The dark night

The dark night of the soul is John of the Cross’s name for the purifications through which God leads the soul to union. In his poem “On a dark night” and its commentaries, the Ascent of Mount Carmel and the Dark Night, he distinguishes two nights: the night of sense, in which the soul is weaned from attachment to sensible consolations, and the night of spirit, a deeper purification of understanding, memory and will.

Each night has an active part, what the soul does to detach itself, and a passive part, what God does in it. The passive night is experienced as darkness, dryness and even abandonment, but John teaches that it is in fact the inflowing of God’s light, too bright for the soul to bear: the darkness is infused contemplation.

The phrase has become a common expression for any time of spiritual or emotional desolation. In John’s sense it is something more specific: a purification on the way to union, in which God, not suffering, is the agent.