SPIRIT, gives several tests to distinguish the Night of the Soul from clinic depression:

1. Dark night experiences are not usually associated with loss of effectiveness in life or  work, as are primary depressions.  Often, in fact, the individual is mystified at how well he or she is continuing to function.

2. The sense of humor is retain.  It is often sparkling, rather than cynical and bitter as in depression.

3. Compassion for others is, if anything, enhanced.  The self-absorption of clinical depression is lacking.

4. In the dark night, one would really rather not have things otherwise.  While there might be great superficial dissatisfaction and confusion, the deepest response is that there is an underlying sense of rightness about it all.  This is in stark contrast to a primary depression in which one desires a radical, even miraculous, change.

5. The person does not seem to be pleading for help as does someone who is clinically depressed.  Explanations and evaluations may be sought, but there is no sense of “get me out of this.”

6. Very subtly, yet perhaps most importantly, one does not generally feel frustrated, resentful, or annoyed in the presence of someone undergoing a dark night experience.  While such feelings are common in working with depressed people because of their own internalized anger, one is much more likely to feel graced and consoled with someone experiencing the dark night.