Dark nights may generate powerful spiritual faith

Today writer Peter Neary-Chaplin shares, "I have just finished reading this most beautiful book by Thomas Moore, former monk and now a career psychotherapist in private practice, and am still digesting its deep and human wisdom. He writes lucidly and profoundly about how to find meaning from within the challenges that life presents to us," in his blog entry, "Thomas Moore on Dark Nights of the Soul". His quote from Moore's book includes:

"Nothing could be more precious, then, than a dark night of the soul, the very darkness of which allows your lunar light to shine. It may be painful, discouraging, and challenging, but it is nevertheless an important revelation of what your life is about. In that darkness you see things you couldn't see in the daylight. Skills and powers of soul emerge from your frustration and ignorance. The seeds of spiritual faith, perhaps your only recourse but certainly a valuable power, are found in your darkness. The other half of who you are comes into view, and through the dark night you are completed."

Neary-Chaplin summarizes, "We cannot avoid suffering but we can try to transform it into something healing and humane."

Visual art inspires contemplation and writing

Journeying Beyond Breast Cancer uses Thomas Moore's book, Dark Nights of the Soul as a springboard for an ekphrasis exercise with an image titled Shadows. Read quotes from Moore's work while contemplating an image that incorporates the light and the dark.

Sift your soul's dark night for its alchemical gold

Read how one person uses Thomas Moore's book Dark Nights of the Soul to help her through her own dark stretches and to reconnect through the events of others: "When Darkness Emerges" on the blog Quantum Liminality. Kristin sprinkles quotes from the book through her description of a difficult time starting in March 2011. She chronicles the widening circle from her personal concerns to a friend attempting suicide to events of the world.

She writes, "I can't remember the last time a book had such an impact on how I viewed life's changes, obstacles, and dark nights. I like how he speaks of spirituality; not preaching organized religion. I like how he makes me think." She includes Moore's view:

"Religion, too often avoids the dark by hiding behind platitudes and false assurances. Nothing is more irrelevant than feeble religious piousness in the face of stark, life-threatening darkness."

In Dark Nights of the Soul Moore also writes:

"A dark night may appear paradoxically, as a way to return to living. You don't choose a dark night for yourself. It is given to you. Your job is to get close to it and sift it for its gold."

Let the process happen in the soul's dark night

John Moriarty

Exploration of Thomas Moore's book Dark Nights of the Soul continues today in the post "Gifts of the Dark Night" on the Musings from the Moment blog. Debby opens her post with a quote by John Moriarty, a late friend of Thomas Moore and she includes an echoing quote from Moore's own book that ends: "The most difficult challenge is to let the process take place, and yet that is the only release from the pressure of the dark night." A 1 December 2011 post on this blog, "Hekate" also refers to Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul.

Hekate helps reader through her dark night

Today Debby at Musing from the Moment blogs about Thomas Moore’s book, Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding your Way through Life’s Ordeals in her post "Hekate". She shares how it feels to be “touched by the sacred” and how she gains sustenance from Moore’s story about this goddess whom James Hillman describes as a dark angel.

Be a compassionate catalyst during dark times

Today Dream Catalyst offers "Let Go and Let God" as a way to experience a dark night of the soul. Singapore's Bernadette Chua blogs about discipline and delight helping her through dark times. She quotes Thomas Moore's book, Dark Nights of the Soul: "Maybe your dark night is a gestation, a coming into being of a level of existence you have never dreamed of. Maybe your dark night is one big ironical challenge, just the opposite of what it appears to be - not a dying, but a birthing."

Chua follows this quote with her own response:

"We know this is great. We want it. Yet we find ourselves stuck in the same repeating patterns till a time comes when we can let go and truly let God. The question is how to do this?

The letter 'D' comes to mind. It is the letter that transforms go to God. Discipline and delight are two qualities that helped me to be able to let go and let God. Perhaps it would be useful for those of you who are going through a dark night right now.

She recommends supporting others with compassion: "Be a compassionate catalyst."

Novelist reviews Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul

Branka Cubrilo's review of Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way through Life's Ordeals by Thomas Moore summarizes the approach in this book about melancholia and difficult times while introducing some of the people Moore references:

"Throughout the book the author speaks from his personal life experiences, he skillfully uses stories from literature, mythology and art to present the reader with the ever-present theme throughout the history of mankind – the struggle with dark nights of the soul in order to grow emotionally, mentally and eventually spiritually. Throughout the entire book, Moore uses beautiful parables, metaphors and archetypes which make it easy to find mementos of one’s own life and identify with them. He evokes some of the important figures of the dark night of the soul, like poets Rainer Maria Rilke, Emily Dickinson, Anne Sexton, Wallace Stevens, authors Oscar Wilde, the Marquis de Sade, Samuel Beckett and painter Frida Kahlo. The author includes examples of distressing films and mysteries, even the stories by Zen teachers and Sufi masters as allies during the period of dark nights."

Cubrilo associates Moore's descriptions of psychics and astrologers with New Age pop psychology and regards these as less serious topics "in some parts in direct opposition to what he was brilliantly portraying earlier through the concepts of Greek mythology and the rich Christian tradition." Cubrilo is a novelist, short story writer and a journalist.

Sift your dark nights of the soul for hidden gold

In her recent post, "Journeying from darkness to light", Irish blogger Marie Ennis-O’Connor shares helpful quotes from Thomas Moore's book, Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life's Ordeals (2004) as she deals with her experience of breast cancer. More than 20 comments suggest others, too find this book valuable while going through dark times. Readers appreciate Moore's observation about a dark night:

"It pushes you to the edge of what is familiar and reliable, stretching your imagination about how life works and who or what controls it all."

Amazon.com offers an excerpt from Moore's Introduction that includes:

"Many people think that the point in life is to solve their problems and be happy. But happiness is usually a fleeting sensation, and you never get rid of problems. Your purpose in life may be to become more who you are and more engaged with the people and the life around you, to really live your life. That may sound obvious, yet many people spend their time avoiding life. They are afraid to let it flow through them, and so their vitality gets channeled into ambitions, addictions, and preoccupations that don’t give them anything worth having. A dark night may appear, paradoxically, as a way to return to living. It pares life down to its essentials and helps you get a new start.

Here I want to explore positive contributions of your dark nights, painful though they may be. I don’t want to romanticize them or deny their dangers. I don’t even want to suggest that you can always get through them. But I do see them as opportunities to be transformed from within, in ways you could never imagine. A dark night is like Dante getting sleepy, wandering from his path, mindlessly slipping into a cave. It is like Alice looking at the mirror and then going through it. It is like Odysseus being tossed by stormy waves and Tristan adrift without an oar. You don’t choose a dark night for yourself. It is given to you. Your job is to get close to it and sift it for its gold."

Dark nights of the soul are meaningful events

Today "Curious" in Atlanta, Georgia writes about Thomas Moore's book, Dark Nights of the Soul for the Empathy Community. She includes, "just wanted to share my notes ..." however it is difficult to separate her responses from Moore's actual text. One direct quote should be Moore's distinction, "Depression is a label and a syndrome, while a dark night is a meaningful event. Depression is a psychological sickness; a dark night is a spiritual event."

Moore also writes, "Many people think that the point in life is to solve their problems and be happy. But happiness is usually a fleeting sensation, and you never get rid of problems. Your purpose in life may be to become more who you are and more engaged with the people and the life around you, to really live your life. This may sound obvious, yet many people spend their time avoiding life. A dark night may appear, paradoxically, as a way to return to living. It pares life down to its essentials and helps you get a new start." Unfortunately, "Curious" doesn't indicate Moore's words in quotation marks.

Her last reference is from page 117. Moore writes, "Perhaps the dark night comes upon you from inside to wake you up, to stir you and to steer you toward a new life. I believe this is the message of most religions, and certainly the gist of Christianity and Buddhism. Your dark night may be a bardo, a period of apparent lifelessness that precedes a new birth of meaning. Maybe your dark night is a gestation, a coming into being of a level of existence you have never dreamed of. Maybe your dark night is one big ironical challenge, just the opposite of what it appears to be – not a dying, but a birthing."

April Fool's Day: Appreciate a reverence for wit

Dan Riley writes about Thomas More and Thomas Moore in his post yesterday, "Holy April Fool's Day":

"Thomas More took his religion so seriously that he got his head chopped off for it. But even before losing his head to the Head of the Church of England, More was engaged in some pretty grim religious practices. He not only oversaw the burning of religious heretics at the stake, but he often wore painful hair shirts and routinely excused himself from the family dinner table to go off and whip himself — all in an effort to prove his worthiness before God. More’s piety earned him Catholic sainthood and a lofty secular reputation as "a man for all seasons" on stage and in film.

More’s namesake, former Catholic monk himself and practicing therapist Thomas Moore is probably not a good candidate for sainthood in the Catholic church, but he does have the essential quality for sainthood in The Church of Dan, that being a reverence for wit."

Following his quotes from Thomas Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul, Riley writes, "The greatest irony of all is that once we accept the humor in our human condition, we actually attain salvation through the humility, charity and courage that follow. We become humble through the act of laughing at ourselves. We become charitable through the act of cutting slack for others as comical as ourselves. We become courageous by accepting life on its own terms with death as its ultimate, inescapable punchline."

Ripley enjoys the works of Norman O. Brown and quotes Love's Body: "This is my body. Mistake, or magic, or madness; or child’s play. This is a house and this is a steeple... Wisdom is wit; in play, not in work; in freedom, not in necessity... Wisdom is wit, in fooling, most excellent fooling; in play, and not in heavy puritanical seriousness. In levity, not in gravity. My yoke is easy, my burden is light."

He concludes, "So our message this high holy season is this: Lighten up, everybody. In the end, we’re all April Fools here."

Grief forces us to open to new possibilities

Today SGF writes about the night sea journey in his post, "Spirituality of the Deep!" in which he quotes Thomas Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul: "The dark night serves the spirit by forcing you to rely on something beyond human capacity. It can open you up to new and mysterious possibilities." SGF shares a recent dream and his feelings: "It is a lonely journey. In therapy, my therapist has listened and supported me. She has pointed out that year two in dealing with the loss of a spouse can be the most challenging and I would have to say I agree. The support falls away and you are left alone to navigate this undulating sea. I understand that!" He shares favourite music clips in this entry.

Imagine your night sea journey constructively

Alison Blaine writes about "The Night Sea Journey" for world history and religion teachers. Her post includes a quote by Carl Jung and she references Thomas Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul, including Moore's suggestion:

"Imagine that your dark mood, or the external source of your suffering, is a large, living container in which you are held captive. But this container is moving, getting somewhere, taking you to where you need to go. You may not like the situation you're in, but it would help if you imagined it constructively."

The post concludes, "I like Moore's explanation for potential use in the classroom because it is relatable and lends authority to the point that sacred histories reflect the human psyche and can be read symbolically, not just literally."

Author finds guidance in books and Sufi poetry

Are you in the middle of a dark night of the soul? If so, you may find solace in Michael Lister's post today, Dark Night of the Soul in which he writes about Thomas Moore's book, Dark Nights of the Soul and quotes the Sufi poet, Hafiz:

"Don't
Surrender
Your loneliness so quickly.
Let it cut more
Deep."

Lister includes:

"Hafiz words heal and inspire, but no one’s words have done more for me, have resonated more in me, that those of Thomas Moore.

Though he’s best known for, Care of the Soul, and I’ve benefited greatly from all his books, the two titles of his I find myself returning to most often are, The Re-enchantment of Everyday Life and Dark Nights of the Soul — the latter especially helpful in recent dark days.

A mentor and counselor to me in more ways than I can begin to express, Moore was a Catholic monk for twelve years and later became a psychotherapist, earning degrees in theology, musicology, and religion. His many books are at once accessible and abstruse."

Read Lister's entire post for his understanding of Moore's contributions to imagining human maturation.

Awaken to a spirituality that values diversity

Under "Holistic Spirituality" today on the Whole Spectrum Healing Blog, Catherine Campbell writes, "One of the positive things happening in today’s world is a groundswell in grassroots spirituality. A spirituality that is neither competitive nor claiming to be the 'right way': a spirituality that is characterised by an inner experiencing of the sacred and a willingness to do personal transformative work: a spirituality that embraces and values a diversity of paths, whilst honoring the universal." As she considers the role of religion in this opening spirituality, Campbell quotes Thomas Moore’s Dark Nights of the Soul and includes Moore’s suggestion:

"Maybe your dark night is a gestation, a coming into being of a level of existence you have never dreamed of. Maybe your dark night is one big ironical challenge, just the opposite of what it appears to be — not a dying, but a birthing."

Campbell observes, "First thoughts revolve around two commonly misused phrases, 'awakening the spirit' and 'how to be spiritual'. One simply cannot awaken what is a priori; neither can one be anything other than what one already is – Spirit in human form. What we can do is awaken TO Spirit, then act in ways that allow us to BE, as one of my professors was fond of saying, 'alive and awake to being alive and awake,' as good a definition as any of what 'being spiritual' means. Journalist and man of faith Bill Moyers wrote, 'Any journalist worth his or her salt knows the real story today is to define what it means to be spiritual. This is the biggest story — not only of the decade but of the century.' Today, more than ever, the human world requires such an inquiry, burdened as it is with anxieties, fears, violence, and an overall soul-sadness. And the natural world, inseparable from the human, is deeply, loudly pleading with us to move ever more intentionally into this soul work of waking to the Spirit that lives in and behind every thing.”

Thomas Moore's book lights the dark nights

Jess writes about reading Thomas Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul: A Guide to Finding Your Way Through Life’s Ordeals in her blog entry "With No Other Light or Guide than the One That Burned in my Heart" on the blog, A 40-Something Fool's Journey. She shares:

"My name is Jess, and I am a food addict. I have closed my eyes in the darkness before, using the drug of food to avoid the fear and pain and suffering. I have caused myself more fear and pain and suffering being unwilling to face the things I fear most. And as they hide in the recesses of my self, rarely jumping out at me (because they are part of my fear-driven self, unwilling to face the potential eternal flame that guides my way), I do not confront them – either gently or with courage."

Earlier in the blog post, Jess suggests, "The introduction to St. John of the Cross’s poem and its subsequent analysis by Mirabai Starr years ago gave me the understanding I needed when I reached Dr. Viktor Frankl’s book. With logotherapy in hand, I was able to finally approach Dr. Thomas Moore’s book with an open mind; because of Mirabai Starr’s book, I recognized the name and that alone drew me to pull it from the library shelf so I could read it. And, today, I am finding that to walk through the darkness with no more than the light inside myself to guide me is about the most compassionate thing I can do for myself. I am the person who was given the least compassion in my own life. I am the person who was made to suffer the most. I get why I worry I cannot love, because I have not shown love to the one person I cannot walk away from – myself."

Reviewer in Australia recommends Dark Nights

Mary Emeleus reviews Thomas Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul on 8 June 2010 for Eremos, Exploring Spirituality in Australia.

Emeleus writes, "I am a medically trained psychotherapist, and I often feel disillusioned by the medicalisation of life’s difficulties in our culture. The balance between illness of the body and illness of the soul is hard to define and I find Moore gives me some alternative ways of thinking. This book does not deny the existence of illnesses such as depression and anxiety, but it raises the possibility that these are life experiences which contain meaning and need to be thought about in order to find the way through. He provides a framework for that thinking process which would be acceptable to people of all faiths, and of no faith. I imagine it is not everybody’s cup of tea, but it made so much sense to me that I am unable to find anything I would have liked changed."

She mentions sources for Moore's confidence as a therapist and includes, "Indeed, he brings ideas to life through experience, thought and writing from people as diverse as the figures of Greek and Roman mythology and characters from religious texts and teachings; Dickens, Freud and Bonhoeffer; Sylvia Plath, Oscar Wilde and Emily Dickinson. He encourages us to notice and learn from the mythology around us, in film and television, in novels and paintings, and in the daily events of our culture."

At the end of her review, Emeleus states, "I discovered Thomas Moore had put into words so many things I had sensed but not been able to articulate."

Baptist minister reads Dark Nights of the Soul

On his blog, Last Stop for Miles, Miles Catlett reviews Dark Nights of the Soul by Thomas Moore. He writes, "I'm amazed at the depth of this man’s spiritual journey and his clear and concise writing style." When describing Moore's approach, Catlett highlights:

"The images and practices he suggests are meant to help you let go and come to grips with the dark side of your own personality and experience, not bring you to a place of healing in the conventional sense of the word. This makes the book very profound and unlike most of the literature I’ve read that deals with this kind of topic."

The reviewer states, "Overall, I think this is a wonderful read, and you can find incredible depth on every page." Catlett is Associate Minister for youth and missions at First Baptist Church in Mocksville, North Carolina.

Saturine anguish may give gifts to life's meaning

Avatar Arts offers a post by Neve, "Melancholy is Meaningful", that quotes Thomas Moore's Dark Nights of the Soul about being "in Saturn":

"You do a disservice to yourself when you treat your feelings of despair and emptiness as deviations from the normal and healthy life you idealize. The dark times too, like enlightenments leave their mark and make you a person of insight and compassion."

After describing a two-day period of feeling down, Neve offers five ways to invite the Saturnine spirit, rather than trying to ignore it. Her second suggestion is to read melancholic poems, quoting Emily Dickinson, one of Moore's favourite poets: "For each ecstatic instant we must an anguish pay in keen and quivering ratio to the ecstasy."

Avatar Arts wants "to combine art and spirituality to inspire and empower others to live a more conscious, creative, and luminous life every day."

Health and death may lead to transformation

On the Sea of Sincerity blog, in a post "Dark Nights of the Soul", a blogger describes her diagnosis of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis before writing that she is reading Thomas Moore's book, Dark Nights of the Soul. Sharing that she is also grieving a family death, the blogger ends her post, "I feel raw as though I am "peeling" or "molting" or in the belly of the whale. I hope I can, like Jonah, be patient and prayerful as I go through this process."

She includes the following from Moore's book:

"A dark night of the soul is not extraordinary or rare. It is a natural part of life, and you can gain as much from it as from times of normalcy."

"I see the dark night of the soul as a period of transformation."

Embrace the dark night as a teacher and friend

The blog, Personal Growth with Corinne Edwards, includes a reader's praise for Thomas Moore's writing. Here's the exchange (in modified format):

Lily Rose July 3, 2009 at 11:22 am

[snip]
To each his own and my taste is for the wonderful Thomas Moore – who does NOT have all the answers. I suggest you do something with him. I have met him and I know you have interviewed him. He has a gentle way of accepting and embracing both the dark side and the light side. His book Dark Nights of the Soul has a permanent residence on my night stand. This guy doesn’t do "Happy Talk" or give out that re-hash "The Secret"... he says life has both sides and the dark is there as a teacher and how about embracing it. And he doesn’t have "7 Reasons /Steps" why you should buy his book!!!! Life has a hard side and he doesn’t abandon it. He suggests we embrace it. The dark side has been my great teacher and I don’t run from it any longer. I just pick up that book and really see the beauty in my pain. Then magically – it becomes my friend – and then after a time goes away!!! We really don’t "live happily ever after". Moore’s book should be taught to every kid over the age of reason. And we need to permanently erase the word "victim" and insert "student"!!

I studied Kaballah for a few years and I once asked my rabbi — "Why are we here?" — and he said "To get better".

Corinne July 3, 2009 at 11:39 am

Dear Lily Rose,
I loved this — I studied Kaballah for a few years and I once asked my rabbi — "Why are we here?" — and he said "To get better". I guess that says it all.

Thomas Moore did not give too many interviews. He is essentially a shy person. I was very complimented when he came back to me after each one of his books. He told me I made him feel comfortable. He is truly a holy man — and so honest. Originally, as you know he was a monk — and then left to marry and have children. I once asked him if he was eccentric and he said, "Yes." How great is that? No pretenses at all. I love that man.