A Dark Night of the Soul

[Guest guest]

A generation of children is living without the spiritual awareness of

who they are, compromised in their Divine self-expression. When will

the adults around them set them free? For when you allow each child

to find a balance between their emotional, physical, and spiritual

knowledge, they will give each of you a living example of all that

you can be.

Are you to just sit and watch them deny their holiness, and their

beauty of spirit? Can no one accept that the young beings here among

you carry within them a highly developed knowledge of spiritual

truth? Indeed, it is time for society at large to educate themselves

about today's new children, and to look closely at the signs and wake

up calls being delivered from distraught young children who are

shouting loudly…

`Help us return to love again for that is the path for humankind.

Wake up! Materialism can no longer be the god before whom all

genuflect. We are living proof that the love of God manifests daily

through each one of us. If you teach us to live according to the

lower instincts, we will reject what we are not! Unity, brotherhood,

peace, beauty, and truth are the touchstones upon which we stand. Be

ever mindful that the message we bring, however neglected, ignored,

or denied by our parents, teachers, religious leaders, and government

is never going to go away.

We are a new prototype of a human being, and our soul purpose is to

bring about a revolution within the consciousness of man. To that

end, we are dedicating this manuscript as a manual for understanding

the universal laws, practices, and wisdom needed for parenting God's

holy messengers. Read with an open mind because within these pages

are principles for an enlightened age.'

Dark night of the soul, holy madness, spiritual emergency, spiritual

crisis, spiritual madness, and spiritual emergence are various

phrases that have been used to describe a unique experience - a

profound test of faith, endurance, inner purification and surrender -

that is a necessary part of walking the path back home to God.

Because of these experiences, one rises to a higher state of divine

beingness and becomes much closer to All That Is. Sooner or later,

this lifetime or next, everyone will journey through the dark night.

Today, many people on this planet are searching for a deeper meaning

and purpose to life. Struggling for survival and happiness in the

material world just doesn't seem to satisfy the human potential

anymore.

More and more we're becoming bored and frustrated with the routines

of everyday life, whether it's with our careers, our personal lives

or our relationships with other people. It seems that the average

human consciousness is so bogged down with the pressures of daily

living, it takes an intense, emotional upheaval to jar it awake even

a slight degree.

Deep inside we're beginning to realize that our hunger for the

material comforts and pleasures of life eventually leaves us feeling

empty and incomplete. We then begin to suspect that lasting peace and

happiness is an inner thing. As a result, many individuals are

looking into the spiritual or mystical realms for a greater sense of

purpose, direction and meaning to life. In the process, we find

ourselves asking " who am I really, what am I doing here, or what is

the real purpose of life on this planet? "

If we're ready, these kinds of questions will awaken a yearning deep

within that inspires us to look for answers. Other times a serious

life crisis or a profound mystical event can have the same effect.

Its purpose is to open our eyes to the physical-world dream we've

been trapped in for a very long time. In the end, we find that we're

really searching for God.

If we don't find answers to these questions, we'll continue going

round and round on the wheel of karma and reincarnation with many

births, lives, deaths and rebirths until we do. One of the purposes

of the dark night is to help us break that cycle so that we no longer

attach to or anchor ourselves in the physical world of planet Earth.

Our search for the truth helps us to awaken spiritually. More

importantly, it helps us remember who we really are. This is part of

the divine calling that some have heard, but many have yet to respond

to. This new awareness can be the most profound experience of one's

lifetime; an ecstatic rush of joy and enlightenment that is difficult

to describe to those who have yet to reach this point.

After an awakening or shift in one's awareness occurs, we begin to

look at the old ways and false beliefs of our lives with less

interest, while that which becomes clearer and feels more natural is

our re-connection with the divine. The old way simply doesn't

interest us anymore while the new way is all that matters.

Somewhere along the journey of remembering who we really are we may

find ourselves in a very uncomfortable space or no-man's-land. In

that place, we realize that we haven't totally let go of our old

belief systems, which are breaking down, while on the other hand, we

have yet to fully plug into the new spiritual truths we have

discovered.

This awkward place of mind, between the death of our " previous life "

and the birth of our new one, can bring on an internal crisis of

uncertainty, instability, confusion, frustration and a most

unspeakable despair, as the dark night of the soul sets in and makes

its presence felt.

The length of time it takes to " die " and the time required for

rebirth varies with each individual. The entire experience might last

days, weeks or years. In the process, you experience ego death, and

it's control over you begins to dissolve and lessen, as it returns to

its rightful level of influence in your mind.

There are also other ways to bring on a spiritual crisis. Sometimes

it can begin with a profound mystical vision, near-death event,

serious illness, reading a spiritual book, childbirth, a serious loss

or even the use of a mind-altering drug. Either way the net result is

an abrupt and radical change in one's belief systems and one's way of

being. All of it creates the opportunity for profound and lasting

inner transformation and a shift in awareness.

The dark night is part of the spiritual journey. It will take us into

the hidden areas of our nature and bring to the surface many of our

ego-based imprints and imperfections. Then their presence can be

acknowledged and cleansed from our personality and makeup. All of

this can be quite demanding and may leave the individual in a state

of emotional drain and helplessness. Functioning normally in everyday

reality can become very difficult and challenging.

It is ironic that along with the rapture of remembering our divine

connection there can be intense feelings of depression, madness,

detachment, hopelessness and an extraordinary loneliness that is not

only relentless, but may last for months or years on end. That's what

happens when we go through this purification experience and our ego

begins to lose its influence over us.

Then comes the required period of waiting and humble perseverance, as

our old self dies and we constantly wonder when the dark night will

end. Ultimately, it feels as though we have lost control over our

lives and, most importantly, that God has truly abandoned us.

St. of the Cross described the dark night of the soul as " an

inflowing of God into the soul, which purges it from its ignorances

and imperfections. "

Because of its profound challenges, the dark night has also become a

reference point for an experience of intense, spiritual struggle, and

a passage into the wilderness that is filled with utter hopelessness

and isolation.

In Dr. Jack Kornfield's book, First the Ecstasy, Then the Laundry, he

cites the following description of someone who had been on the

spiritual path for more than 20 years and became a guru because of

it. Then, just when things in life seemed to be going perfectly, a

dark night of the soul appeared unexpectedly:

" I had always worried about my students, how unstable their wisdom

seemed. After the first profound realizations of emptiness and

freedom, the painful tendency of many people was to become caught

again in separation. But then it happened to me!

I received a crash course in confusion, panic and depression. It

started when I became very sick with leftover parasites from India.

Then all the money I had saved for years and invested in two thriving

businesses was lost through bankruptcy and betrayal.

All of the sudden the 'guru' was sick and poor. I became terribly

frightened. My family life became a place of conflict. We had to

leave our home, to struggle with money, to worry about ordinary

things. I had difficulty with my mother. And all the while I thought

I shouldn't feel these things - I'd been to the peaks, after all. I

thought I knew the whole game.

Finally I had to stop teaching. I lost all control. I reached a

childlike stage were I wasn't trying to understand things; I was just

broken down completely, living moment to moment, and in some way

that's when my spiritual life really became genuine for the first

time. "

Spiritual crisis should not be confused with personal karma that an

individual chooses to confront and deal with during a given lifetime.

For example, if one is in a difficult relationship, handicapped,

abused, involved in a serious addiction, and so on, these

circumstances usually reflect personal karma rather than the presence

and symptoms of a spiritual crisis.

St. of the Cross went through it, Edgar Cayce spoke of it,

several recent books and tapes have described it. And, throughout

history, various indigenous cultures provided special care and loving

support for their tribal members in spiritual crisis.

Sometimes the dark night can be a slow, steady and repetitive

process. Other times it can be intense, radical and very rapid.

Either way it is a very profound experience that strips away our

false beliefs and earthly attachments. The key is to trust what your

inner knowingness keeps telling you that, in the end, the priceless

reward will be God-centeredness and spiritual enlightenment, as the

real you emerges from the material dream.

If the dark night has entered your life, please don't give up! When

the madness is over, when one finally lets go in an act of surrender,

acceptance and trust in what God is accomplishing with you - without

resignation and with gratitude for the experience - the spiritual

madness will end.

When the madness ends, ego will have far less influence in your life

and a Light will shine through bringing with it a new spiritual

adventure and purpose. Your path will then be guided by a series of

divinely influenced synchronous events and your real mission for this

lifetime will unfold and fall into place, as if by magic.

But don't get too comfortable with your newfound way of life. The

dark night is all about surrendering to the will of God. When a

certain degree of letting go has finally been achieved, one needs to

live that surrender each and every day. While that is happening, the

following question still needs to be asked: " how can I know I have

surrendered unless I am tested from time to time? " What this means is

that we will be tested now and then in order to answer that question.

" You cannot find the Light unless

you enter the darkness " ~ An ancient mystical insight