How can there be pain and suffering when there is an all-powerful and all-good God? Is there a reason for our pain and suffering? These are two very important questions that all Christians should be asking themselves. Not only do we encounter physical suffering, but we encounter mental and emotional suffering as well. We can even experience spiritual suffering. Saint John of the Cross explains a certain kind of spiritual suffering as, what he calls, a dark night of the soul. A dark night of the soul is an experience with extreme spiritual desolation. It is a type of spiritual trial that some say only those who have an extreme maturity in the spiritual life will experience. Take Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and Saint John of the Cross as examples of saints who experienced this intense darkness. Though it may be true that only those who are extremely spiritually mature undergo a true “dark night of the soul,” for the sake of this post, it will be discussed as a term that all may experience to a certain degree. Dark nights can cause a kind of inner, spiritual distress, which can appear to be very similar to depression.
The dark night of the soul is a very real experience of the perceived absence of God. He hides His face, and what once used to stir one’s heart will no longer have an effect. God’s intentional hiding is meant to purify the one undergoing this painful trial. When experiencing a dark night, one will encounter “purgative contemplation, in which God specifically darkens a person’s will, intellect, and senses in order to test the authenticity of one’s love for God” (Jeannie Ewing “St. John of the Cross & The Dark Night”). This can cause all kinds of doubts, and it can also bring about inner despair and spiritual anguish. According to Saint John of the Cross, the dark night of the soul purifies in two ways – one of an external result, and the other an internal result.
An external stripping of the physical frills of the faith teaches one to detach from earthly things. “Liturgical practices, sacramental symbols, aids to prayer, books on personal fulfillment, private devotional exercises – all of these become as mere ashes in our hands” (Richard J. Foster, “Find the Heart’s True Home” (21)). This external purgation is also called a “night of the senses.” “While God communicates His light and love, the soul, imperfect as it is, is incapable of receiving them, and experiences them as darkness, pain, dryness, and emptiness” (Brian Kolodiejchuk, Mother Teresa – “Come Be My Light” (22)).
The inner stripping, also called the “night of the spirit,” is perhaps the more painful of the two purgations. This causes one to experience desolation in their interior life and prayer. They undergo a sense of complete rejection and abandonment by God. This may also cause doubt about personal motivation. One will begin to wonder whether an “act or that thought is inspired by fear, vanity, and arrogance rather than faith, hope, and love” (Foster). Something especially trying about the dark night of the spirit is that even though one seeks only love for and from God, they may be unable to recognize this love (either for God or from God). Prayer becomes extremely difficult, impossible almost, but “by means of this painful purification, the disciple is lead to total detachment from all created things and to a lofty degree of union with Christ, becoming a fit instrument in his hands and serving him purely and disinterestedly” (Kolodiejchuk). A dark night is truly a loss of all pleasure in the things of God.
Depression, on the other hand, is a mental health disorder characterized by persistently depressed mood or loss of interest in activities, causing significant impairment in daily life. Chemical imbalances in the brain that control mood or stress levels are a major cause of depression. According to the NIH, experiencing some of the following symptoms for at least two weeks can be a sign of depression:
- Persistent sad, anxious, or “empty” mood
- Feelings of hopelessness, or pessimism
- Irritability
- Feelings of guilt, worthlessness, or helplessness
- Loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies and activities
- Decreased energy or fatigue
- Moving or talking more slowly
- Feeling restless or having trouble sitting still
- Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or making decisions
- Difficulty sleeping, early-morning awakening, or oversleeping
- Appetite and/or weight changes
- Thoughts of death or suicide, or suicide attempts
- Aches or pains, headaches, cramps, or digestive problems without a clear physical cause and/or that do not ease even with treatment
A dark night of the soul and depression can become extremely hard to tell apart, as they can both be experienced together. That being said, a dark night and depression are fundamentally very different. Kevin Culligen wrote a chapter in the book Carmelite Spirituality, in which he states that “in the dark night of spirit, there is painful awareness of one’s own incompleteness and imperfection in relation to God; however, one seldom utters morbid statements of abnormal guilt, self-loathing, worthlessness, and suicidal ideation that accompany serious depressive episodes.” Culligan also mentions how depression affects relationships, while a dark night does not. You sometimes can tell a depressed person by looking at or talking to them. It is much more difficult to detect a person undergoing a dark night of the soul. And while a dark night may cause inner despair and grief, it does not produce physical symptoms, as depression may. Depression, as explained by psychologist Paula Bloom, is “persistently not being able to put the existential realities aside to live and enjoy life, engage those around us or take care of ourselves…” A dark night does not cause this paralyzed state of mind in regards to life. Emily Stimpson states this well – “while depression weighs down both body and soul, eventually rendering those who suffer from it unable to go about the normal business of their life, throughout the dark night, the spirit stays strong, and those suffering through it can perform great works of charity and service.”
If one has been diagnosed with clinical depression, and the Lord has also decided to hide Himself spiritually from that person, how do you tell the distinction between the two? While a dark night typically enables one to still be energized in their faith, the depressive aspect will remove this from them. It seems that the lines become very blurred when this happens. And although a dark night of the soul typically wouldn’t be the cause of depression, if one is already prone to depression it may become a contributing factor to a depressive state.
This makes it even more important to have a full understanding of both of these types of sufferings. This can enable a person who may be experiencing both why they are feeling the way that they are – both spiritually and physically. This is a very extreme type of darkness and suffering. Yet God enables His children to bring light even out of the darkest places. As Pope Saint John Paul II states in his book Salvifici Doloris, God the Father in Christ Jesus is “the duality of a single personal subject of redemptive suffering” in which God took human suffering upon Himself, while at the same time enabling the human person to engage in redemptive suffering through the humanity of Jesus. Therefore, we know that God has brought Himself into suffering, meaning that He is with us even in our darkest hours.
