Through the Dark Night: Spiritual Renewal in Times of Crisis Last call to apply for a powerful online course!

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization officially declared COVID-19 a global pandemic. The world was plunged into a huge unknown. Throughout, the experience was marked by impasse, frustration, disorientation, loss of control and a lost sense of security. For so many, the pleasures of life seemed to have dried up as social distancing became the norm. And yet, paradoxically, during this time of deprivation, some discovered a way through by acts of letting go: head-knowing yielded to heart knowing, demands for certainty gave way to trusting, and grips on expectations loosened. Such human responses are characteristic of the transformative suffering of "Dark Night".

The phrase noche oscura or "Dark Night" was originally coined by the Catholic Spanish priest-monk John of the Cross and is situated within the landscape of mystical spirituality. The focus of Dark Night spirituality is the relationship between the lover and the Beloved (John's word for the Divine), whose nature is indwelling and immediate yet hidden-Unknown. The nature of this relationship is a "dark night" - it develops and deepens through transition and suffering: personal vulnerability becoming the gateway to increasing self-knowledge, allowing for ego-centred desires to give way to virtuous living and loving. The Beloved's agency in this process of purification is likened to the fire that assails the log, burning away (purging) of all that which holds a person back from the freedom to love self, others and the Beloved, preparing the individual for loving union.

It was John's unique contribution to mysticism to have identified the phases of transition within the spiritual life as that of transformative suffering (purification). He names these the Dark Night of Sense and Dark Night of Spirit.

The purpose of the Dark Night of Sense is to transform motivation. This is accomplished through an intentional disabling of the pleasure principle as a motivation for relating, and the personal surrender of self-serving behaviours. The principal suffering in the Night of Sense is the feeling of dryness or emptiness-a drying up of the felt pleasures in life.

The purpose of the Dark Night of Spirit is to transform ways of understanding (purification of intellect), relating (purification of memory), and loving (purification of will). This is accomplished through an intentional disabling of the intellect and the chosen responses of the theological virtues: freely choosing to step out into the Unknown, guided not by what is known but by what may be made known/revealed (virtue of faith); freely choosing to relate to the Unknown by entrusting oneself (virtue of hope) and freely choosing to love, care or serve without condition or expectation (virtue of love). The principal suffering of Dark Night of Spirit is intellectual impenetrability/impasse; loss of meaning/coherence in life, shaken or lost beliefs, loss of images of self, others and or the Beloved; and of loss of personal gratification.

"Transformative Spiritual Suffering: The Dark Night of the Soul" is a short online course focused on depth aspects of the spiritual life-self-reflection is foundational to all learning. Modules will include private reflection time, break out rooms, and large group discussion. The ineffable nature of Dark Night also invites creative teaching and learning modalities, hence the power of images, music, and spiritual practices will be employed. Theological training is not a course prerequisite.

Please click here to learn more about this course: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-dark-night-of-the-soul-transformative-spiritual-suffering-tickets-1247060755289?aff=oddtdtcreator&mc_cid=fda76178e0&mc_eid=8682ff9adb

Zinia Pritchard (D.Min), Associate O.P. is a Contemplative Practical Theologian and Dark Night scholar, tracing the contours of transformative spiritual suffering within personal and clinical contexts over two decades. Zinia has presented on the Dark Night at local, provincial, national, and international venues within clinical, public and spiritual formation contexts. A certified spiritual care practitioner, retreat facilitator and Benedictine trained spiritual director, Zinia lectures at St. Stephen's College, at the University of Alberta and serves as Practice Director, Provincial Spiritual Care at Alberta Health Services.