challenge your beliefs

challenge your beliefs
Originally uploaded by jecate.

I met Jen while I was in Seattle a few weeks ago. She is such a beautiful person and a great source of inspiration for me, and I am sure, for many other people as well...

I had read a book based on the writings of st.john of the cross entitled "Dark night of the soul". The term and metaphysicality of the phrase "dark night of the soul" are taken from the writings of the Spanish poet and Roman Catholic mystic Saint John of the Cross, a Carmelite priest in the 16th century. Dark Night of the Soul is the name of both a poem, and a commentary on that poem, and are among the Carmelite priest's most famous writings. They tell of his mystic development and the stages he went through on his quest for holiness.

a further definition is taken from Wikepedia:

"Dark Night of the Soul" is a term used to describe a specific phase in a person's spiritual life. It is used as a metaphor to describe the experience of loneliness and desolation that can occur during psychic or spiritual growth.

The "dark night" could generally be described as a letting go of our ego's hold on the psyche, making room for change that can bring about a complete transformation of a person's way of defining his/her self and their relationship to God. The interim period can be frightening, hence the perceived "darkness". In the Christian tradition, during the "dark night" one who has developed a strong prayer life and consistent devotion to God suddenly finds traditional prayer extremely difficult and unrewarding for an extended period of time. The individual may feel as though God has suddenly abandoned them, or that their prayer life has collapsed.

Rather than being a negative event, the dark night is believed by mystics and others to be a blessing in disguise where the individual is trained to grow from vocal and mental prayer, to a deeper contemplative prayer of the soul. Particularly in Christianity, it is seen as a severe test of one's faith. The Dark Night comes in two phases: a first "Night of the Senses," and a second "Night of the Spirit."

Depression is another form of 'a dark night of the soul", and it need not necessairly be a bad thing. At times, overwhelming, but if one is strong enough, it can be a space where self-discovery grows from emptyness.


"Dark Night of the Soul" is a term used to describe a specific phase in a person's spiritual life. It is used as a metaphor to describe the experience of loneliness and desolation that can occur during psychic or spiritual growth.

In this mystic's writing, his approach ideology of suffering seems more akin to early Islamic or Judaic works in its more direct route to communication to God, teaching us to look at the horrors and joys of the world, the cycles of birth and death, the wars and destructions as a natural process of life and something to embrace rather than fear.