Eckhart on the Dark Night of the Soul

[Sharon Taphorn]

 I thought this might help out a few people...xoxox Sharon

Eckhart on the Dark Night of the Soul

a message from Eckhart Tolle

7 October, 2011 

.

Have you ever experienced the dark night of the soul? 

Your teachings have been so helpful through this difficult period. 

Can you address this subject?

The “dark night of the soul” is a term that goes back a long time.  Yes, I have also experienced it.  It is a term used to describe what one could call a collapse of a perceived meaning in life…an eruption into your life of a deep sense of meaninglessness.  The inner state in some cases is very close to what is conventionally called depression.  Nothing makes sense anymore, there’s no purpose to anything.  Sometimes it’s triggered by some external event, some disaster perhaps, on an external level.  The death of someone close to you could trigger it, especially premature death, for example if your child dies.  Or you had built up your life, and given it meaning – and the meaning that you had given your life, your activities, your achievements, where you are going, what is considered important, and the meaning that you had given your life for some reason collapses.

It can happen if something happens that you can’t explain away anymore, some disaster which seems to invalidate the meaning that your life had before.  Really what has collapsed then is the whole conceptual framework for your life, the meaning that your mind had given it.  So that results in a dark place.  But people have gone into that, and then there is the possibility that you emerge out of that into a transformed state of consciousness.  Life has meaning again, but it’s no longer a conceptual meaning that you can necessarily explain.  Quite often it’s from there that people awaken out of their conceptual sense of reality, which has collapsed.

They awaken into something deeper, which is no longer based on concepts in your mind.  A deeper sense of purpose or connectedness with a greater life that is not dependent on explanations or anything conceptual any longer.  It’s a kind of re-birth.  The dark night of the soul is a kind of death that you die.  What dies is the egoic sense of self.  Of course, death is always painful, but nothing real has actually died there – only an illusory identity.  Now it is probably the case that some people who’ve gone through this transformation realized that they had to go through that, in order to bring about a spiritual awakening.  Often it is part of the awakening process, the death of the old self and the birth of the true self.

The first lesson in A Course in Miracles says “Nothing I see in this room means anything”, and you’re supposed to look around the room at whatever you happen to be looking at, and you say “this doesn’t mean anything”, “that doesn’t mean anything”.   What is the purpose of a lesson like that?  It’s a little bit like re-creating what can happen during the dark night of the soul.  It’s the collapse of a mind-made meaning, conceptual meaning, of life… believing that you understand “what it’s all about”.  With A Course in Miracles, it’s a voluntary relinquishment of the human mind-made meaning that is projected, and you go voluntary into saying “I don’t know what this means”, “this doesn’t mean anything”.  You wipe the board clean.  In the dark night of the soul it collapses.

You are meant to arrive at a place of conceptual meaninglessness.  Or one could say a state of ignorance – where things lose the meaning that you had given them, which was all conditioned and cultural and so on.  Then you can look upon the world without imposing a mind-made framework of meaning.  It looks of course as if you no longer understand anything.  That’s why it’s so scary when it happens to you, instead of you actually consciously embracing it.  It can bring about the dark night of the soul – to go around the Universe without any longer interpreting it compulsively, as an innocent presence.  You look upon events, people, and so on with a deep sense of aliveness.  Your sense the aliveness through your own sense of aliveness, but you are not trying to fit your experience into a conceptual framework anymore.

 

 

 

© copyright 2008-2011. Eckhart Tolle . All rights reserved.

www.eckharttolle.com/

This message was originally posted

here

[ramsiel]

GREAT THANKS MY SHARON FOR THIS SPREADING ....

RAMS

[Sharon Taphorn]

Thanks for sharing it with me first lol... tons of love, Sharon

[Jacki m SeiWell]

And this has happened more then once in my life time.  In fact today is a day where there are things going on around me that I feel "as if you no longer understand anything".

[KrisMagi]

My long dark night has lasted since 2006 with the death of my wife, the bankruptcy of my business, the loss of both my houses and then personal bankruptcy. I have been so near to ending it all and as I sit writing these words, I am very near to homelessness again.

I have been a resourceful and active man all my life and here I am at the age of 62 having to start again and I have to say that I seriously wonder if I have the strength to make it.

The writing of Tolle is all very well but it does not get anywhere near the pain and suffering that I still continue to feel as I try and salvage something of a life.

I am an intelligent and well read man. I have travelled widely and lived in India, Africa, Europe and Asia. Despite my wide experience, this has not equiupped me to cope with this most challenging of times.

What the answer is I do not know. If this is spiritual awakening then it is most cruel, painful and extremely scary.

 

Thank you for listening

[Sharon Taphorn]

Hang in their Kris, they are not so much fun to go through however when we come out the other side it does feel so much better. It is part of releasing. I have asked myself many of the same questions this past month. All I can add is to find whatever little bit of joy you can at this time and build the light and love from there. You are still here with us and something to share and offer that is uniquely yours. Teachers get more of these shifts than others as what you get coming out the other side of that awakening. Sending you some angels for strength, courage and love, you are not alone, ever... xoxox Sharon

[Aveen]

http://youtu.be/3FTigPVCgV8

So sorry to hear that you are in such a sad place at the moment.
Things will change you will get past it, you have lots of courage. Archangel Michael will look after you if you ask him, He is just waiting to be asked.
I think everyone has a long dark night at some stages in their lives, and you think you cannot move forward, you can, just ask for help. I'm sure everyone on Shifting Times will be thinking of you and praying for you. Love, Light & Blessings Aveen x

[Jacki m SeiWell]

Kris,  your post touches my heart.  Though I have not lose so much as you have (may hugs help there)  being near to homeless a year ago, with no one to turn to in my immediate circle at two weeks before turning 58 and becoming homeless my faith in everything I had believed in at that moment was questioned.  Would the Universe provide?  I sit alone this morning in my little corner of the room I share with my small grand son in tears and fear for I don't know what to say or do at the moment other then be silent and let events happen as they are meant to be.  It is so much easier to be out of a situation and remain silent then be in the midst of it all.  

 

I am not well read, though I have been fortunate enough to have what I need to read or hear presented into my life when needed.  I have always trusted that to happen.  Along with people crossing my path when I was the lost.  Last summer I entered into Sharon's Calling all Angels group on a night that I could not stop crying and didn't know if I could find the strength to start all over again.  I some times think I had better coping skills when I was young and had a better back to carry my belongings away with me.  I gave away anything I couldn't sell in Texas and flew back East to my daughters.  So starting with three boxes of small things is my goal.

 

We are hear to listen today also.  Thank you Sharon for posting this today.  Not sure if my tears today are out of fear, frustration, or letting go of some control. 

[Naheed Vatcha]

Hello Kris,

I came across your post and am sending you all the love and positive energy I can to help you through these tough times. Not sure if it is any consolation, but you are well loved and your life on earth has purpose and meaning.

[Sarah]

Synchronicity, faith, timing, ego, love, death and emptiness. What do they all have in common? Letting go and letting the dark night wash over you. I think you (Kris) summed it up quite well. I have a student passing through it now and all I can do is wait and let her know I will be here on the other side. People are listening & wanting to help, but as you know this is a journey one makes alone.

I have witnessed very “evolved” colleagues pass through this shift and be brought crumbling to their knees. When one realizes that everything they thought, believed & focused on, is merely an illusion and not just the intellectual knowledge of this , but the full on “soul impact” of this weight hits then Yes, words do not describe the passage, but passage it is. You must find your way and rebuild your life (or not, as you choose) in the Way YOU choose, What a wondrous gift and what an enormous responsibility, eh? (Especially when you know its all an illusion, Controlled folly anyone?)

To be empty is truly to be full. Know that you are not alone & blessings as you find your way through the darkness.
Sarah-

[KrisMagi]

Where do I begin?

Well I start by thanking each and every one of you from the bottom of my heart for your support. believe me, it really does make me feel better.

I posted up on Facebook the following line yesterday:  "To become who you really want to be, you have to take the 'I' out of 'Me'. This thought came suddenly and as Doreen Virtue observed, when you receive such thoughts they are usually divinely inspired. All I can say is that there is no I left in me anymore.

Two days ago I sank to my knees and prayed like I have never prayed before and my prayer went something like this:

"Great Universal Father, if you have a Plan for me then reveal it and make it happen now for I have truly come to the end of the road. You may not think that it is but I most certainly am standing at the edge of the precipice.  I have tried everything to no avail to move my Life onwards but why am I still at the same point after 2 years. I now surrender what is left of Me to You. Do what You Will. Amen."

So my friends I have surrendered the whole situation to the Divine and I no longer care what happens next. If it is Death then so be it. If it is Life, so be it. It makes no difference either way.

In love and light to each and every one of you today. May your life be filled with love.

Christopher

[Jacki m SeiWell]

I've had to surrender so many times this last time though death was never part of the options, the roof over my head was.  I'm not real sure what you meant by taking the I our of Me.  It brings to mind the though "we are all in this together".  I understand the feelings of being in the same place after two years which is what I felt stuck in Texas.  Not being able to find peace in my life (mind) no matter what I try.  If I had my way I'd have a room set up and bring in a different teacher every hour to just sit, listen, share.  I have  always felt a purpose most of my life and could see it clearly.  For what every reason, and I've been saying this for over a year, the messages just don't seem as clear as they use to.  I joked (talked) with many during that time in Texas that My angels/guides weren't letting me in on the secret.

 

  I can remember other times in my life when it happened also and realized that when I was younger and had my children to take care of it somehow was easier to realize what I needed to do because it was for them.  Now it seems when it comes to myself I'm lost.  I would have thought it would have gotten easier.  I'm grateful for the people on the internet that I have been able to talk to like here in this way, if nothing else just a ear and voice, and the small group I meet with once a week to just relax with. 

 

I've always been the strong one who helped everyone else when they needed it and somehow I can't find people like myself now that I really needed someone like I was.  Why is it that I can't do for myself what I was always able to do for them?

[Mandy Leng]

I too have gone through this before and recently again at the age of 63. During this last time i called in to one of Dolores Cannon's radio shows and talked to her and her daughter. She has some books and videos out and has been doing the work she does for a very long time. One of the things she says is that there are waves of volunteers on earth, the wave I came in on has people who have gone through horrific situations in this life and don't like it here. She told me that I don't have to be "doing" neccessarily but "being". Later on I realized that every spirit is holding space and they are missed when they are not here. A friend who I had not had contact with for a few years died recently and I missed her, because she was holding space here