Many years ago we used to retreat to our own on a regular basis. Whenever we felt ill – physically or emotionally – we used to retreat to quite places, where we could “re-gain our energy”. Some cultures still maintain this “strategy”, some going to the point of forcing community members into taking quite times by themselves when times are rough.
Communities (and then societies) used to support, and foster, their members into this somehow spiritual practice. You may find that many communities now offer retreat times in silence for their members, as a service.
The ones in silence were supported by the others physically, emotionally, as well as spiritually. They, like all other members in-their-turn in silence, were respected. And their re-definition cared for, nurtured.
It was like the caterpillar’s metamorphosis, like getting birth from their own ashes. Only this time, re-born. Re-new-ed. Re-endowed. People knew it was part of their re-generation, of their growth and development on Earth.
We stopped. This re-newing, natural, experience was taken away from people. They accumulated too much clutter, too much frustration, too much old stuff on the way. They didn’t get to leave their baggage by the door when they entered. They just carried it through different experiences that should have been better off without that baggage. And then, the dark night of the soul came. It was like you couldn’t go anymore. Everything was too heavy. And there is no door. The “heavy” was so heavy.
You “were forced” to stop. It was not your elders this time, it was Life, The Universe. It was God. And so the dark night of the soul starts. By putting down all your “carries”, you’ll come out re-born. You will not die.
Take your “dark night of the soul” now. Take it every month. It will allow you to be nurtured by your soul in your daily life. Make it natural, let you be re-born. And enjoy life from the creating, loving power of your soul.
