A Releasing Your Unlimited Creativity discussion topic

Copyright 2008 by K. Ferlic,   All Rights Reserved

What is the Dark Night of the Soul

Traditionally, the Dark Night of the Soul is a Western mysticism term referring to the stripping away of one’s identity to surrender to become a channel to the Divine. It refers to the transition and experiences associated with the process of moving from living the reality of our enculturated mind to another reality. It is moving to a reality where we functions as a willing vehicle for the Divine or as a channel of the light as we understand the Diving and/or the light.

The Dark Night of the Soul is about learning to break free of feeding the enculturated ego and relinquishing control of our life it outcome to the Divine. It is about turning all one’s needs and expectations over to The All That Is, God, or the Universe, and trusting that in the oneness and interconnectedness of all things, our needs will be met in all ways and our life will be for service for the greater common good..

The situation our mind faces in relinquishing control to the Divine is like the story of the man who wanted to keep a bird, so he kept it caged or on a string. If the man unties the bird and he lets the bird go, and it returns to him, it is his. If it flies away, then it is not his and never was. So too with all of our attachments we hold in our life. We need to learn to do the same with all our attachments, including people, things and experiences. We need to release them and let them go. If they come back, they are ours. The process causes us to empty our cup, so to speak, to empty our being of wants, and making room for the Divine, in order to be used as a conscious vehicle. The Dark Night of the Soul can be a terrifying experience if we is unaware of what is happening. It can feel as if our entire life and identity are being stripped away. But, in reality, they are. This stripping away can be a rather terrifying experience to the enculturated ego.

The Dark Night of the Soul and our creativity

Relative to our creativity, it needs to be understood an experience of the Dark Night of the Soul is possible for any creative endeavor. The Dark Night of the Soul is actually a description of a step in the creative/creation process from a more mystical than creative perspective and what is felt and experienced as our existing world crumbles to release the energy to flow into the new desired creation The depth of the journey we need to take depends on the level of our enculturation and what intention the we have set for our life. Intentionality is the biggest force in determining the depth of the experience the individual undergoes.

The transition involves the transition from the enculturated ego and from who we think we are to free our creative spirit and the energy we need for the desired creation. For those who need to experience a significant shift in their lives, the journey can be quite terrifying, but only to the extent we hold on to that enculturated ego.

Making the Dark Night of the Soul a little easier

The Dark Night of the Soul is a common process that humans undergo in their transition from living in an enculturated mind to that of the heart. It exists in some form in all cultures and is described in various ways in different cultures. There is the shaman’s journey of many ancient cultures. There is the hero’s journey and the descent into the underworld described in the myth and story literature. There is the Phoenix experience characteristic of fire and rebirth from the ashes or a death and resurrection. To quote one individual’s premonition about the experience of the Dark Night of the Soul is as follows. "What is most intriguing is that, when I started my journey I had vivid images of going down exploring into deep caverns. These feelings and psychic images were so strong that I wanted to go spelunking or cave exploring because of their pull. Now that I understand how to work fears at an energetic level before they become manifest in a physical form, an unanswered question in my own mind is, "Given the energy of the my psyche was so strong in the realization of the need to explore the underworld, how would my personal journey have evolved if that energy was symbolically acted upon by going cave exploring?"" The question is "By following the feelings of needing to go cave exploring, would cave exploring have made the transition easier?" The answer is "yes" in two ways.

In looking at how our mind characterizes what it perceives probably if the individual has acted on the impulse to go cave exploring they could have made the journey easier. In going cave exploring there would have been psychological changes as a result of those experience. The change to the mind because of those experience would have refined the perception as to what needed to be explored. That new perception would have made the overall journey easier and more manageable because mind’s characterization of the journey would now be more accurate.

Also there is another factor that would have occurred if the individual would have acted. The journey would have been easier because of portaging by the cave environment. Here it needs to be noted the portaging process need not necessarily be done by a human being. In going into the caves, the energy of the cave environment deep within the earth would have allowed a healing space to be created in the psyche in the enjoyment of spelunking. As a minimum, a part of the psyche would have responded to the symbolism of the journey and awakened. A part of the individual would have healed in the playful exploration and strength would have been gained to make the next leg of the adventure a little easier. That is how it works. It is both the power of symbolic action and the awakening of consciousness through consciousness by the new experience and that new adventure into an unknown.

Any transition can be made easier if we learn how to work the energy of the situation as opposed to the physical manifested form. The awareness of an easier way comes by watching what images, signs and symbols that arise in the psyche as the journey progresses and then seeing how this energy manifested in physical form. In time we can learn to work with the energy before it manifest. Any problem can be worked at an energetic level if one chooses to do so. However we do need to be mindful and aware to understand what is happening and act in awareness. There needs to be a certain level of mental discipline to hold to the understanding that energy manifests before the physical form. Said another way, any intention generates the thoughts which provides words to be manifested as actions and deeds. If we do not believe that sequence is how we form reality, then we will continue to live the reality we are living until a sufficient portion of our consciousness awakens. Then we can realize we can, and do choose and create the reality we see and experience. In talking about the images from our mind, we can not blindly follow the image of the mind. It must be remembered that the image we obtain is the best the mind can provide as to how that energy is manifesting at that moment in time. As we move into the energy, our understanding and experience of it will change and we most probably will get additional refining images or a new direction about how the energy is unfolding. Often it is best to explore the images we receive in something like metatheater or ritual.

What really happens in the Dark Night of the Soul?

What exactly happens in the Dark Night of the Soul? To move from the reality of the enculturated ego into another reality in which we have a new and very personal relationship with the Divine or a creation which better serves us, we need to detach from who and what we think we are and move into a transition state of nonbeing. That place where we are not one or the other. That place were we seem completely adrift. It may even feel as though we enters a place of disassembling ourselves into fragments.

The goal of the Dark Night of The Soul is to eventually enter the equivalent of that which is represented symbolically in the center of the Gentle Phoenix Experience Yantra at the top of this page. It is that place of no-thing-ness, a place of no form, the Unmanifested. It is a mystical place of the innocent and spontaneous childlike play. It is a place of no limits, of no boundaries where all possibilities exist and nothing is denied. It is living in the mystery of Creation. It is the Cauldron of Creation and the Chaos of Creation. It is where we open to the needs of the moment with no expectation of outcome. The ultimate goal upon exiting from the Dark Night of the Soul is to develop as much as possible a private practice to sustain and maintain as close as we can our own unique relationship with this Source and that world of the unmanifested that allows for being in the spontaneity of the moment.

To move toward this place of "no-thing-ness" we need to empty ourselves of everything we think about who we are, what we represent, what we hope to accomplish. It is about giving up all that we thinks and defines the ego. Most of what needs to be given up is the enculturated baggage we carry from our childhood and never really chose to release or hold. It is as though we just carry it with us because it was given to us and we think it is ours. The Dark Night of the Soul strips all that off.

In the same way that what defines our ego is stripped off, all the old relationships also need to be stripped from our life, so new ones can form or old ones can reform under new conditions. If the old relationships stay the same, then no change can occur and the old form is held in place. This is where the detached warrior comes into play - he will not allow any attachments or connections that will hold the old form. It is why the gate to the tree of life in the Garden of Eden Story is guarded by the fiery revolving sword to cut off all the old attachments in all ways and to be reborn again from the ashes. It is the old saying about pouring new wine into old wine skins. The limitations and barriers along with the attachments to things and people that manifested those beliefs must change to create a new environment, to hold a new vessel, the transformed us.

In this regard, the Dark Night of the Soul may require a period of isolation where we are essentially isolated from everything and everyone. In looking at this stage of being alone and isolated, we need to understand that it may be necessary to create a situation where we are cut off from some people, experiences and environments so that the constant interplay with them is eliminated. This is to allow the reforming consciousness to develop in its own special direction, without any undue influences being picked up by this reforming consciousness. Analogously, it is not letting anyone or anything tamper with the mold before that which is in the mold has set and formed. This is especially true as a fragmented psyche begins to reform and grow. Sometimes the consciousness that needs to develop is so far different from the typical individual or mainstream of society and its progression so different that there must be a complete isolation from the influence of others. Otherwise, the group’s influence would turn the individual away from that unique creation being formed.

In some ways it is like the main character in the movie "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" played by Dick Van Dyke. For him to build the magical car, he must go off by himself, in isolation, to build a magical car reconstructed from the burned out hulk of a crashed race car. So too each of us. When we thrust into our own Dark Night of the Soul we need to become isolated to be rebuilt ourselves without undo influences. In that intense period of isolation we work on our equivalent of constructing a magical vehicle built on the burned-out hulk of out former physical form.

If we looks carefully at our life and the images and symbols that come into our psyche, we will see that we are given images and understandings of what our journey will look like. We just need to be open to the images and trust that everything ultimately works for the greatest common good, no matter how good or bad we or society judge the images to be. Besides, events never quite work out quite the way we expect because we do not see all the influences generating the image and our mind only knows what it has experienced. We only see some, the best our mind can offer at the time. We only get a close approximation - the major attributes of what the form will look like, but not the particular details.

How does one work within the Dark Night of the Soul?

It is often experienced as hard because everything of value and importance to our enculturated ego gets stripped away. This includes our enthusiasm for what defines our current life. To become active, is probably the best antidote for what we are feeling as one goes through this period. However, it may be very difficult to remain active because simultaneously with the stripping away of our attachments, we strip away our tribal ties and the group that we used to use as support is no longer available. In other words, our normal source of activities is eliminated. In this light, one activity that can be extremely helpful to the transition is "not doing." But, in general any creative activity such art, dancing, music, creating rituals, metatheaters, building things and the like are good activities. In whatever we do, we should look for those activities that would be something we would never do as our old self. In doing these kinds of activities we are both breaking our old way of being, but we are also actively engaged in doing some activity. The only caution here is whatever creative activity in which we engage to keep us busy as we experience the Dark Night of the Soul should not become a end in itself or the focus of our life. Otherwise we will be diverted from the journey.

What we are actually doing in the Dark Night of the Soul is breaking a group consciousness connection and unplugging from our tribe. The journey into oneself is a solo journey and we can’t have our tribe or the collective tagging along. Whenever we want a family or seek companionship we are working with and creating a group consciousness. If we want to truly be free, we need to understand what beliefs we hold that require us to plug ourselves into any group of any size. To understand what beliefs exist, we need to unplug from our groups to see what re-connections need to be made on our terms that allow us to live the life our heart chooses to live. To be free we must understand what we want, then plug into a group that shares those beliefs or pull to us the people who will share those beliefs. If we plug into a group first, before being alone and understanding what we need, the group will override our individual desires because, by agreement on the physical plane, the collective priorities surface first and therefore usually rule. The group ruling is a key feature of the physical plane. The group consciousness is what hold the form of the human an the earth plane as it is and a big part of developing our strength of will is to be individualized within this collective.

Most people think they are afraid of entering group consciousness because they are afraid they will lose their identity. However, as a child we were plugged into a group and we have been plugged into a group almost all our life and we have lost our true identity without realizing it. That is why there is a Dark Night of the Soul, in some form, existing in almost every culture. As a minimum we carry the group identity of those who raised us. Even if we rebelled against that group the group is the focus of our rebellion - hence an attachment to the group. That is rebellion against a group is an attachment to the group, it is not creating freedom. Consequently, it is necessary that we consciously unplug, then consciously choose to join or not join the group, or some other group.

We need some time to be isolated to learn to become whole unto ourselves and then reconnect into a group as a whole and complete unit. It is the game of life to become separate and become whole within ourselves and then rejoin the group if we choose as a separated complete identity. In many ways this is a paradox.

Part of the reason why a vision quest in many societies was done in isolation was so that the individual would come to a clear understanding of who and what they were without the influence of society. It was not unexpected that the individual would come back with a completely different view of their role and the role of society in their life. The vision quest was an attempt by the society to allow one to get in touch with their life purpose so that the individual did not have to undergo an arduous Dark Night of the Soul experience. The transformation process can be done in a gentle way however. We must address what needs to be transformed if the process is to be gentle and it is our fears which lead the way in this area.

Wrestling with releasing the tribe can be described as moving away from a sinking ship. It is as if we are in our lifeboat urging the others of our group to step in and leave the sinking ship at the risk of us being pulled down with the ship. The ship is representative of the group consciousness which does not allow the individual to live the life they know in their heart they have to live. But we are not believed by those on the ship. They do not believe the concept of living the heart. It is too radical for the group. If they believed in what we had to say, they would get in the boat, but they don’t. We have to leave and row to a safe distance away from the boat. Then, when the others see (if they choose to look) that we are safe living our truth, they then may get into their own boat and follow us, living according to their heart and their truth. We must accept we will not be believed by our tribe and that we need to learn to live whole unto ourselves. When we do this, others will follow. But, more importantly, if we choose and when we choose on our own terms, we can plug back into the tribe or any relationship on our own terms in a way that truly serves us rather than theirs.

When we move to live our truth and are faced with the Dark Night of the Soul, there is the feeling everything is being taken away. But it is more than just a feeling, it is very real and is happening - everything is taken away. When this occurs there is usually a "low" point that is best described as fragmentation. This is when all our beliefs seem to dissociate and we don’t seem attached or grounded to anything, even to our own identity.

Fragmentation is the bottom of the transition or mid way in the transition of not being in either world - the old or the new. Fragmentation is about disassembling the belief structure of who and what we are. We are all malleable and capable of being molded. Sometimes we are more open to molding than at other times. The Dark Night of the Soul allows for a complete disassembly of our belief structure, depending on how deep we choose to go into the adventure. The choice is always ours.

It the Creation Story for the Creativity Perspective it is said we are an aspect of the consciousness within, or behind, Creation. We are an infinite creative being creating its experiences by how and what we think and believe. What and what we are as a human being is a composite of beliefs that are allowed to unfold, such that we are the perfect expression on the physical plane of the beliefs we hold. We can be pictured as a mosaic made out of stone, where each individual stone is a single belief and a piece of the final expression of the picture. Or, we can be seen as a kaleidoscope composed of individual bits of colored glass that don’t add up to much by themselves but only as seen as part of the whole unless viewed from outside the pieces themselves.

In either case, fragmentation is the process where we disassemble the mosaic or the kaleidoscope into its individual parts and replace some of the individual stones or pieces of glass with different ones such that a new mosaic, a new kaleidoscopic image is produced. The only real difficulty is when we are in the process as we feel and experience being disassembled. Of course, we do not entirely disassemble because we stay in physical form through the process.

Now this is were our intentionality is of extreme importance. The intentionality acts as the blue print, the master plan, or the seed crystal for how the reassembling will occur. For example, if we intend unconditional love, we will be reassembled with a belief structure that will allow us to be unconditional love. If we intend to be live the intention for our life, we will reassemble with the belief structure that allows us to fearlessly live the intention for our life. It is all a matter of intention and the intentionality that we set for our life.

We tend to believe our power of choice only extends to our conscious decisions and choices. We forget that our nonconscious is connected to us and it is preprogrammed for making decisions. Part of becoming aware is being able to go into the nonconscious and adjust that programming. To obtain objective evidence of what this nonconscious programming looks like we only needs to contemplate our effect upon the world around us. Our beliefs are mirrored in the world around us. Fragmentation is that step where the disassembly point is reached and we are recast into the new structure.

A sample transition

For the author, there was a consciously experienced a state of fragmentation at about nine months into the journey. Given the journey was started with an intentionality at the end of September where the conscious decision was made to surrender to the Universe and consciously break the tribal loyalty. It took about nine months, to the middle of the following May, to fragment and reach a clearly identifiable fragmentation point around May 15, when there was a conscious awareness of being fragmented. It was not till the following October, another five months that the thoughts and images supporting a re-assemblage were clearly identifiable in the mind. However, the new evolution was far from complete, but was already a year in progress. In may ways the re-assemblage was only a seed condition which planted would grow and unfold into a new life.

In some ways it was as though the September starting point a year earlier was the construction of a cocoon as a caterpillar. The cocoon was, entered probably in February and the old form died in May. A new energy begin to in October. However, it was only the energy of the transformed caterpillar in October (month 13). In fact, it was the butterfly image that signaled a feeling that a transition was completed. But it was only the energy, the newly emerged energy then needed to unfold in the world

The real consciousness transition and period of isolation was only starting and it did not start until the energy emerged from the cocoon in October It continued until the following September (month 24), to allow the new consciousness to form unencumbered. So the entire cycle took about two years to shift the consciousness and being to develop the new ego. But the journey was still not over. Although a new consciousness did emerge 24 months later, it still needed to find itself and become comfortable in its new role. This transition took about another eight months so that old form was now being seen completely different in the world. The external world was beginning to reform around this new identity because the results of this new way of thinking and being in the world was becoming made manifest. The entire process of consciously deciding to leave and re-emerging in a new form with one being comfortable in this new form was 30 months. It could be longer or shorter for others, but probably 30 months may be close to what one may suspect with a continuously focused effort. Not bad actually, elephants take 36 months to grow in the womb. And remember, we are talking about birthing a new consciousness, a new spirit of being in the world.

Related topics
Awakening to an intimate relationship with our creative spirit
Kundalini
Kundalini Rising and the Dark Night of the Soul

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