Welcome to the Dark Night of the Soul

[fizix]

[Marblehead]

 

Live in the Oneness, live in the balance of Fear and Love, set free your humanity, feel all the realities of fear and love, joy and sadness, live in the harmony of yin and yang and you will be free...never fear the Fear, master this ultimate paradox and ....

"..."

 

Whoever said that first did a damn fine job!

[kundakiss]

Yes, escaping is the cunning ego's tendency. Instead embrace it all. Don't think too much, but feel it all. Suddenly, the veil begins to be pierced, light shines from within and merges with the external beauty never before noticed. A brief connection is made, but now it's time to cultivate it, and always to remember these brief glimpses of truth that occur when you truly surrender to your own existence and experience.

 

Much love, thank you for your thoughts.

 

Peace,

 

Eugene

Edited July 31, 2012 by oodjee

[madMUHHH]

Pretty much the right words at the right time for me. Very inspiring post!

 

Thank you for that. :-)

[Aaron]

First lets clarify what the Dark Night of the Soul actually means. The term comes from a poem by St. John of the Cross and is meant to illustrate a period of doubt many people have regarding religion, religious institutions, and God, one that in most cases results in a stronger and deeper religious conviction afterwards. What you're referring to isn't really the Dark Night of the Soul, but rather doubt that leads one to seek other religious conventions or ideology in order to satisfy their curiosity.

 

Second, though it is important to understand one's own ego and emotions, one also must be careful, for the necessity of self-restraint is important. If one heedlessly gives in to their desires and emotions then they can become self-absorbed, caring more about their own well-being than the well-being of others. Morality aside, this can become harmful, because it will prevent the person from having healthy relationships with those around them. In the case of self discovery moderation is always an important thing to remember.

 

With that said, I am all for exploring the depths of emotions, to understand the root from which they flow, but in doing so one must not get lost in that emotion, allow the emotion to become the driving force, rather than the heart. What most people fail to recognize is that emotional well being is important to our overall physical and psychological health. Emotional well being does not require a detachment from one's emotions, but rather that one moderate their emotions, so that they avoid extremes. Keep in mind that enlightenment doesn't necessarily mean one will naturally be able to moderate their emotions, in fact they may become very emotional for a period of time afterwards. This is interesting, in the sense that it indicates to me, not a loss of control, but a sort of giving in to the natural order, allowing one's self to experience the depths of who they are.

 

In the quotes found in the original post one could easily misconstrue that they are advocating a type of hedonistic exploration of one's inner being, but that isn't necessarily so, rather they are advocating allowing yourself to feel those emotions you've shunted due to societies constraints, to understand the you that you hide from yourself. This doesn't necessarily entail abandoning reason and logic, but rather allowing yourself to examine your emotions honestly and thoroughly.

 

Anyways, nice post, just wanted to clarify my own ideas regarding it.

 

Aaron

Edited July 31, 2012 by Aaron