Mysticism-Dark Night of the Soul

"When Love has carried us above all things into the Divine Dark, there we are transformed by the Eternal Word Who is the image of the Father; and as the air is penetrated by the Sun, thus we receive in peace the Incomprehensible Light, enfolding us, and penetrating us.'

This video is a part of a series on the seminal work by Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism: The Study in Nature and Development of Spiritual Consciousness, 1911.

The Dark Night of the Soul

Underhill's greatest book, Mysticism: A Study of the Nature and Development of Man's Spiritual
Consciousness, was published in 1911, and is distinguished by the very qualities which make it
inappropriate as a straightforward textbook. The spirit of the book is romantic, engaged, and
theoretical rather than historical or scientific. Underhill has little use for theoretical explanations and
the traditional religious experience, formal classifications or analysis. She dismisses William James'
pioneering study, The Varieties of Religious Experience (1902), and his "four marks of the mystic
state" (ineffability, noetic quality, transcience, and passivity). James had admitted that his own
constitution shut him off almost entirely from the enjoyment of mystical states thus his treatment was
purely objective. Underhill substituted (1) mysticism is practical, not theoretical, (2) mysticism is an
entirely spiritual activity, (3) The business and method of mysticism is love. (4) mysticism entails a
definite psychological experience.
(Wiki)

Librivox recording by:
Joy Chan

I think with this Underhill is speaking of those mystics for whom real effort is expended, an active mysticism as opposed to a passive state. The dark night then is characterized by continued effort but with little result, and although she doesn't clarify it clearly in this portion of the reading (only 9 mins of a 45 min discussion) it is ego involvement which causes clouded perception, pain, intense loneliness, and suffering. Being unable to experience the true joy of the illuminated state until a sort of critical mass of ego involvement implodes on itself freeing the higher consciousness. While Underhill seems to describe the Christian mystic, the occurence of the dark night is described in many different spiritual traditions. For example, this might be compared with anatta of Buddhist doctrine.

http://librivox.org/

Category:

Education

Tags:

• mysticism
• dark
• night
• of
• the
• soul
• evelyn
• underhill
• alchemy
• god
• spiritual
• consciousness
• awakening
• purgation
• purification
• nigredo
• blackening

[thepathlesspath]

Thank you for this. Was very helpful for me, and strangely appropriate.

[alchemistra]

Thank you : ) I plan to continue the series on Underhill, but if your interested, check out the link in the sidebar, Librivox has the whole book recorded.

[raindog951]

What is the answer if your whole life has been one long dark night without the earlier visions and voices of the higher levels of consciousness?  If you can't achieve the higher consciousness in the first place are you scuppered?

[alchemistra]

This experience too is not uncommon, nor has it ever been described as easy. It is the ego that would have a kind of carefree, feel-good spirituality. Underhill was acutely aware of this and the dark night experience is appropriately shown to come after the first touches with higher consciousness, in a sort of no pain, no gain scenario.

[O8Jesse8O]

The Dark Night is so much more than an internal process, as is portayed here. The true dark night is a very humbling process, think of Jesus on the cross, his revelation was not brought on by his suffering, no, his suffering was caused by the revelation. The reason the saints were persecuted was because their light was so bright that others could not stand in it. The saints have the choice of which house stands, they sacrifice, that is the dark night

[doupen69]

Yes exactly. Never before has anything even compaired to the dark night. I was just talking to a friend about it and eventually found my way through it, or atleast see the sky getting brighter

[mepaleoindian]

Underhill rocks !!! "Ineffability, We're moving mountains, with obstacles given way, where our passage is charted and only truth beats the fray."~ indigenousman

[Shekanahh]

St. John of the Cross wrote the book, DARK NIGHT OF THE SOUL. He understood it. Very few do. I see a lot written pretending to know what the dark night of the soul means, but most of it is sheer nonsense. To experience the true dark night of the soul, one must be a Christian, as was St. John.

[nimbostratusdweller]

Raindog all I can do is hug you ...()...

All I can recommend is to bring your thoughts to where your hands are. And to tend to whatever is in front of you to accomplish. And hand the thoughts up to the Lord. Over and over and over. Letting go

[modelchic99]

Being in the dark night of the soul is so depressing. Words can't describe it. And the loneliness that accompanies it is so overwhelming. You feel no love and no hope in this place at all.

[PhilosopherFresh]

The Dark Night! deep stuff my friend, thanks for the lift!

[AcceleratorPlus]

"He was despised and was avoided by men, a man meant for pains and for having acquaintance with sickness. And there was as if the concealing of one's face from us. He was despised, and we held him as of no account."

Isaiah 53:1

[AcceleratorPlus]

"Because of the trouble of his soul he will see, he will be satisfied. By means of his knowledge the righteous one, my servant, will bring a righteous standing to many people; and their errors he himself will bear."

Isaiah 53:10

[RKSeams]

Beautiful vid sis, truly being, and understanding of being, needs to come before one truly knows where they belong in the greatwork.