Carl Jung and John of the Cross: Two Paths Through the Same Night?

Anyone searching today for Carl Jung and the “Dark Night of the Soul” will quickly discover countless videos, podcasts, articles, and discussions. In many of them, it is almost taken for granted that Jung described the same experience that John of the Cross wrote about centuries earlier. The connection has become so common that the two seem inseparable.

Yet there is a problem.

Jung himself did not use the term “Dark Night of the Soul” in the sense that John of the Cross did. His language was different. He spoke of individuation, the shadow, encounters with the unconscious, psychological crises, and profound inner transformation. The expression “Dark Night of the Soul” was largely applied to Jung's ideas by later interpreters who noticed striking similarities between his descriptions and those found in the mystical tradition.

One could dismiss the comparison as a misunderstanding.

But the matter is not so simple.

The real question is not whether Jung used the same terminology. The real question is why so many people have felt compelled to draw a connection between the experiences described by a sixteenth-century Christian mystic and those described by a twentieth-century depth psychologist.

Perhaps both men encountered something that lies deeper than the worldviews through which they interpreted it.

Two Men, Four Centuries Apart

At first glance, the differences could hardly be greater.

John of the Cross was a Christian mystic, Carmelite friar, and reformer in sixteenth-century Spain. His entire spiritual vision revolves around God, prayer, purification, and the soul's union with the Divine.

Carl Jung was a psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology in twentieth-century Switzerland. His life's work focused on the human psyche. He explored dreams, symbols, archetypes, and the hidden layers of the unconscious mind.

One speaks the language of mysticism.

The other speaks the language of psychology.

One describes encounters with God.

The other describes processes of inner development.

It would therefore be natural to place them side by side and compare their theories. Yet that may already be the first mistake. For the more closely one examines their writings, the more it becomes apparent that they are not merely offering different answers.

They are observing the same human being.

The Problem Begins Before the Dark Night

When people speak about the Dark Night, they usually focus immediately on the crisis itself. Yet neither John nor Jung begins with the crisis.

Both begin with a person who does not yet truly know himself.

John describes individuals filled with religious enthusiasm. They pray eagerly, experience spiritual consolations, enjoy devotional practices, and often interpret these experiences as signs of special closeness to God.

Yet John repeatedly warns against this assumption. Hidden beneath genuine devotion there may still be subtle forms of self-centeredness. The soul seeks God, but it often creates an identity of it, á la "I'm this religious person." It becomes attached to spiritual feelings, consolations, achievements, and assurances.

Jung describes a remarkably similar condition, though in different language. Human beings live through roles, self-images, and assumptions about who they are. They identify with social status, personal narratives, achievements, and conscious self-understanding. Jung referred to this outer mask as the persona.

The terminology differs.

The observation is surprisingly similar.

In both cases, a person initially lives within an image of himself.

That image must eventually break apart.

The Night as Collapse

This is where the darkness begins.

For John, the soul suddenly loses the supports upon which it has relied. Prayer becomes dry. Spiritual consolations disappear. God seems distant. What once felt effortless now becomes difficult. The individual experiences emptiness, confusion, and abandonment.

Yet for John this is not a setback.

It is a transition.

The soul is being led from a more superficial way of relating to God into a deeper one.

Jung also describes a collapse, though in psychological terms. Previous self-images can no longer be sustained. Repressed contents emerge. Contradictions become impossible to ignore. The individual encounters aspects of himself that had long remained hidden. Life loses its former certainty.

Again, this is not failure.

The crisis belongs to the process.

Here we encounter one of the most striking similarities between these two thinkers. Neither John nor Jung regards darkness as merely an obstacle. The darkness is part of the path itself.

What appears as loss becomes the beginning of transformation.

What Actually Happens in the Night

At this point the comparison becomes particularly interesting.

John is often read as though his sole concern were union with God. Likewise, Jung is often read as though his sole concern were the discovery of the Self.

But this contrast oversimplifies both men.

During the Dark Night, John does not describe only a growing closeness to God. He also describes a growing knowledge of oneself. The soul gradually becomes aware of its attachments, illusions, hidden motivations, and subtle forms of self-deception. Layer after layer falls away until something more authentic begins to emerge.

The individual encounters not only God differently.

He also encounters himself differently.

John does not employ the language of modern psychology. Nevertheless, he describes a process of inner discovery with remarkable precision. The person's deepest identity is not created during the journey. It has always been present. Yet it remained hidden beneath habits, attachments, self-images, and spiritual immaturity.

Picture: Henry Schneider on Unsplash

Jung sees a similar dynamic. The collapse of the persona allows something deeper to emerge. The individual discovers that the conscious ego does not encompass the whole of the psyche. Beneath the surface lies a greater wholeness that Jung calls the Self.

This reveals that both authors are describing far more than a crisis.

They are describing an unveiling.

Something false falls away.

Something truer emerges.

The Transformation of Contemplation

This becomes especially clear in John's understanding of prayer.

The Dark Night is not simply the disappearance of spiritual experiences. It is a transformation in the very manner of prayer itself.

The soul is gradually led away from an active form of devotion, still shaped by personal effort and spiritual ambition, toward a deeper form of contemplation. Prayer becomes quieter, more receptive, less driven by personal striving.

The night is therefore not merely a period of emptiness.

It is a restructuring of the inner person.

This is precisely why it is purifying.

What John describes bears a certain resemblance to what Jung calls individuation. In both cases, the person is not merely freed from something. He is transformed. The center of life shifts. The previous identity loses its dominance as a deeper order begins to emerge.

The concepts are different.

The inner movement is remarkably similar.

Where Their Paths Diverge

Despite these parallels, the differences should not be blurred.

John interprets the entire process theologically. For him, God is the active agent within the soul. The purification ultimately occurs through divine grace. The goal is union with God.

Jung interprets the process psychologically. He describes developments within the psyche. His goal is individuation, the realization of the Self, and the integration of unconscious contents.

The maps are not identical.

John speaks of God.

Jung speaks of the psyche.

John describes mysticism.

Jung describes psychology.

Yet the question remains: why do they so often appear to be describing similar experiences?

A Remarkable Convergence

Perhaps the deepest connection lies neither in their terminology nor in their theories.

Perhaps it lies in an observation.

Both see that human beings initially live within assumptions about themselves.

Both see that these assumptions must eventually break apart.

Both see that this collapse is painful.

And both see that beyond this collapse a deeper reality becomes visible.

For John, the encounter with God cannot be separated from the encounter with one's true self. The closer the soul draws to God, the more it becomes what it was always meant to be.

For Jung, the encounter with the Self cannot permanently be separated from the religious question. The deeper a person journeys into the foundations of the psyche, the more frequently he encounters realities that seem to transcend the merely personal.

Perhaps this is the real surprise.

A Spanish mystic of the sixteenth century and a Swiss depth psychologist of the twentieth century spoke different languages, used different concepts, and pursued different goals. Yet both described a path on which human beings lose their false certainties so that something deeper may emerge.

The center of that journey is not the darkness itself.

It is the transformation that takes place within it.

The Soul's Night and Awakening