Talk:Dark Night of the Soul

Untitled
Does the darkness of the dark night refer to spookiness, or to the obscuration of the ordinary mental processes, the continuing annihilation of the self whereby the soul is emptied in preparation for union with God? 69.213.80.189 09:05, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

Consider this passage from the Ascent of Mount Carmel: "WE may say that there are three reasons for which this journey made by the soul to union with God is called night. The first has to do with the point from which the soul goes forth, for it has gradually to deprive itself of desire for all the worldly things which it possessed, by denying them to itself; the which denial and deprivation are, as it were, night to all the senses of man. The second reason has to do with the mean, or the road along which the soul must travel to this union — that is, faith, which is likewise as dark as night to the understanding. The third has to do with the point to which it travels — namely, God, Who, equally, is dark night to the soul in this life. These three nights must pass through the soul — or, rather, the soul must pass through them — in order that it may come to Divine union with God." My worry is that this article misdefines the term Dark Night. It has nothing to do with fear that I can see. 69.212.37.221 01:23, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Are there any references or connection to the state of grief? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.150.150.62 (talk) 12:32, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

this article needs work
i dont believe the "and/or" belongs in a reference work. it should rather be relegated to works of academic speculation. there are few meaningful references, what appears to be a plug for a rather unknown artist (shai linne?!) and quite a bit of original "jungian" analysis. interested editors: please clean it up.99.147.234.50 (talk) 10:31, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

There's no basis for the section on the ego and the psyche. Psychology doesn't work that way. It's just speculation and original research. CaptainManacles (talk) 16:56, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

Similarly, I have removed 'Entering this dark night of the soul is commonly referred to in Buddhism as "raising the Great Doubt".' Speculative, original research, and actually pretty random: very little of what the article describes until that point is compatible with any mainstream school of Buddhism. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.0.12.92 (talk) 23:39, 5 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Actually, the "Dark Night" is commonly used as a term by Theravada Buddhists in the West. I have included a new section on it with the relevant references. --Scot W. Stevenson (talk) 21:01, 2 January 2010 (UTC)

i agree that this article does need work, the fact of the matter is that there shouldn't be such a connection made within this article because though it may share similarities with what St. John of the Cross was talking about it detracts from the actual description of what Dark Night of the Soul actually is and should have no place in said article. despite its well thought out documentation it simply has no place in a description a Catholic artical —Preceding unsigned comment added by Llejeune11 (talk • contribs) 19:23, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Poem deserves its own article
Why doesn't Dark Night of the Soul by Saint John of the Cross have its own article? --24.185.64.42 (talk) 23:16, 16 October 2011 (UTC)

Publication information
Normally an article about a book would contain at least first publication information. That is missing here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.175.108.185 (talk) 20:30, 1 December 2011 (UTC)

Original research
I have removed a great chunk of biblical analysis, unreferenced to any secondary source. This is Original research and not appropriate. I have left the accounts of various religious describing their experiences as these are sourced either here or in their own articles. If someone wants to do a trawl through the works of the major Christian writers and create a description according to them, this would be an excellent addition to the article - I don't have any of the books but I'm sure A. W. Tozer, John Wimber et al have some good stuff to say about it. --Elen of the Roads (talk) 22:15, 25 August 2012 (UTC)

Is this article about the second of two books which comment on the poem, or the poem?
The poem is 40 lines long. If this is an article about the poem, then it should not be italicized. The poem is reproduced completely in Ascent of Mount Carmel, but not in this article.

The article says the second commentary is called The Dark Night, but the external links link to a long commentary called Dark Night of the Soul, which is a sequel to Ascent of Mount Carmel.

If a poem and a book share a title, that needs to be more clear in the article. Which is this article about?

Clarity anyone? SchreiberBike &#124; ⌨ 05:52, 13 October 2021 (UTC)