Navigating the Dark Night of the Soul: A Guide Through Difficult Passages

There are moments when life brings us to our knees in ways we never anticipated.

For me, it came on an ordinary evening - one of those nights when nothing dramatic was happening, yet everything inside me felt like it was silently collapsing. I remember standing in my kitchen, staring at a cup of tea I had no appetite for, feeling utterly emptied out. The things that once lit my spirit had dimmed. The practices that used to anchor me felt like hollow rituals. Even the Creator God I thought I knew had gone strangely quiet.

It wasn’t depression. It wasn’t a crisis in the traditional sense. It was that deeper, quieter unraveling - the kind that leaves you staring at your own reflection, unsure of who you’ve become or who you’re becoming.

It was my first true encounter with what mystics call the Dark Night of the Soul.

And if you’re reading this because something in you whispers, I think I might be in it too, then let me say this clearly: you are not alone, and you are not breaking. You are being stripped down to your truth.

What is the Dark Night of the Soul?

Originating in the writings of the 16th-century mystic St. John of the Cross, the Dark Night is described as a spiritual trial - a time when the soul is meant to walk through the unknown without the reassurance and guidance of light.

But beyond its historical roots, many today understand it simply as a deep inner passage: a season where everything external falls silent, and we are left facing ourselves without the numbing, distractions, or narratives we once relied on.

It is the winter of the soul - barren, cold, unsettling, yet carrying the quiet promise of renewal under its surface.

Why We Experience It

The Dark Night is not punishment. It is not evidence that you’ve done something wrong or failed spiritually.

If anything, it’s the opposite.

It arrives when our soul is ready to outgrow an old way of being - when the life we’ve been living no longer fits, even if we’ve spent years clinging to it.

Grief, heartbreak, betrayal, illness, spiritual disillusionment, or the subtle knowing that “this isn’t who I am anymore” - all can lead us into this threshold.

The Dark Night is the dismantling that clears way for truth.

How to Navigate the Passage

1. Allow the Darkness

Don’t rush to “fix” yourself. Don’t force the light. Allow the questions, the discomfort, the grief, the frustration to unfold in their own time. The darkness doesn’t come to punish- it comes to reveal.

2. Seek Stillness

Stillness becomes a compass when everything else feels directionless.

Rest. Breathe. Sit with yourself without demanding answers or solutions.

Silence may feel harsh at first, but eventually it becomes your greatest teacher.

3. Trust the Process

Even when you feel stuck or hollow, something sacred is happening beneath the surface.

No night lasts forever. No winter fails to give way to spring.

4. Lean Into Community

Though the Dark Night is an inner journey, you don’t have to endure it alone.

A trusted friend, mentor, spiritual guide, or therapist can hold a small flame for you when your own feels faint.

5. Remember What Emerges After

Those who walk through a Dark Night often emerge softer, stronger, clearer, and more awake. You will not come out as the person you were- you will come out as the person you were meant to be.

If you are in a Dark Night of the Soul, know this:

You are not lost. You are not unfinished. You are being remade.

The darkness you’re walking through isn’t the absence of light—it’s the preparation for it. Your soul is shedding what cannot come with you into the next chapter.

This is not your undoing.

This is your becoming.