The Dark Night Of The Soul by Gerald G Md May

The Dark Night Of The Soul by Gerald G Md May

Gerald G. May, M.D., one of the great spiritual teachers and writers of our time, argues that the dark "shadow" side of the true spiritual life has been trivialized and neglected to our serious detriment. Superficial and naively upbeat spirituality does not heal and enrich the soul. Nor does the other tendency to relegate deep spiritual growth to only mystics and saints. Only the honest, sometimes difficult encounters with what Christian spirituality has called and described in helpful detail as "the dark night of the soul" can lead to true spiritual wholeness. He emphasizes that the dark night is not necessarily a time of suffering and near despair, but a time of deep transition, search for new orientation when things are clouded and full of mystery. May draws on the resources of great Christian spiritual teaching and writing on the Dark Night, especially by Sts. John of the Cross and Teresa of Avila, and on other spiritual traditions, psychiatric ideas and writing, and on great poetry and other literature.

The Dark Night of the Soul embraces the universal spiritual experience of disorientation, doubt, fear, emptiness, "dryness," and despair all of which are ingredients in developing a mature, authentic spiritual life.

Gerald G.May, MD (1940-2005) was a senior fellow in contemplative theology and psychology at the Shalem Center for Spiritual Development in Bethesda, Maryland, where he practiced medicine and psychiatry for twenty-five years. Addiction with Grace, Care of Mind/Care of Spirit, Will and Spirit, and The Dark Night of the Soul were among his many publications and essays mixing spirituality and psychology.