The Dark Night of the Soul Stages According to John of the Cross
From Darkness to Breakthrough: The Two Spiritual Phases of the Dark Night
The Dark Night of the Soul is a profound mystical concept, not a crisis or failure. The term was given to us by St. John of the Cross. The "dark night" describes a divinely guided process of spiritual purification. Many on a spiritual path experience inexplicable periods of inner dryness, emptiness, or a feeling of being disconnected from God. These aren't signs of regression but the first steps toward a deeper transformation.
To understand this journey, it's crucial to know its two distinct phases: the Night of the Senses and the Night of the Spirit. Each stage serves to strip away attachments and old perceptions, preparing you for a deeper, more intimate union with the divine. This text will explain what these phases mean, how they feel, and why they are the key to achieving a true spiritual breakthrough.
The Theological Conception and Spiritual Purpose of the "Dark Night"
The "Dark Night of the Soul" is a period of spiritual hopelessness or even distress which we discussed and interpreted in an earlier episode. The author was St. John of the Cross, a 16th-century Spanish Carmelite friar. In all of his surviving works, he addresses this necessary phase in a person's life on the path to union with God. However, in John's understanding, the "Dark Night" is not a conventional crisis but a God-initiated transformation. This consists of a multi-stage process of purification, or purgation, that culminates in a new kind of contemplation, which I will discuss in a future episode. The Dark Night thus initially appears only as an obstacle, but because of the "graceful work of God on the soul," which increases throughout the "night," it is something positive. However, this can only be recognized in hindsight. The Dark Night unfolds in two stages, which I want to delve into in detail today.
The Two Kinds of Darkness or Purgation
Although it is referred to as "one night," John divides it into "two phases." These correspond to two human faculties and each contributes to their "purification." Thus, the stages are named after the faculties of the soul: the first night is the "Night of the Senses" and the second night, or phase, is the "Night of the Spirit." The distinction between a "passive" and an "active" night is of great importance here. Although the "Dark Night" itself is a passive purgation by God, where God is the primary agent, it requires an active attitude of surrender, letting go, and trust from the human being. Without this active cooperation, divine grace cannot become fruitful. This highlights the tension between divine sovereignty and human freedom on the mystical path. The "passive" nature of the Dark Night refers to God's direct, unmediated action on the soul, which human effort cannot initiate or control. However, the person is not idle. The "active" component lies in the response to this divine work: the willingness to let go, to endure suffering, to give up control, and to trust in God's guidance, even when it initially feels like abandonment. This active acceptance and resistance to one's own ego are crucial for the success of the purgation. It is perhaps the greatest paradox for a human being: an active surrender, where human freedom consists in aligning oneself with the divine will and allowing God to perform the necessary "straightening out and humbling" for spiritual transformation. This underscores that the mystical path is a dynamic interplay between divine grace and human receptivity.
The Dark Night of the Senses: The Beginning of Passive Purgation
Characteristics and Symptoms
The "Night of the Senses" marks the first stage of passive purgation by God and is described by St. John of the Cross as "bitter and terrible" for the senses. In this phase, spiritual people experience a number of characteristic symptoms:
* Loss of taste and joy: The affected person no longer finds any savor in spiritual things or practices. Previous meditations and prayers do not resonate with them, either cognitively or emotionally, and may even cause aversion. This leads to a deep "dryness" in prayer and spiritual life.
* Material and worldly things lose their meaning: Things that were previously important, such as fame, recognition, certain life goals, or material possessions, become insignificant and lose their luster. In spiritual life, this manifests as religious objects losing their "value" for the person. This leads to a certain melancholy and "loneliness." But it doesn't stop there; this "loneliness" also spreads to one's social environment.
* Social withdrawal: The desire for "recognition" is generally not as pronounced in spiritual people as in worldly people. But in this phase, it becomes noticeable that the affected person no longer cares about receiving recognition from other spiritual people. Group activities diminish, and they withdraw.
* Desolation: Another symptom and a result of the preceding phenomena is that the person feels no comfort, as they have lost the taste for both worldly and spiritual things. This causes them to suffer in a particular way. This is a distinctive point that differentiates the Dark Night from ordinary crises (including those of the senses) and depression.
* Anxiety and worry: As if all the aforementioned weren't enough, the person thinks of God with painful anxiety and worry and believes they are not serving Him because they find no joy in divine things. A feeling of lack and an undefined longing spreads. The lack of worldly joy, however, leaves them largely unmoved. Later, John writes that this person is actually serving God more than they believe. They just cannot "see" it in their darkness. But this very passivity is important, and therefore this phase is crucial for preparing for the passivity of the "next" night (that of the spirit).
* Limitation of the soul's faculties: God binds the inner faculties of the soul and withdraws support from the intellect, inner strength from the will, and contemplation from the memory. This happens because God wants to act directly on the soul, and the natural faculties of the soul would be an obstacle. Purpose of the Purgation The main purpose of the "Night of the Senses" is the purgation of disordered desires and attachments to created things, as well as to spiritual "things." The goal is to free the soul from all attachments that prevent it from turning completely to God. St. John of the Cross compares this process to a loving mother weaning a child to lead it to greater, more essential things. The soul is "purified" from hidden (and sometimes spiritual) arrogance, anger, spiritual greed, and lust (including in penitential practices) and is opened up to spiritual, "supernatural" impressions. This phase serves to transform the person from a spiritual child into a spiritual adult and life companion of God. Behavior in the Night of the Senses St. John of the Cross advises those affected in this stage to no longer engage in reflection and contemplation, as this is no longer the time for it. Instead, they should maintain the soul in tranquility and rest, to "persevere," even if it seems as if they are doing nothing or wasting time. It is enough to remain in a calm and loving attentiveness to God and to exclude all worry, all activity, and all excessive desire to perceive and "taste" God. The person should allow themselves to be guided by God and trust that God is "leading" them, even if they cannot recognize it in their darkness.
The Dark Night of the Spirit: The Deepest Purgation
The "Night of the Spirit" is the second and deeper stage of passive purgation and is endured by very few experienced and God-receptive individuals. It is "beyond all comparison, so horrible and dreadful is it for the spirit." This phase corresponds to "midnight, which is completely dark." The effects and trials of the Night of the Spirit are far-reaching and intense.
What Happens in This "Night of Horrors"?
* Meditation blockages and spiritual absence: The soul can no longer lift its heart and mind to God in prayer as it once did. Meditation and prayer occur in "dryness," without juice or strength. But in contrast to the first Dark Night, the soul now has the impression that it has completely lost its "connection" to God. * Feeling of poverty: In this night, too, the soul feels a deep emptiness and "poverty" in temporal, natural, and spiritual goods. This is now accompanied by a kind of "powerlessness," which often manifests in lethargic phases.
* Obscuration of the intellect and paralysis of the faculty of knowledge: Furthermore, this spiritual absence extends to cognitive abilities. The soul suffers from temporary limitations of the imagination, discursive thinking, and deep forgetfulness. Since not only material and spiritual goods are suddenly distant, but now even the mental faculties are severely restricted, John suggests that this phase is "beyond all comparison." Due to the cognitive limitations, the Dark Night can still be confused with pathological conditions in this stage. Sometimes psychosomatic symptoms, as well as sleep disturbances, occur. But these are side effects, which are attributable to human nature. God, on the other hand, tries to proceed very gently in all this. There is only progress when it is appropriate for the respective person, as John says. Even these limitations of the intellect arise unconsciously within the person themselves, although God is intervening. The supernatural light of divine wisdom that flows into the soul overwhelms and extinguishes the natural faculty of knowledge. Therefore, it appears like a "dark obscurity in the intellect." Temporarily, this process feels "empty" or "dark," but after only a few weeks or months, the light "shines" through, and a different quality of contemplation emerges from within.
* Self-reproach and sinfulness: Although it is necessary for one's mental faculties to temporarily cease, thinking is occasionally still present during the "dark phase." However, it is often negative and filled with self-reproach or the feeling of being sinful. One recognizes one's own sins, no matter how hidden they may be. This is purposeful, and here too, God is an indirect educator, although not a strict one. But one's own mind makes these phases of thought unnecessarily difficult. Due to its melancholic state, it sees itself as "more sinful" than it actually is. It is not God who is reproachful, but only oneself. God only cautiously directs attention to past deeds and words; the pain, however, does not arise from God's wisdom but from the weakness and imperfection inherent in the person—be it through negative thoughts or through the darkness, the absence of thought, which is a necessary part of the "process." How Does the Soul Experience the Process of the Second Night? In this bleak abandonment of the spirit, the affected person sometimes suffers from the limitation of discursive thinking, the unpleasant emptiness in the head. They are often so forgetful that it is reminiscent of dementia-like states. Then, at some point, it can happen that the soul is very serene, especially in these phases. And the further it goes "through," particularly when the intellect does not seem to be functioning properly, it is as if the "light" occasionally shines through. This "light" is of a completely different kind than one would expect, and we will cover it in a separate article. More and more, the soul accepts that it is necessary to give up its mental faculties. It finds that it is still not stupid, but somehow everything necessary succeeds. It is the final process of "letting go" that many in the spiritual world talk about, yet no one truly understands. People at this point suddenly understand it, can suddenly let go. At this point, one has already left everything behind. Only thinking itself is still possessed. This is what must be let go of. In these light-filled times, one feels closer to God than ever and thinks one has finally reached the goal. John says: "The soul believes all trials are over." But John also says that it can swing back again, and in the worse phases, people in the Dark Night believe again: "The tribulation will have no end." Thinking here seems to absolutize. Personally, I once had the idea of recognizing a metaphor or symbolism in these thoughts. It is possible that the soul then already glimpses something of "eternity" and therefore often thinks "everything will ALWAYS remain this way," as if their current state of mind or thought were also "eternal." But when thinking is active, it is sometimes worse than ever, although it is very manageable compared to a person with a mental illness.
The thoughts are usually limited to:
* Abandonment and loneliness: As an escalation compared to the first night (of the senses), this goes significantly beyond mere loneliness. The most painful feeling is the thought that God has cast them out and thrown them into darkness. The soul feels "the pains of hell." Sometimes it is convinced that it is with full right abhorred not only by God but by all creatures.
* Unconcrete, almost supernatural feelings of guilt: In everyday life, this is accompanied by excessive feelings of guilt, especially towards people. It is a painful torment of the soul, which sometimes manifests in feelings of despair and the fear of never becoming worthy of God. In addition, it can slip back into old people-pleasing patterns and try to do everything right for everyone, which is necessarily a Sisyphean task and fails.
* Uncleanliness and misery: The soul also feels unclean and miserable, as the divine light clearly reveals to it all its sinful misery. Although God does this in an appropriate framework and only as much as someone can "bear" at the moment, this process is experienced as worse than it actually is due to one's own exaggerated feelings of guilt.
* Superstition: These natural limitations, of not being able to please everyone, and the constant feelings of guilt also reinforce the superstition of being cast out by God. In addition, the soul believes itself to be exposed to annihilation and dissolution through a "terrible spiritual death." This thought is one of the most distinctive of the Second Night and is described in the Bible with terms such as "death groan" and "shadow of death."
* Doubt and desolation: The soul cannot believe that God loves it. The process puts the soul in such great loneliness and abandonment that it can find no comfort or support in instruction or in a spiritual guide. It believes no one understands its condition.
* Lack of recognition of inner light: John says that the person in the Dark Night actually has more light than many joyful Christians. They just do not recognize their light, just as they do not perceive God's light. Although they are so far along, most give up in this final phase. Thoughts convince them that it is all not worth it: "All this spiritual stuff was just imagination." Or: "There's no such thing as God. How could I have ever gotten involved in this?" This is primarily because the soul perceives neither God nor its own light.
* Duration of the purgation: This "purification" usually lasts for years, typically with interruptions during which the dark contemplation has an enlightening and comforting effect, before the purifying effect resumes and another episode of suffering occurs. However, the suffering becomes less and less each time.
Why Does All This Happen?
The second stage of the Dark Night is a passive purgation that happens not through human effort, but through God's work on the soul. Its purpose is to prepare the soul for a deeper, immediate encounter with God (unio mystica).
The Process of Purgation
* Destruction of attachments: God purifies the soul by dissolving all inclinations and habitual imperfections that are deeply rooted in the soul's being. John compares this process to fire consuming rust and dirt from metal. This explains why the soul experiences great inner torment and a feeling of annihilation.
* Weakening and wearing down: The soul is tormented in its natural and spiritual weakness. The senses and intellect suffer as if they were pressed to the ground by an enormous, dark burden.
* Purgation of the faculty of knowledge: The supernatural light of divine wisdom that flows into the soul overwhelms the natural faculty of knowledge. Since this light is too bright for the intellect, it can only perceive it as "dark obscurity." Purpose of the Purgation The purpose of this extreme purgation is an intense process of cleansing and maturation that "refines and ripens" the human spirit. It serves to empty the soul of all ideas and concepts of God that are based on human attachments and imperfect images of God. The sufferings lead to the "birth" of the true self and the kindling of a passionate, infused love for God. The soul finally becomes capable of comprehending the "depths of the Godhead" and is filled with divine insight.
The Paradox of Absence
The meditation blockages and spiritual absence are paradoxically not signs of God's absence but of His intensified closeness. The meditation blockages arise from a deeper inner collection in which contemplation consumes the soul with all its faculties to detach it from all inclinations to created things. The soul feels a deep emptiness and believes it has lost its connection to God, although in truth, it is closer to Him than ever before. The path through the Dark Night inevitably leads to a profound change in the way the soul meets and communicates with God. This change culminates in contemplation, which St. John of the Cross understands as a "gift from God." Concluding Thoughts St. John of the Cross's
The Dark Night of the Soul is a
monumental work of mystical literature that meticulously describes the
soul's profound journey toward union with God. It is a journey
characterized by passive purgation by God, in which the soul is guided
through phases of intense darkness and emptiness to be purified of its
attachments and imperfect ideas. This darkness is paradoxically the
super-bright light of God, which overwhelms human faculties and thus
paves the way for a deeper, transcendent knowledge.
The distinction between the Night of the Senses and the Night of the
Spirit offers a structured framework for understanding this purification
process. While the Night of the Senses effects detachment from worldly
and sensual desires, the Night of the Spirit leads to a radical emptying
of the intellect and the will, which often comes with feelings of
abandonment by God and the deepest suffering. However, these sufferings
are not punitive but purgative and preparatory, enabling the soul for
divine contemplation. I will delve into this in the next episode.
Authored by Rebekka Waldesruh
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