{"quotes":[{"text":"There is a season for everything under the sun—even when we can’t see the sun.","author":"Jared Brock","tags":["dark-night-of-the-soul","darkness","depression","meaning","perseverance","purpose","reason","seasons","seasons-of-life","solomon"],"id":226,"author_id":"Jared+Brock"},{"text":"Do you dare to step in-to the vulnerable black, stripped to the soul with human blindness – when the full and weeping moon steps from the shade of a tumult of mountains – when, in the fragrant dim, day's tree stump transformsinto some nether-worldly other – when time's skin is thin and you arebared – when there is nothing between you and the Wildest Onewhose name is your own?","author":"Beth Morey","tags":["dark-night-of-the-soul","divine-feminine","doubt","faith","god","mystic","poetry","spirituality-of-imperfection","wild"],"id":130494,"author_id":"Beth+Morey"},{"text":"If we never experience the chill of a dark winter, it is very unlikely that we will ever cherish the warmth of a bright summer’s day. Nothing stimulates our appetite for the simple joys of life more than the starvation caused by sadness or desperation. In order to complete our amazing life journey successfully, it is vital that we turn each and every dark tear into a pearl of wisdom, and find the blessing in every curse.","author":"Anthon St. Maarten","tags":["appreciation","blessing","blessings","blessings-in-disguise","curse","dark-night-of-the-soul","desperation","dualism","duality","gratitude","happiness","joy","life-journey","life-lessons","light-and-darkness","pearls","sadness","tears","wisdom","yin-and-yang"],"id":135835,"author_id":"Anthon+St.+Maarten"},{"text":"One thing is certain, whatever choices we make: we will not miss out on some critical purgation by seeking treatment for depression or any other form of physical suffering. If we are ripe for what the dark night brings, God will find a way to bring the process to fruition no matter how hard we try to avoid it.","author":"Tim Farrington","tags":["dark-night-of-the-soul","depression","memoir","spirituality"],"id":179044,"author_id":"Tim+Farrington"},{"text":"Enlightenment arrives like a thief in the middle of the dark night of the soul.","author":"Stefan Emunds","tags":["dark-night-of-the-soul","dark-night-of-the-soul","enlightenment","enlightenment","soul","soul-searching","spiritual","spirituality"],"id":195237,"author_id":"Stefan+Emunds"},{"text":"Enlightenment arrives like a thief in the middle of the dark night of the soul.","author":"Stefan Emunds","tags":["dark-night-of-the-soul","dark-night-of-the-soul","enlightenment","enlightenment","soul","soul-searching","spiritual","spirituality"],"id":195237,"author_id":"Stefan+Emunds"},{"text":"There is another reason also why the soul has traveled safely in this obscurity; it has suffered: for the way of suffering is safer, and also more profitable, than that of rejoicing and of action. In suffering God gives strength, but in action and in joy the soul does but show its own weakness and imperfections. And in suffering, the soul practices and acquires virtue, and becomes pure, wiser, and more cautious.","author":"San Juan de la Cruz","tags":["catholicism","christianity","dark-night","dark-night-of-the-soul","god","jesus","religion-spirituality","saint-john-of-the-cross","saints","spiritual-reading"],"id":207498,"author_id":"San+Juan+de+la+Cruz"},{"text":"Some of these beginners, too, make little of their faults, and at other times become over-sad when they see themselves fall into them, thinking themselves to have been saints already; and thus they become angry and impatient with themselves, which is another imperfection. Often they beseech God, with great yearnings, that He will take from them their imperfections and faults, but they do this that they may find themselves at peace, and may not be troubled by them, rather than for God's sake; not realizing that, if He should take their imperfections from them, they would probably become prouder and more presumptuous still. They dislike praising others and love to be praised themselves; sometimes they seek out such praise. Herein they are like the foolish virgins, who, when their lamps could not be lit, sought oil from others.","author":"San Juan de la Cruz","tags":["christianity","dark-night-of-the-soul","pride","sin","spiritual-formation","spiritual-maturity"],"id":231524,"author_id":"San+Juan+de+la+Cruz"},{"text":"You don't need to retire to a cloister or the desert for years on end to experience a true dark night; you don't even have to be pursuing any particular 'spiritual' path. Raising a challenged child, or caring for a failing parent for years on end, is at least as purgative as donning robes and shaving one's head; to endure a mediocre work situation for the sake of the paycheck that sustains a family demands at least as much in the way of daily surrender to years of pristine silence in a monastery. No one can know in advance how and where the night will come, and what form God's darkness will take.","author":"Tim Farrington","tags":["dark-night-of-the-soul","depression","memoir","spirituality"],"id":253729,"author_id":"Tim+Farrington"},{"text":"You necessarily have to be lost, before you’re found.","author":"T. Scott McLeod","tags":["acceptance","buddhism","dark-night-of-the-soul","enlightenment","love","meditation","overcoming-challenges","overcoming-difficulties","peace","personal-journey","struggles","struggling"],"id":268844,"author_id":"T.+Scott+McLeod"}],"pagination":{"page":1,"page_size":10,"total":12,"pages":2,"next":"?page=2\u0026page_size=10"}}