Introduction

The term “Dark Night of the Soul” surfaced from the poems of John of the Cross. It refers to a period of spiritual emptiness and darkness in the journey of a Christian. Through this paper, the question I hope to answer is: will all Christians have a Dark Night of the Soul experience? To answer this question, we will first need to know who John of the Cross was, how the term dark night of the soul came to be, the different periods in the journey of a Christian according to John of the Cross and where the dark night period falls in, what exactly is the dark night of the soul and people who have experienced the dark night. Based on these information, I will then analyze the information to try and answer my question. Therefore, this research paper will cover all these aspects to answer my question.

John of the Cross

Who was John of the Cross? John of the Cross only took this name when he was ordained as a priest at 25 years old.[1] Juan de Yepes y Alvarez was his name at birth in 1542 in Spain.[2] He “entered the Carmelite Order at 21” and studied theology.[3] Under the tutelage of Teresa of Avila, John of the Cross set out to reform the order after he was ordained.[4]

However, at 34, he was imprisoned for 9 months by those who were against the reforms.[5] During his imprisonment and suffering, he penned many poems which illustrated the dark night of the soul and the various stages a Christian would go through in their Christian life.[6] After he escaped from prison, he wrote the commentaries on these poems which expound on the developmental stages in the Christian journey, with the dark night of the soul being one of the stages.[7]

Developmental Stages of the Christian Journey

            According to John of the Cross, there are three developmental stages, namely (1) purgation: the love of God for pleasure’s sake, (2) illumination: the love of God for love’s sake, and (3) union: the love of God for God’s sake.[8] These stages are presented developmentally but it may not be experienced in a linear fashion.[9] The focus of this paper is not to expound on the different stages, thus for a better understanding of the different stages, please read Kavanaugh’s book.[10] For the purpose of this paper, I will only go into detail regarding the dark night of the soul.

Dark Night of the Soul

At the end of stage 1, purgation, and stage 2, illumination, a dark night occurs respectively, i.e. there are two dark nights to John of the Cross. The first dark night is known as the dark night of the senses and the second dark night is known as the dark night of the spirit. According to John of the Cross, each dark night will lead to spiritual growth and maturity.[11]

Firstly, the dark night of the senses is one that robs a Christian of sensory pleasures in God, namely, sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, fantasy and imagination.[12] Prayer, devotion and other spiritual disciplines that previously gave pleasure now do not, resulting in spiritual dryness and emptiness.[13] In other words, a Christian is unable to sense God’s presence with him or her despite how hard he or she tries to it. However, what is surprising is that in this dark night of the senses, a Christian is still actively serving others in love.[14] This dark night of the senses is described as “the fading light of dusk” by Dombrowski.

In contrast, the dark night of the spirit is called the “darkness of midnight.”[15] The different terms used by Dombrowski show the degree of the intensity and severity of both dark night experiences with the dark night of the spirit being more intense and severe. Another difference is that the dark night of the spirit is associated with a Christian’s intellect, memory and will. This is a deeper level of the soul as compared to a Christian’s senses as in the previous dark night.[16]

In the dark night of the spirit, a Christian is “emptied” of knowledge, memory and love.[17] A Christian actively and knowingly detaches from finite objects like dreams, relationships and dogma.[18] Here, God feels far away and hostile, and has abandoned and rejected him or her.[19]

Survey and Analysis of the Research

            To answer my question, i.e. whether all Christians will have a dark night of the soul experience, I read various journal articles to survey what scholars had to say and to understand the background and writings of the examples of people, from the bible to the modern world, they have cited who have experienced a dark night of the soul. Additionally, some researchers have done studies on spiritual dryness experiences by Catholic priests and pastoral professionals. Finally, I would mention the difference between the apophatic and cataphatic way of experiencing God. These information would be presented and analyzed in this section.

            Firstly, according to Stollenwerk, “many souls” may experience the dark night of the senses but “few” go through the full dark night of the spirit.[20] Mayer was in full agreement with Stollenwerk.[21] For O’Connor, he did not differentiate between the two dark nights. Thus, he stated that darkness is a “normal, inevitable aspect of growth toward religious maturity.”[22] These scholars have studied John of the Cross’s poems and commentaries and thus their conclusions were based on his works. Thus, I would conclude that the dark night of the senses will be experienced by more Christians as compared to the dark night of the spirit.

            Vila and Dein, Kari and Stollenwerk have gone a further step to analyze the life and writings of individuals to cite examples of people who have experienced a dark night of the soul. Augustine, Teresa of Avila, Paul of the Cross, Terese of Lisieux and Mother Teresa of Calcutta are five prominent people of faith Vila and Dein wrote about who have experienced the dark night.[23] However, it is unclear if they have experienced the dark night of the senses or the spirit as Vila and Dein did not state it clearly. It is my opinion, after analyzing the evidence on the different examples of people and the characteristics of both dark nights, that Paul of the Cross and Mother Teresa experienced the dark night of the senses while Augustine, Teresa of Avila and Terese of Lisieux experienced the dark night of the spirit.

Kari applied the dark night of the soul to the life of R.S. Thomas, an Anglican priest who was also a poet,[24] while Stollenwerk applied it to James K. Baxter, a poet from New Zealand.[25] Both Thomas and Baxter experienced the dark night of the spirit. I would like to highlight that Baxter was only a poet but did not hold a position in the church. Thus, it shows that the dark night of the soul can be experienced by those not active in the church. Instead, a poet is usually known to be very aware of their spirit and soul, thus this could be why Baxter, and also Thomas, had dark night experiences.

            From the Bible, Vila and Dein gave the example of Jesus experiencing the dark night as shown by his question on the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”[26] Other biblical examples that came to my mind was Job (Job 3) in all his suffering and King David in his laments as recorded in many of his Psalms (Ps 6, 69). To state clearly which dark night Jesus, Job and David experienced, further analysis of their life and writings will need to be done. Thus, I can only conclude that they experienced a dark night of the soul.

Thirdly, in a survey done on Catholic priests and non-ordained Catholic pastoral professionals in Germany, it was found that 50% and 46% experienced phases of spiritual dryness respectively.[27] Again, the extent of the dark night is unclear based on the data, thus it can be only generalized that they have a dark night of the soul experience. The researchers concluded that the findings of both groups were similar, thus drew the conclusion that spiritual dryness was not attributed to a specific profession but rather a person’s attitude, personality and disposition.[28]

Lastly, Kari mentioned that “Christians approach God through one of two major ways, the Via Negativa (the Negative Way, also known as the Way of Negation) and the Via Positiva (the Positive Way, also known as the Way of Affirmation).[29] John of the Cross’s dark night reflected the Negative Way, where Christians enter a relationship with God through “mystery characterized by emptiness, dryness, and the absence of the sense of God’s presence.”[30] However, the Negative Way is one of two ways of approaching God, thus, not all Christians will approach God via the Negative Way. Many Christians may approach God the Positive Way.       

            Based on the research done, I believe it is fair to conclude that not all Christians will have a dark night of the soul experience. My reasons are three-fold. Firstly, there are two major ways to approach God and having a dark night experience is but only one of the ways. Thus, Christians can approach God differently and may not have a dark night experience.

Secondly, the research findings and examples of people, like King David, Baxter and Thomas, who have had dark night experiences show that spiritual dryness, also known as dark nights, are experienced by persons who are pre-disposed to it. Although Vila and Dein only had examples of prominent people of faith, it cannot be inferred that only people of faith experienced dark nights. This was refuted by the research findings and it could be that it was easier for Vila and Dein to get accurate information on these famous people rather than lay Christians. Thus, a person’s personality and attitude are main contributing factors as to whether a Christian will have a dark night experience.

Thirdly, a Christian may have a dark night experience because of suffering. This is clearly evident from the examples of Jesus, Job and John of the Cross himself. In sum, I believe that not all Christians will have a dark night of the soul experience.

As for the Christians who go through a dark night, is it a dark night of the senses or spirit? According to John of the Cross, few will go through the dark night of the spirit. However, I am unable to provide any evidence to support his conclusion.

Conclusion

            Initially, I thought that religious people and pastoral professionals would be more susceptible to a dark night experience, however, through the research done, I realized this is not the case. Through understanding who John of the Cross was, what the dark nights are and reading and analyzing the research done by various scholars, I have learnt that there are two factors which make a Christian more susceptible to a dark night experience, (1) a person’s personality and (2) suffering. Therefore, not all Christians will have a dark night of the soul experience.