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The Dark Night of the Soul (Spanish: La noche oscura del alma) is a phase of passive purification in the mystical development of the individual's spirit, according to the 16th-century Spanish mystic and Catholic poet St. John of the Cross. John describes the concept in his treatise Dark Night (Noche Oscura), a
Considered to be his introductory work on mystical theology, this work begins with an allegorical poem, Dark Night of the Soul.The rest of the text begins as a detailed explanation and interpretation of the poem, but after explaining the first five lines, John thereafter ignores the poem and writes a straightforward treatise on the two "active nights" of the soul.
In the 16th century, Saint John of the Cross famously described it as "the Dark Night of the Soul". The 17th-century Benedictine mystic Fr. Augustine Baker called it the "great desolation". [1] Mother Teresa's diaries show that she experienced spiritual dryness for most of her life. [4]
The Dark Night, from which the phrase Dark Night of the Soul takes its name, narrates the journey of the soul from its bodily home to union with God. It happens during the "dark", which represents the hardships and difficulties met in detachment from the world and reaching the light of the union with the Creator.
For Carl Jung, "the rediscovery of the principles of alchemy came to be an important part of my work as a pioneer of psychology". [3] As a student of alchemy, he (and his followers) "compared the 'black work' of the alchemists (the nigredo) with the often highly critical involvement experienced by the ego, until it accepts the new equilibrium brought about by the creation of the self."
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In later stages, passive trials such as the dark night of the soul (St. John of the Cross) are experienced. In these phenomena, God is said to be purifying the soul, making her (the soul is feminine in Catholic theology) continue on the basis of sheer faith rather than any palpable feeling derived from prayer.
Cheri Oteri as Cass Van Rye during the 'Morning Latte' skit on December 12, 1998 Credit - Mary Ellen Matthews—NBCU Photo Bank/Getty Images. T he beginning of my SNL journey felt like the first ...