7th
Dark Night
Into darkness of an obscure Night
Burning with passionate longing for my love,
Oh gladsome chance! I sallied forth with none to note,
My house being now asleep.
- from Dark Night of the Soul
Christian theology and Christian experience describes a kind of spiritual draught called the Dark Night. The Dark Night is like going blind to every spark of divine Light, going deaf to every echo of God’s voice. There are no techniques to conjure consolation in the Dark Night: it swallows up all prayers and spiritual exercises without mercy.
I can report from grim experience that the Dark Night is real, and Quaker practice affirms it, offering a silent place where we can slog through the darkness, empty, but not alone.
In the Dark Night, there is no Light to be our guide. We only have the dim flicker of our sweet longing for the Light.
