Finding and Keeping Your Light in the Dark Night of the World’s Soul

The concept of a dark night of the Soul goes way back in spiritual history. It describes a time in a person’s life when everything seems to fall apart, especially the previous belief system about how the world works. This time can mark both a personal and spiritual crisis and can be triggered by numerous events within the human condition—the loss of a loved one, job or relationship, a health crisis, or anything else that hits us at our core. We seem to lose the very breath that takes us from one moment to the next and our desperation leads us to believe there is no end in sight. During these dark periods, nothing looks or feels the same and we recognize how vulnerable we really are—something few want to experience.

 

What happens when it seems like the entire world is undergoing a collective Dark Night? How do we find the strength—and more importantly, the wisdom within—to survive?

 

At the time of writing this article, nearly one million people have died from the COVID-19 pandemic, with 205,000 dying just in the United States. These numbers are not to be taken lightly and unfortunately, we have a long way to go before we can put this behind us.

 

For some, their dark night has already arrived. For many others, it is still to come whether it be from direct experience with the virus, the ongoing impact it will have on life as we know it, or something else that is stirring in a person’s life. Regardless, each of the almost eight billion souls on this planet has or will be touched by this pandemic in one way or another. And many of these souls were already experiencing their dark night before we even knew what COVID-19 was.

 

How do you find—and keep—your light at a time like this?

Last month I wrote about the chrysalis of the soul—a time to go within to reflect and evaluate how we can consciously evolve beyond where we are. The dark night often throws us into our chrysalis whether we want to be there or not. But having experienced at least three dark nights during my own life so far, I can honestly say that those have been the most transformational times in my development both as a human and as a soul.

 

 

You see, although the dark night shakes us at our core, it also helps us to break loose from beliefs, behaviors, thoughts, and patterns that no longer serve us. It helps us transform from a not so attractive caterpillar into something beautiful beyond belief if we allow the process to guide us on our path. Yes, there are those who decide to allow the dark night to also darken their soul for the rest of their life but those who do their soul-searching, soul “hygiene” and soul development emerge a brighter and stronger soul than before it all began. In many ways, both the soul and the person are more intact and whole than they would have believed possible—entering the light with a new outlook and an even brighter future. Mystical author, Caroline Myss, stated, “The dark night of the soul is a journey into light, a journey from your darkness into the strength and hidden resources of your soul.” Without this journey, we would not reach the destination of our soul.

But this transformation does not happen on its own—it takes work. We must embrace the darkness, examine why it is happening, extract the meaning that will enhance our growth, and accept that we must change in order to evolve. None of these steps are easy, but all are necessary on our evolutionary path. Because I’ve experienced the darkness more than once, I’ve learned that the process goes easier and faster if I become an observer of my circumstances rather than become absorbed by the depth of despair that accompanies the trying time. None of it is pretty and it feels like it will never end. But it does. It is then that you re-enter the light.

Just like the butterfly breaking through the cocoon, we eventually break through the darkness to find the light. Some describe the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to butterfly as gruesome and this pretty much describes the feeling most have as they experience a dark night. I doubt many would dispute the fact that the world appears gruesome right now. It doesn’t look the same, feel the same, or run the same. We don’t know how or when the darkness will end and no one wants to bet that it won’t get worse before it gets better. But one thing is certain, at some point we will find both our individual and collective light so we can look back to understand why this has all happened.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I offered six tools to help you navigate the months to come. Here, I offer tips to survive a dark night of the soul, whether it is your own or the collective one we see happening around us.

Times such as these beg for light to be restored. As we live in spirit through the darkness, we must find inspiration to keep going so we can generate light of our own. Let’s work together to keep our souls shining brightly so we can say we never even saw our shadow.