During the dark night of the soul to struggle at this time is fruitless, for God has captured the soul and keeps it in abeyance. There is no longer illusion and worldly desire to comfort or self-identity to control what is happening.  

This is a period of timeless waiting and of purification of the soul, preliminary to becoming awash in the infinite sea of God’s love.  

However, at this point of the journey, it is a perpetual and perplexing state of unknowing. “The Cloud of Unknowing” is a 14th-century treatise (author anonymous) on the deep and penetrating contemplative mysteries of God.

During this period, any remaining remnants of psychological attachments such as fear, anger, non-forgiveness, envy, despair, and so forth, are purged along with worldly or material attachments.   

Much has been written about the dark night of the soul, but in the experience of contemplation, it is that last step of finally realizing complete and utter dependence on God, the last turning of all to His loving care. 

My dark night was seemingly much less intense than many contemplatives have described in their writings.  Although I felt deeply the lack of God’s immediate presence, I never felt the total abandonment or despair that many speak of in their journey.

I suppose that there have been two periods in my life that I could describe as the dark night of the soul. 

Click to check out Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 1, Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 2, Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 4, Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 5 and Meditation Becomes Contemplation: Part 6