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.

Paths to Contemplation - 42

Signs of the Night of the Senses

The soul must realize that feeling that one is close to God is not the same as being close to God, just as the soul must realize that holiness does not consist in feeling holy but in conforming her will to the will of God in her regard.  A purer, less conditional love of God comes not from more emotional prayer, but from fidelity to God’s will even when one does not feel like being faithful.

Likewise, faith, complete trust in God, becomes stronger when it must be exercised, not when the soul is carried on the wings of her pleasant sensations.   God is a God who surpasses our natural abilities as human beings.  Whenever we mistake something we think, or imagine, or feel or sense for God, no matter how profound or pleasing our thoughts, images, feelings or sensations may be, we risk going stray.  We may become comfortable thinking that we have found what we were looking for, or that what we have obtained is sufficient, so we need seek no further.  God must prod us to get us on our way once more toward our real goal which only God can provide.

The Night of the Senses, therefore, deprives us of our customary pleasures in prayer, whatever form these may have taken.  We no longer experience the sweet sadness that came from gazing at a crucifix, nor do we feel close to God as we read our favorite psalm.  Even the church services that gave such pleasure and excitement may now seem dull and uninspiring.  The joy that was part of singing hymns of praise is gone as, seemingly, is the very presence of God.  Whereas before our spiritual life was a fragrant garden, now it is a dry and barren desert.

This change is our prayer life is not due to apathy on our part.  We want to pray.  We yearn for the old times when God felt so close and showered favors on us.  We try to pray, and then try again, but the attempts are painful and make us even more distracted than before.  Our desire for God is strong; or, at least our desire is strong to return to the fragrant garden we enjoyed so recently and that now seems so far away.  We are conscious of what we once thought we had, and now clearly do not have.  Whereas before a half-hour meditating on the Cross flew by without effort, now each minute gazing at the Cross requires our strenuous efforts.

Why is this time called the Night of the Senses?  This is because it occurs to pull us away from dependence on our senses, our emotions, our intellects – all of which are not God – so that God can draw us more closely to himself in a purer faith and love.

Paths to Contemplation - 41

The what and why of the Night of the Senses

As the soul continues to allow God to draw it more and more deeply into the life of God, there may come a time when aids to that transformation become obstacles to continued growth.  How can this be?  If some means of prayer causes my heart to burn with the love of God, if it induces tears to stream down by cheeks as I recognize my sinfulness or meditate on the Crucifixion, how can such a means be an obstacle to spiritual progress?

Consider a traveler on a journey to fulfill an important mission.  The traveler is well aware that the mission is important and that she still has a long road ahead of her before the mission can be completed.  But the traveler lodges at an inn and finds the bed so comfortable, the food of such excellence, and the diversions there so pleasant that she is loath to move on.  Indeed, she is so pleased with her accommodations that she begins to rationalize.  She tells herself that the mission is not so important after all, or that it is more important that she be well-rested before continuing, and, after a time, she may even come to believe that the inn itself was the goal of her journey and there is no need to go further.

The innkeeper, however, sees that the traveler is in danger of abandoning her mission because the inn is such a comfortable place to be, so he begins to make the stay there less comfortable.  He puts rocks in her mattress and instructs the cook to make her meals less tasty.  Gradually, the traveler became less and less satisfied with the inn and soon decides to renew her journey toward her intended goal.

The traveler in this parable is the soul which is journeying, with the help of God, toward union with God, this union being the mission God set for the soul from the time of its creation.  At the beginning of its journey, God may grant the soul great consolations and satisfying emotional experiences in prayer.  These consolations and emotional experiences, of course, are good for the soul at that point in its development, offering rewards and encouragement to stay the course.

But at some point these gifts may become obstacles to further progress.  First, the soul may become complacent, and even proud, thinking that it has reached spiritual heights when, in reality, it is still near the base of the mountain.  The soul may think that it has achieved its goal of holiness,  mistaking feelings of holiness for holiness itself.  She may even forget that it is God who must carry the soul further into God’s own life and come to believe that it is her wonderful prayer exercises that cause this transformation.

Fortunately, God is never deceived and is always merciful.  God wants the soul to draw the soul more deeply into his own divine life, and so he must wean the soul from the consolations and emotional satisfactions that have now become obstacles to further progress.  So like the innkeeper who wants the traveler to move on, he makes the soul’s stay at the point where she has arrived less comfortable.  God causes the soul to enter the Night of the Senses.

Paths to Contemplation - 40

Scripture and the stages of spiritual growth

Although there are those who will disagree, I personally believe that Scripture itself evidences the stages of spiritual growth.  At the beginning of the Old Testament, God is clearly a severe judge and stern master.  He promises rewards, albeit primarily earthly, for strict obedience to his laws, and threatens, and often inflicts, terrible punishments for violations of his law.  His law seems to cover even petty aspects of life, and at least segments of the Jewish people, such as the Pharisees, developed lengthy commentaries to provide guidance in how to observe God’s laws faithfully.  In other words, the first part of the Old Testament, particularly the Pentateuch, or first five books, have the characteristics of the first stage of spiritual growth.

Later in the Old Testament, God is described in more friendly terms.  He is seen as a nurturer, one who cares about his People, one who will hold them in his arms and protect them as a mother would her child.  The psalms can be considered spontaneous cries to God spanning the entire spectrum of emotions: joy, rage, sorrow, awe, etc.  In other words, later in the Old Testament we see earmarks of the second stage of spiritual growth.

The New Testament proposes a transformed and deepened relationship with God through Jesus Christ.  One of Christ’s central teaching is that it is not the outward appearances that matter most but the intention with which we act.  While love is mentioned in the Old Testament, it is with Christ that love becomes the central motif of one’s relationship with God and with other human beings.  Unity with God is now stated as possible, made possible by unity with and in Christ.  God is no longer distant, but is present in creation through Christ.   Sacrificial love is demonstrated on the Cross.  In other words, one finds characteristics of the third stage of spiritual growth.

We now move on to the transition periods in spiritual growth known as the “nights.”

Paths to Contemplation - 39

Dangers at this stage of spiritual growth

Once again there is the danger of pride, a belief that I must be better than other Christians because I am so close to God.  But if the soul really believes this, as opposed to being tempted to believe it, this is evidence that the soul has not actually reached this third stage.   A soul in the third stage generally recognizes the immense gulf that separates her from God and that it is only by the grace and mercy of God that she is allowed to come to God at all.  Often someone in this stage will consider herself the worst of sinners because she sees herself in relation to God in whose light she feels stained and polluted.

If a soul does fall out of love, so to speak, at this stage, great will be that fall.  Great love can turn into more profound hatred than superficial love.  The soul that has been close to God and falls away can become demonic in her lashing out at God.  But what might cause a soul to fall away once it has reached this stage?  The soul, in experiencing one of the “nights” to be discussed later, might feel it has been rejected, abandoned, by God, its love scorned.  The nights are intended for purification, not punishment, and, during the nights God is closer at hand than ever, but without proper guidance the soul may fail to recognize this, or to see God with the eyes of faith when the light of God has turned to darkness.

Another danger is scrupulosity, where the soul is so anxious to please God that it becomes obsessed with its sinfulness and compulsively worries about what it may have done wrong and how to conduct itself, even as regards to the most trivial detail, so as to avoid offending God.  In fact, scrupulosity is also a danger in the first stage as well where the soul is concerned about “doing things right” in order to avoid sin.

Paths to Contemplation - 38

The third stage of spiritual growth

In the first stage of spiritual growth God was viewed as distant, someone who gave laws and expected them to be obeyed.  Someone who would grant an immense reward or everlasting torment depending on whether one passed or failed whatever test existed to separate the saved from the lost.  

In the second stage of spiritual growth, the goodness of God becomes more apparent to me, and I view God as close at hand, someone interested in my personal welfare, someone anxious to help me.  I begin to share my thoughts more spontaneously with God.  Fear gives way to companionship.  I begin to want to please God through service rather than merely avoiding sin.

In the third stage, God is recognized as a lover inviting the soul to a deep intimacy, drawing the soul into union with himself so that the soul can experience God as God is.

The soul’s motive now becomes pleasing one who is deeply loved.  Just as a human lover is willing to sacrifice for the beloved, so now the soul is willing to sacrifice herself for God, wanting above all else to belong to God, not out of hope of reward or fear of punishment, but because God alone is worth possessing.  The soul would willingly give up every earthly treasure to gain the “pearl of great price,” which is God, and only God.

Prayer in this stage may involve contemplation, a quiet resting in God, the beloved.   Infused contemplation may occur regularly, although we must always remember that infused contemplation is a free gift of God and can occur at any stage of spiritual growth.  It may also be withheld if God feels that a soul would not benefit from it.  

The soul wants more than ever to know God, to experience God, to be with God.  It is no longer a desire that resides primarily in the emotions or senses, but it is felt at the deepest levels of the soul’s being.  It rises above feelings and emotion, just as the love of a married couple for one another must rise above mere emotion and physical attraction if it is to mature and last.

“My beloved is mine and I am his,” the soul cries out in joy.  The soul wants to put away all vestiges of sin, anything that separates the soul from God, so that the union with God can be more complete, more consuming.

Paths to Contemplation - 37

Dangers in this stage of spiritual growth

Just as with the first stage of growth, there is the danger of stagnating at this stage as well.  The consolations may be so powerful and the prayer techniques so pleasing that one may be tempted to mistake the consolations and prayers themselves as the goals of spirituality.  The goal, of course, always must remain God, but we all like emotional highs and the warm feelings that may often accompany prayer in this stage.

Because the sense of God’s goodness and presence is stronger as well, someone may be misled into thinking that they have achieved a high degree of holiness, or, because of what they perceive to be special favors from God, may lapse into complacency or pride.  They may become self-satisfied and less willing to engage in the discipline that opening oneself to God’s transforming grace demands.  At the worst, they may think that the gifts they are receiving come from their own efforts and that they can manipulate God by engaging in specific prayer techniques to generate the spiritual highs that they come to treasure.

But the consolations will end.  They must if the soul is to continue to make spiritual progress, because the soul must not be allowed to substitute a gift from God for God himself.  Even a prayer technique that has been immensely valuable in drawing a soul to greater devotion and service to God and neighbor can at some point become an obstacle to further progress toward unconditional love of God.

And when spiritual “dryness” enters a person’s life, discouragement, even despair, may follow.  The soul may think that the God whom it considers a dear friend and close companion has abandoned it.  God is no longer found in the once familiar places, that is, the prayer techniques that have been so satisfying in the past.  The prayer techniques no longer generate emotional satisfaction; in fact, they seem to generate nothing at all.  What was once so easy is now impossible, or possible only with an expenditure of effort that is debilitating.  

Of course, dryness and seeming spiritual desolation can be caused by factors other than God’s leading the soul into a new and deeper relationship with him.  Mental or physical illness, lack of adequate sleep, stress, the loss of a loved one, can all bring about a lack of spiritual energy and an inability to pray in a way in which the soul feels satisfaction.  But God may also be calling to the soul into a more mature stage of prayer.