Joanna Ebenstein — Just Before Revelation

Joanna Ebenstein — Just Before Revelation

The idea of the descent and return

might also be seen as living psychologically

through what is called “the dark night of the soul,”

a term drawn from the writings of

the sixteenth-century Spanish Catholic mystic Saint John of the Cross.

He used it to describe a painful but necessary stage

in the process of enlightenment or spiritual awakening.

Today the term is sometimes used to describe a crisis in one’s life—

such as the death of a loved one,

the loss of a relationship,

or the diagnosis of a terminal illness—

and the subsequent feeling of being

in a dark and unknown place of confusion and despair.

This dark night of the soul

is often regarded as a state of development

that, although painful, is necessary for growth and transformation.

In the words of mythologist Joseph Campbell,

“The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation.

When everything is lost, and all seems darkness,

then comes the new life and all that is needed.”

Or, as Jung put it,

“There is no coming to consciousness without pain.”

Joanna Ebenstein

Memento Mori: The Art of Contemplating Death to Live a Better Life