One of the dependencies lost through “the dark night of the soul” is images or other such gratification. Prayer is no longer a function so much of the mind or imagination as it is a prayer of the heart, discussed earlier. 

Prayer of the heart seems to well up from the innermost being or core and can be directed toward God or in a loving relationship with Christ or wherever your beliefs guide you.  

Head prayer in meditation seems no longer meaningful or even possible. It is similar in experience to what St. Paul relates: 

In the same way, the Spirit comes to help us, weak that we are. For we do not know how we ought to pray; the Spirit himself pleads with God for us, in groans that words cannot express.  And God, who sees into the hearts of men, knows what the thought of the Spirit is; because the Spirit pleads with God on behalf of his people and in accordance with his will. (Romans 8:26-27)  

The prayer of the heart, then, can be said to be a gift of the Holy Spirit. This gift, once bestowed, can be developed with openness and frequency of use, to permeate many activities of work and play outside of meditation.  

However, regular periods of meditation seem to produce the required balance for an active and directed prayer life through prayer of the heart.  I have experienced prayer of the heart as another level of turning oneself over to God.  

It came to me as a surprise in meditation when it seemed that my heart opened up and received God’s love in such a way that it began outpouring in prayer for “self” and others.  Mind or reflective thought has no part in the prayer.  Instead, it was an outpouring that simultaneously and effortlessly flowed out to others, purified my interior self, and reached out to God.  

Toward God, there was an aspect of longing or aching in the heart that was not wholly satisfied.  However, it did not leave me in an anxious state in any way, rather it seemed a desire of the heart for God similar to human love–when two people are momentarily apart and long to come together again. 

Over time, there is a definite healing aspect of this type of prayer and less dependence on the mind to deal with the anxieties of daily life.  Life ebbs and flows, of course, but the heart responds prayerfully in a much more measured and receptive way to the vagaries that one may encounter. 

Click to read The Dark Night of the Soul: Part 1 & The Dark Night of the Soul: Part 2