Dark Night of the Soul

Recognizing the dark night of the soul

 

How you feel during the dark night of the soul is characterized below. If you’re feeling some of these things whether solo or in combination, you may be experiencing a dark night of the soul. 

​

Signs:

• Deep inner loneliness – isolation, no interest to be with others

• Sadness – crying, withdrawal, emptiness, intense mood swings, bad dreams. 

• Loss of interest – disconnection, loss of purpose, lack of will, lack of inspiration.

• Powerlessness – feelings of worthlessness, life is out of your control. 

• Existential questions – introspection, questioning reality, collapse of meaning of things you believe in, questioning religion, seeking spiritual teaching and metaphysical or mystical teachings.

 

Why is the dark night of the soul important?

 

The dark night of the soul is typically a precursor for a spiritual awakening.  Arguably, it’s the evolutionary process where the human experiences darkness and powerlessness and comes to see the need for a more fulfilling spiritual life.

 

In other words, the human starts looking for spiritual purpose and meaning – asking the existential questions and reflecting on the greater meaning of life.

 

Often, the dark night of the soul is accompanied with events in one’s life that are outside of one' s control. Negative events such as losing a job, husband, marriage, child, parent, friend, health, and so on. There can be multiple negative events at one time.

 

The experience from this is so impactful it feels like an intense crisis. It can literally feel dark or black. You feel lonely and spiritless.

 

Psychologists would likely provide a clinical diagnosis similar to depression but a dark night of the soul propels you to seek a spiritual life and look for answers within the spiritual realm. You hit rock bottom before you propel yourself to a new and more meaningful life.

 

What to do if you’re experiencing a dark night of the soul?

 

• Surrender – don’t fight this. It’ll only return.

• Inner work – search out the information and support that you need and complete the inner work to evolve from this state.

• Understand your role as a soul – learn about your role as a soul in order to emerge from the darkness and live a fuller and more meaningful life in unison with your higher self.

​

What’s the purpose of this experience?

 

In an esoteric sense, the dark night of the soul is a time when the human ego dies and all concepts and notions related to it also die. A human goes through this state of meaningless and powerlessness and emerges with a new sense of purpose – similar to a rebirth.

 

Ultimately, the human ego is replaced with a transformed state of consciousness. The former belief system collapses and is replaced with beliefs that are aligned with their higher self. For those standing on the outside, this might seem woo-woo or a little out there.

 

What will happen on the other side of this experience?

 

For those who experience the dark night of the soul and emerge from it, the dark night not only dissolves the human ego but propels a person to seek new meaning and purpose in life. Many turn to the metaphysical to find this new meaning and purpose.

 

Many discover meditation and alignment with the higher soul and through this find the web of consciousness that guides our human and our soul through life.

 

How will I change, if I’m going through a dark night of the soul?

 

A dark night of the soul propels you to live a different life. You move from a lower vibration to a higher one. The experience of moving from the darkness to the light – the actual journey through this – helps you to intimately understand the polarity between these two.

 

You receive first-hand knowledge of what it’s like to be in complete darkness and then emerge into light and reach a state of blissfulness.  

 

The polarity of these two states is at the core of the experience and the lesson. You’ll see things differently, respond differently, choose differently as your inner or higher guidance will replace your ego. Your ego completely dissolves and your consciousness ascends to a higher vibration.

 

Does everyone go through a dark night of the soul?

 

Not all people embark on this journey and it’s not a good or bad thing if you’re not going through this.It’s really not something that you can artificially recreate and it’s not recommended that a person should try to recreate this experience.If you’re going through it, have faith that you’ll emerge and you’ll be renewed!

 

Can you experience more than one dark night of the soul?

 

There are people who have experienced more than one dark night of the soul. In fact, there are people who have experienced multiples. Are multiple experiences about reminders or incremental evolution? Hard to say. But, if you’re experiencing multiple dark nights of the soul, you can have faith that these will come to an end and you’ll metamorphose and rebirth again. You’ll emerge again!

 

Read about my personal journey through the dark night of the soul.