I've written before about a 90-day funk I underwent when I was in my early mid-thirties, during which time nothing in life held any significance whatsoever. All human beings struck me as nothing more than ambulatory shit factories. It was positively Ecclesiastical - "all is vanity and a striving after wind."
http://www.readbibleonline.net/?page_id=28 After three months of this I got bored and lifted myself out, making a conscious decision to live and be happy. The Unity School of Christianity's "Daily Word" affirmative prayers were great for this business of creating my reality. The overall experience made me very open to accepting the validity of experiences such as those described below. It also made sense of those teachings that speak of the superficiality of so much of life. Nonetheless, I continue to take most of life seriously now, particularly as it regards my children. Interestingly, my 13-year-old daughter went through a similar funk last year. I need to talk to her about it, now that she seems to have emerged. For that matter, I'll bet there's a connection between Dark Night experiences and the funk of the middle school years, as the child begins to take on some of the adult's qualities of awareness. --- In [email protected], "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In > [email protected], "tomandcindytraynoratfairfieldlis" > <tomandcindytraynoratfairfieldlist@> wrote: > > > > Judy writes snipped: > > In other words: He's very clear--remarkably clear-- > > that it's not that he's suddenly realized that the > > earth is really nothing but a "congregation of > > vapours," or that other people have no more value > > than dust. He's not passing judgment on the earth > > and human beings, he's saying there's something > > wrong *with him* that he can't take pleasure in > > their magnificence. > > > > TomT: > > The inability to take pleasure from the ever changing > > relative is also another good description of the Dark > > Night of the Soul. > > Yup, that's kinda what I was getting at with the > Macbeth quote. If that's what Hamlet was > experiencing, though, he never made it to the > light. > > I suspect that at least some cases diagnosed and > treated as clinical depression are the function > of a Dark Night experience that's unrecognized as > such by both client and therapist. Goodness only > knows what antidepressant medication does to the > journey through it. > > (No, I'm not pulling a Tom Cruise! Most cases of > clinical depression are just depression, and > antidepressant medication is usually quite > effective and can be lifesaving. But those who > have been on a spiritual path might want to > consider the possibility that they're going > through a Dark Night experience.) > > Nothing in the > > relative does it anymore. NO THING. Stuck between the old mind > > habits of the relative and not quite firmly established in the > > wholeness. > > What MMY calls "Neither here nor there"... > > > > > Tough place to be. > > great read http://www.themystic.org/print/dark-night.htm > > PS Thanks for both quotes Judy. There is a nice piece in Collision > > with the Infinite where Susan Segal surmises that most of > Shakespeare > > was his attempt to live a life without and I or me. Quite well done. >
