Dark night, a few thoughts

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glenaitken said:
dave, I think I get it, but tell me what your thoughts are on the passive night of the spirit. Particularly obligations and responsibilities toward God, and what signs accompany the onset of it. Please too, if you get a second, the higher forms of prayer as ST. therese decribes- beyond the presence of God and into the "Pyrayers of Union " (I think I just made that word up). what are they, how do you klnow they’re real, how should a person pray?
thanks, Glen
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Hi Glen -

You seem to be asking two things: a description of the passive night of sense and the passive night of spirit.

Let me take a stab at the passive night of sense first . . . I’ll do my best to follow-up on the passive night of spirit when I get a bit more time.

First, since all this passive stuff is based in contemplative experience and lies, in large measure, beyond the ability of words to accurately express I’d be remiss if I didn’t point readers to the basic theology of it all first. There’s much that goes into the passive night of sense but, imo, the heart of it all has to do with dryness in meditation and learning to “go with the flow” as active prayer (meditation) gives way to passive prayer (contemplation).

St. John of the Cross’ famous “3 signs” can be found beginning here:
www.catholictreasury.info/books/ascent/asc29.php

Next, many people (including me) find St. Teresa MUCH more accesible . . . especially when relating the personal experience side of it; ie, how do we know it’s coming? What does it “feel” like? etc. Following is her wonderful description of her famous prayer states: passive recollection, the prayer of quiet and ultimately the prayer of union. For those interested in this, pay particular attention to chapters 28-31 of “Way of Perfection” which can be found here:
www.global.org/Pub/Teresa_Perfection_28.asp
(note: this is the first online version I could find . . . I have not read this so I can’t vouch for how good the translation is)

Lastly for a more “personal” point of view, I wrote this on these forums a while back for someone interested in this very question. While it proved very helpful to her, I post it again with a certain amount of trepidation . . . again the failure of language. For better or worse, here it goes:
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DBT:
Let me see if I can say this in a way that makes sense . . . so much of this lies beyond words :o

What you’re saying here (I think?) about spiritual reading, formation and so on is really something seperate from what I’m talking about regarding the progressive inner stillness that comes with contemplative prayer. Two different things entirely.

Let’s try and describe this hypothetically. Let’s say someone who is well grounded in their ascetic practices, serious about their faith and so on goes to spend an hour of adoration. Let’s say their usual practice is to do some form of formalized meditation, the rosary or lectio.

At some point during this time of prayer, this individual “might” begin to feel the inner call to contemplation in the manner described in the previous post. The soul no longer feels any desire to think or ponder on the Lord, His mysteries and so on. He feels drawn to let it all go . . . to simply “be” . . . and rest in His presence in a wordless way . . . kind of like “I look at Him while He looks at me.”

This is called recollection and we need to recognize the signs and go with the way the Lord is calling. Rembember, the way He communicates is through silence . . . beyond thoughts, forms, words and ideas.

Perhaps this stillness might deepen. As St. Teresa describes in Mansion Four of “Interior Castle” the eyes begin to close and we feel a profound drawing inward as she says “like a turtle drawing it’s head inside it’s shell.” This is the prayer of recollection giving way to the prayer of quiet; the beginnings of infused contemplation.

What happens here is that our will (love) is completely captivated by our Lord but not in a way that is considered or analyzed in anyway. We’re not thinking “I love Him because . . .” or “I love Him for such and such a reason.” We just love in a wordless, thought-less way. All the while our intellect and memory might be roaming free like so many “wild horses” . . . but we have no desire to pay attention to any of these distractions. We’re aware of them . . . but we let them go by. To latch onto them is to “resist” the prayer being given, thereby bringing this passive prayer back to active ways (ie. meditation.)

Perhaps this inner stillness deepens even further. The distractions simply cease and intellect, will and memory are all completely suspended by God. This is the “pure” contemplation of the prayer of union which is no longer human (active) and entirely supernatural (passive).

The analogy to natural sleep is sometimes used to describe this progressive inner stillness . . . in fact, St. Teresa often used the term “sleep of the faculties.” Think of passive recollection like dozing off . . . we feel the inner pull to sleep and we either give in to it or resist. Let’s say we give in to the sleep. This next phase is “like” the prayer of quiet . . . when we’re down for the count but in a fitfull way. Part of us is asleep but not fully . . . we toss and turn . . . maybe even aware of random thoughts and mental images going through our mind . . . that we don’t dwell on or consider . . . they just flow by. The prayer of union, then, is “like” a deep, sound slumber . . . all is still and quiet . . . we’re not even aware of time or space.

This little analogy might help clarify . . . or make it worse. Again, so difficult to try and explain. :o

But keep in mind, all of this is at the time of prayer. And all of this is very short in duration. The entire timeframe from laying down our rosary, being interiorly drawn into the stillness of recollection and possibly quiet or union if He so wills is typically no more than 15-30 minutes from beginning to end. Longer suspensions are another of those “traps” the Saints describe that something is amiss.

Boy, I don’t know if that helped or really confused . . . but, for better or worse, there it is. 🙂
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Hope it helps!
Dave 🙂
 
. . . continued:

All sorts of doubts and uncertainties plague the soul in the passive night of sense: from the belief it’s wasting time in idleness when it should be “doing” something despite it’s inclination to simply “be” . . . to the “what was that all about?” confusion when actual pure contemplation comes upon the soul.

St. Teresa describes all this so wonderfully:
Interior Castle:
Don’t think this union is some kind of dreamy state like the one I mentioned before (she was talking about daydreaming). I say “dreamy state” because it seems that the soul is as though asleep; yet neither does it really think it is asleep nor does it feel awake. There is no need here to use any technique to suspend the mind since all the faculties are asleep in this state – and truly asleep – to the things of the world and to ourselves (she means awareness of thoughts). As a matter of fact, during the time that the union lasts the soul is left as though without its senses, for it has no power to think even if it wants to. In loving, if it does love, it doesn’t understand how or what it is it loves or what it would want. In sum, it is like one who in every respect has died to the world so as to live more completely in God.
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And this:
Interior Castle:
I said that this union was not some kind of dreamy state, because even if the experience in the dwelling place that was mentioned is abundant the soul remains doubtful that it was union. It doubts whether it imagined the experience; whether it was asleep; whether the experience was given by God; or whether the devil transformed himself into an angel of light. It is left with a thousand suspicions. That it has them is good, for, as I have said, even our own nature can sometimes deceive us in that dwelling place.
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Doubts, uncertainties, resisting the urge to “go with the flow” . . . these are all marks of the passive night of sense. When we learn to overcome our hesitations, feel comfortable with what’s happening and accept the gift, yielding to His initiative . . . then a “habit” of contemplation might form in the soul. When that happens, the soul can feel certain its left the night and fully entered the Illuminative Way and conduct itself accordingly.

The passive night of spirit now beckons.

Dave 🙂
 
. . . continued one more time, Glen: 🙂

In the Illuminative Way . . . propelled by this “habit” of contemplation . . . the soul feels as though it’s almost continually walking in the Light. Considering the now consistent pattern of Practicing the Presence of God in the manner of Brother Lawrence, the soul somehow senses Christ to always be present . . . in everything it does . . . in all his thoughts, words and actions. He is present to us as friend, teacher, guide . . . Lord and Savior. Peace, love, joy, wisdom . . . a sense of unity with all creation is the way the soul often feels. It feels as though it has arrived . . . or so it seems.

One day, though, things change . . . and joyous life in the Light slips away from us like sand running through our fingers. Instead of walking beside us . . . perhaps even taking our hand from time to time . . . Christ now steps behind us, puts his hand on our back and with a gentle shove pushes us forward. It’s like the young father holding the hand of his child just learning to take his first steps . . . then releasing his child’s hand and saying . . . “go.”

The soul now finds itself back in the old uncomfortable position of confusion, doubt and uncertainty. It’s as if the soul is lost at night in the woods and his lantern has just gone out. Nothing but the soft glow of the moon is available to guide our steps. And we get side-swiped by branches, thorns and thickets.

And now a “new” kind of light comes upon us . . . the “ray of darkness.” Instead of all the joyous things it once knew in Christ’s presence, its contemplation now gives it the “terrible” gift of self-knowledge. This is the peeling back of the layers of the onion I described previously. No longer does the soul see itself as a Saint in the making . . . literally one of Christ’s “best buds.” Now, all its good works seem as naught. Something, I guess, like what I think St. Thomas of Aquinas said upon reflection upon a lifetime of some of the greatest works ever written . . . “It’s all just straw.”

No, a tremendous gulf opens up upon the soul and it now sees what an enormous seperation there is between the reality of Christ as we now see Him . . . and what we now see ourselves to be in comparison. It seems a deep chasm or impassible abyss separates us from the Christ we once knew so well. And there’s no way across.

And all because He let go of our hand. 🙂

That, in these poor words, is the experience of the passive night of spirit.

And what is such a soul to do? Lovingly accept the trial as long as it lasts, patiently endure it in peace and loving acceptance . . . and never, ever give up. Because even in the midst of all his trials, the soul knows . . . deep down inside himself . . . Christ will return. When in fact, he never left . . . we just don’t know it to be so.

Read it here, especially chapters 5-10:
www.catholictreasury.info/books/dark_night/dn20.php

Dave 🙂

PS - See what you started Besty with your “What is love” question 😃
 
good job, dave. Now, what would the daily life of someone in the unitive way (having undergone the nights) look like? someone in the world, a lay person. what would the experiance be like? the problems they would have and the kind of prayerlife? what are the practicalities and that sort of thing
sorry for the questions, but i really enjoy your answers:thumbsup:
 
glenaitken said:
good job, dave. Now, what would the daily life of someone in the unitive way (having undergone the nights) look like? someone in the world, a lay person. what would the experiance be like? the problems they would have and the kind of prayerlife? what are the practicalities and that sort of thing
sorry for the questions, but i really enjoy your answers
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Well if I ever get there I’ll be sure and write a post:D

Seriously, though, if ever there was a soul in the Unitive Way who could explain things in a way all of us can understand, Brother Lawrence is it. Read his words closely, "having walked this way for the past 30 years . . . "

He shows ALL of us can reach our destination . . . even while here on earth.

www.catholictreasury.info/books/presence_of_God/

I’ll be traveling on business tomorrow. All my best to those following along.

Dave. 🙂
 
DBT said:
PS - See what you started Besty with your “What is love” question 😃
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Exactly what I hoped for! Thanks, Dave.

Can we skip back a few posts to your talk radio example? Does controlling your appetite for it mean giving it up entirely, or allowing its moderate use within your plan of activities? Of course one must entirely give up sinful pleasures, but what about those that are morally indifferent?

I guess what I really want is a glimpse into the daily activities and concurrent thoughts of a person who has embarked on this path of prayer and perfection. (Ah - just realized that glenaitken has asked the same thing!)

Have safe travels. We’ll rely on Brother Lawrence while you’re gone.

Thanks,
Betsy
 
baltobetsy said:
Can we skip back a few posts to your talk radio example? Does controlling your appetite for it mean giving it up entirely, or allowing its moderate use within your plan of activities? Of course one must entirely give up sinful pleasures, but what about those that are morally indifferent?

I guess what I really want is a glimpse into the daily activities and concurrent thoughts of a person who has embarked on this path of prayer and perfection. (Ah - just realized that glenaitken has asked the same thing!)
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Hi Betsy -

This is going to be a rambling answer so please bear with me! I’m going to try and answer Glen’s question about life in the Unitive Way and yours regarding moderating imperfections in a single post since, as you say, they’re directly related.

Starting first with the passive night of spirit (Post #43), readers might ask why a soul would walk in his Light for a while . . . and then everything goes dark? If we take my comments in that post and look to the “Dark Night” link I gave for Book 2, Chapter 5 we’ll find the beginnings of the answer. In short, God does two things in this night: He illumines and then He purifies. And what’s the purpose of this purification? To rid us . . . pull up by the very roots . . . our remaining habitual imperfections – the very topic of the active night of sense & spirit discussion (Post #39) to which you ask. So when I talk about walking in the light of His light . . . that’s illumination; a foretaste of what the Unitive Way will be like. And when He gives us the “ray of darkness” . . . He purifies us.

And what we should also keep in mind about this passive night of spirit is this: it will probably go on for quite a long time in most souls . . . perhaps years. So we find ourselves in alternating periods of Light . . . followed by darkness . . . and all the while we’re never quite able to put two and two together.

And here’s why we can’t put it all together. This is the period of time St. Teresa calls the spiritual betrothal. Both God and the soul have mutually agreed they’re going to be together . . . but the soul isn’t quite ready yet to do its part to “close the deal.” It’s like the soul says “I’m willing to give you 95% . . . but I still need 5% just for me.” This 5%, of course, being the habitual imperfections the soul still clings to. Christ, being the gentleman He is, simply shrugs and says “OK, I’ll be here when you get back.”

So he turns off the light of His presence . . . and gives us the ray of darkness.

The soul, then, says “Hey, what are YOU doing to ME” . . . not realizing in the least that IT could be responsible for its current predicament. That thought doesn’t even occur to it . . . thus the state of darkness, confusion and doubt it now finds itself in. The way out, though, is right before its very eyes: God is not satisfied with 95% . . . He wants 100%. He’s not satisfied with spiritual betrothal . . . He wants spiritual marriage. But He’s willing to wait . . . if that’s what WE want. And it’s waiting we choose with habitual imperfections . . . for remember,we’re making a conscious choice to forget about Him when we pursue our little indulgences . . . if even for just a little while.

So the soul doesn’t realize that it’s got it all backwards. When God gives us the light of illumination He is saying . . . “I am with you.” And when He gives us the ray of darkness He is saying . . . “Are you ready to come back yet?”

When this dawns on the soul, it’s been given the gift of self-knowledge and the ray of darkness has accomplished its task. What it now sees . . . without a shadow of doubt . . . is that the darkness, confusion and uncertainty it feels in this night is NOT that God has abandoned it (the Saints lament) but that WE have left Him . . . through the simple act of clinging to an habitual imperfection.

So a layer of the onion is peeled back, we see reality as it truly is, and we commit ourselves to cooperating with God in pulling up this little imperfection. This is how the active nights and passive nights work in mutual harmony toward the same goal.

And the ray of darkness goes out . . . and the light of illumination returns . . . and Christ is back again.

And this cycle goes on . . . and on . . . and on . . . until no more habitual imperfections remain.

So to answer Glen’s question, “what is the Unitive Way like?” I would suppose its perpetual illumination . . . and the absence of the ray of darkness. Look to the example of Brother Lawrence and this is exactly what we will find.

And to answer your question,“Do we give up our habitual imperfections entirely?” The answer is yes if we want to reach the Unitive Way. But in hindsight I now see in Post 39 that, in my effort to stress that this is not sin, I failed to hammer home another key point . . . the meaning of the word “habitual.”

Everyone who strives to Practice the Presence of God will have falls (imperfections) from time to time . . . even Scripture says “the just man (Old Testament for Saint) will fall seven times a day.” What we need to be especially vigilant for are those regular, ongoing activities we consciously choose, knowing full well will draw us away from His presence. So if, for example, I find listening to talk radio on a regular basis gets me agitated, mentally preoccupied, unable to speak to Him or find Him in the silence of recollection . . . then I’d be well served to let it go. These are the type of warning signs we should look for throughout our spiritual lives . . . in a nutshell, how we know something is amiss.

Give up the lesser for the greater. That’s the purpose behind our self-denial.

Dave:)
 
DBT said:
What we need to be especially vigilant for are those *regular, ongoing *activities we consciously choose, knowing full well will draw us away from His presence. So if, for example, I find listening to talk radio on a regular basis gets me agitated, mentally preoccupied, unable to speak to Him or find Him in the silence of recollection . . . then I’d be well served to let it go.
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If, on the other hand, you found that listening to talk radio made you better informed, aware of issues to pray for, and you were able to mentally walk away from it when the radio was turned off, would you then still call it an imperfection, on the basis of its being pleasurable? There’s another thread going about Puritanism that relates to this question. The point the OP makes there is that any pleasure other than God is unacceptable.

Thank you again and again.

Betsy
 
Originally by DBT
God is not satisfied with 95% . . . He wants 100%. He’s not satisfied with spiritual betrothal . . . He wants spiritual marriage.
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Dave, I think you are talking about attentiveness of the spirit, and how God should always be first in our heart. Nothing should take priority before Him or catch our better attention. God want 100% of our heart and attention. To reach union, we must be constantly attracted to God and gaze at Him. Our heart and spirit must belong to Him only.

It’s not that God does not want us to have hobby or interest. To control our appetite does not mean to give it up entirely but to control it. We ought to be alert and cautious. By realizing our imperfection, we can actively shift our gear. And God uses passive night to transform us into an attentiveness of spirit.

If hell is not our destiny, we are all to have union with God eventually. Purification will happen either in this life or in the purgatory. Like you said, “give up the lesser for the greater” worths all our efforts.
 
I haven’t read that book, but I wanted to mention that Christs’ driving the money-changers out of the Temple was not a matter of ‘stumble’ for Him.
 
baltobetsy said:
If, on the other hand, you found that listening to talk radio made you better informed, aware of issues to pray for, and you were able to mentally walk away from it when the radio was turned off, would you then still call it an imperfection, on the basis of its being pleasurable? There’s another thread going about Puritanism that relates to this question. The point the OP makes there is that any pleasure other than God is unacceptable.
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If I were able to do what you say AND AT THE SAME TIME not fall into the trap I mentioned then all would be fine. As Inlight said, hobbies and pursuits are not, in themselves, the problem. This is as far away from Puritism as you can get. 🙂

We need to realize that the passive nights are all about *spiritual effects *. . . which makes this all so difficult to talk about. Language simply fails. St. John seems so harsh at times . . . but few loved life here on earth as much as he. Just spend a few moments on his reflections on the glory of creatures and creation and you’ll see what I mean. 🙂 But these are but a means to the end . . . which is to find the Creator Himself.

The key point is this: so long as we’re able to raise our hearts and minds to God in the midst of our “worldly pleasures” we’re walking on a safe path. When we can’t, we’re not. It’s as simple as that.

It’s when we get “trapped” in our worldly pursuits through our clinging that we find ourselves in trouble . . . when we make them ends unto themselves. And the source of all our troubles with God and other people. When God is locked out of the equation we become "self-"ish.

So the warning signs God gives us in the passive nights should be obvious, but we often fail to heed them. So what happens to me with an habitual imperfection? Loss of interior peace and inability to find Him in the silence of recollection. With them I choose monologue over dialogue. I pick me over Him. I give up glory for trifles.

When we read the Saints closely the Unitive Way can be boiled down to a couple of key characteristics: “the peace that surpasses all understanding” and the continual sense of His presence.

Habitual imperfections are what take that all away. So use those parts of the world that lead us to Him . . . and avoid those that don’t. For me that might be things like talk radio or even something as “good” and “spiritually oriented” as posting here on these very forums. 🙂 For you . . . and others . . . it could be different things entirely.

And that’s what’s so hard to pin down about imperfections . . . they’re different in everybody.

Make sense?

Dave 🙂
 
Well it seems in these few posts on this thread we’ve ended up taking a virtual tour of at least the high points of all three books of St. John of the Cross’ “The Ascent of Mount Carmel” and both books of “Dark Night of the Soul” . . . quite an undertaking! Thank you for starting this AndyF and also to all who have contributed throughout:)

In doing so, though, I’m reminded of a couple of things: What James said much earlier about what seems to me an oddity about mysticism . . . that it takes so many words to even feebly describe what what is known within our very hearts without the needs for words at all. And Tim’s intuition that sometimes all the words just makes things sound harder than it really is . . . when the lived experience of mysticism is that of simplicity . . . LOVE itself.

With those thoughts in mind, I thought I’d try and bring all this to a brief summary . . . speculating as to what I think our two spiritual guides in all this might say:

Brother Lawrence would probably simply say: “Look, all you have to do is keep the Lord in your mind and speak to Him in your heart in everything you think, say or do. And do your best not to offend Him. He will take care of the rest.”

And St. John of the Cross would add: "The good Brother is right but don’t kid yourself . . . it’s going to be hard work! Watch what you allow to enter your soul through what you see, hear, feel, taste and smell (active night of sense) for your excesses there will cause you to forget Him in your intellect, will and memory (active night of spirit) . . . the cause of your very downfall. To help you, God will begin to give you contemplation (passive night of sense) and when you learn to accept His gift you will be given a foretaste of the glories of eternity walking in His very light (Illuminative Way). But many defects will remain and those are hidden to you now. So, in His infinite Love, He will send you his ray of darkness to remind you you’re doing little things that cause you to forget Him (passive night of spirit). And when you finally “get it” all that will remain in you is the perpetual living and breathing of that single word . . . LOVE (Unitive Way).

I’m out of gas and I’ve hogged up to much bandwidth anyway 🙂 . . . hope this all helped!

Dave 🙂
 
Dave,
While I haven’t read your posts in their entirety I wish to thank you for your effort and good council.
Keeping on the simplifying track, I would just add that, the prayer in my signature has been of great help to me. Simple straigthforward and pretty much says it all insofar as what we need to be doing day in and day out.

Oh my God, I will continue,
to perform all my actions,
for the Love of Thee.
Amen.
 
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