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   All religious traditions speak of a journey through a desert to reach the promised land, a descent into darkness while seeking the light. This journey and the descent are within ourselves. The essential aspects of this integral passage in the spiritual life, from Christianity to the Path of the Masters, to Zen, Sufism, or Advaita, is what this book is about. Why it is often darkest just before the dawn, and why things may be going right when they seem terribly wrong, is explored in the words of many spiritual teachers with a depth not often found in popular media. This book will strengthen your faith whatever be your path.


   TESTIMONIALS


   “What an achievement and what a gift to the perennial wisdom. It’s a terrific piece, a great contribution to world spiritual literature. Seriously! Bravo my friend. It deserves publication. Wow!” - Saniel Bonder, Founder of Waking Down in Mutuality and co-founder The Human Sun Institute

“I wanted to send a brief thank you email for the absolutely exceptional work you compiled on the Dark Night of the Soul. It seems that in modern culture, this sacred and reserved phrase is used casually, yet your document thoroughly addresses the true meaning and process. After my very spontaneous awakening experience in the summer of 2010, my jubilated elation was rapidly reconfigured into the true deeper transmutational journey. Essentially, no other reference points I found could even remotely put a dent into accurately characterizing what I was experiencing, whereas your document was a masterful compilation of extraordinarily accurate and nuanced guidance. Only very recently, due to the immensity of my soul's transmutation, am I implemented back into the sunshine on the other side of the metaphoric cobweb dungeons, and feel inclined to say a message of gratitude for how eternally beneficial your article was to me in my most difficult moments of despair.” - Chris Eben

“Your articles are amazing and have been a source of great comfort and knowledge during difficult times, especially the Dark Night of the Soul series, which I have read numerous times over the years. They strengthen my faith greatly. You discuss difficult topics in great detail that few others do. You have been very helpful with your words in regards to accepting and integrating the bigger picture, which I very much appreciate.” - Oann

“This is a thank you note for your website [https://www.mountainrunnerdoc.com/page/page/1420286.htm]. I have read you articles and essays repeatedly over the years. For me, all your pieces are inspirational and very informative and are way beyond the depth heard in temples and any place of worship, and yet reachable in understanding to the ordinary like me. Never anywhere in books or on the internet have I found a collection in context for an aspirant as on your website.” - Narendra Singh

“Your material is absolutely a jewel as you are answering many hard questions that any initiate on the path should be asking. As a comparative researcher myself, I find it is just what I have been looking for. I must say you have seriously done some research and obviously had some spiritual experience with what you speak of.  Thank you.” - Amor Russell, author The Illumined Gospel, Know Thyself.



   A sample of introductory quotes


   “I have no home, I have no father, I have no mother, I have no Guru, I am not a disciple; all is taken from me.” - Buddhist scripture

   “The soul is withering within itself and its inmost parts boiling without any hope.” Job 30:16, 27

   “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?…I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels…My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.” 22nd Psalm, 1,14-15

   “It can’t be concealed when comes the calamity.
   It is a sort of doom that does come ultimately.
   What a great misery love is! It shows its feats at last.
   Who save Thee will come to me in the dark night
   To make my miserable house bright with light.” - Sant Kirpal Singh

   “The silkworm has of necessity to die; and this will cost you the most; for death comes more easily when one can see oneself living a new life, whereas our duty here is to continue living this present life, and yet to die of our own free will.” - St. Teresa of Avila

   "When your grief transcends all bounds, it becomes its own cure." - Ghalib, Urdu poet

   “When the pain increases and becomes unbearable, it goes away forever. This is the law.” - Bhai Sahib

   “In all the Sufi books it is said that after moments of great Nearness the heart is plunged in loneliness and even great depression sometimes.” - Irena Tweedie

   “God says that He is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who have been crushed in spirit.” - Psalm 34:18

   “It is a trying time when the power to meditate, the desire to worship, the urge to pray, the hope of spiritual attainment, and even the feeling of God’s benevolence desert the pilgrim.”

   “The psychological laws governing the inner development of spiritual seekers often seem to operate in most mysterious ways. The very power whose presence he may think has been denied him - Grace - is taking care of him even when he is not conscious of this fact. The more the anguish, at such a time, the more the Higher Self is squeezing the ego. The more he seems to be alone and forsaken, the closer the Higher Self may be drawing him to Itself.”

   "The wine of wisdom is distilled in the grape presses of bitter agony. The best tempered steel comes out of the fiercest fires...The sugar cane yields its sweet juice only after it has been crushed relentlessly in a mill. The human entity yields its noblest traits and truest wisdom only after it has been crushed repeatedly in the mill of anguish."

   "The Overself knows what you are, what you seek, and what you need...We sometimes wonder whether we can bear more, but no experience goes too far until it crushes the ego out of a man, renders him as helpless as the dying person feels."

   "The Holy Land, flowing with milk and honey, is within us but the wilderness that we have to cross before reaching it is within us too."

   "It is not enough to recognize the Real in its own homeland alone; he must be trained to recognize it under all conditions, even when it is hidden under thick illusion, even in the lowest ebb of the soul’s dark night.” - Paul Brunton

   ”When God crucifies in the inmost part of the Soul, no creature is able to comfort it.” - Michael Molinos

   “When, by a complete destruction of one’s whole spiritual fortune, one finds oneself reduced to nothing, then one suddenly discovers that one has neither vanity, presumption, nor self-esteem, but is filled with distrust, humility, confidence in God and love for Him; and this love is then absolutely pure because self-love has nothing to lean upon, and, consequently, nothing to become attached to, or to corrupt. Therefore I set more value on your present poverty than on all those former beautiful feelings that seemed to you so perfectly pure, but of which your self-love secretly made its most delicious pasture…Like holy Job we should never kiss His hand more lovingly than when it seems to weigh most heavily upon us...The Holy Spirit knows how to make martyrs of divine love by the suffering caused by His apparent absences, and by many kinds of crucifying operations...The ineffable consolation experienced by this good Sister before she fell into this state of obscurity and dryness, was only a merciful kindness of grace, intended to gain the foundation and center of the soul in which God wished to establish His dwelling and from there to work insensibly...He wills that there should not be in us the least atom of confidence in ourselves, but that we should rely solely on His all-powerful grace…Take courage and do not imagine that you are far from God; on the contrary you have never been so near Him…There is no intelligence or power in the world capable of wresting from the hand of God a soul He has seized in the rigour of His mercy to purify it by suffering. Not even an angel from Heaven could draw a soul out of the crucible in which God keeps it, to purify it more and more...The extent to which the soul is purified in its most secret recesses, is the measure of its union with the God of all holiness.” - Jean-Pierre deCaussade

   “The seed of autumn needs winter’s frost and snow to prosper its growth, and in like manner the sharp biting chill of spiritual desolation is sometimes needed to preserve the precious seed of that Christian life which St. Paul says “is hid with Christ in God” (Col. iii. 3)…The earth that has been well harrowed and sifted will bring forth the most abundant crop, and dryness and desolation often precedes God’s renewed graces. He has ever dealt thus with His saints..Those who are called to bear such desolating trials are permitted to have a very special part in our Dear Lord’s desolation and hidden sorrows.” - Francois Guillore

   "The swete kernel can only be eaten bot if thou crack first the hard shelle and bite of the bitter bark." - The Cloud of Unknowing

   "He alone has the right to break, for He alone has the power to mend…He lays the house in ruins; then in a moment He makes it more livable than before.”

   If he could see his nothingness, and his deadly festering wound, pain would arise from looking within, and that pain would save him." - Rumi

   “At first we cannot see beyond the path that leads downward to dark and hateful things - but not light or beauty will come from the man who cannot bear this sight.” - C.G. Jung

   “No one has been united to his Beloved through mirth. Whoever has attained communion with him has done so after shedding many tears. If it were possible to meet the beloved while laughing and in a state of comfort, why should one suffer the anguish of separation? The people of the world are happy. They eat and sleep. Kabir alone is unhappy. He is awake and is crying.” - Kabir

   "When God becomes very impatient to have somebody, he at once throws in his way all sorts of insurmountable difficulties, one after another, in quick succession; the person simply gets tired and disgusted with everything. In fact it is God who meets him first in the form of all the ailments and difficulties. Ailments and difficulties are very essential for a person who is sincerely desirous of attaining Godhead. Even a Satpurusha cannot take you to God. From my personal experience I can tell you that the greatest pain and difficulty - physical and mental - alone are able to take anybody straight to God." -Shri Upasani Baba (

   "We are people of little faith and fail to recognize and appreciate the hand which guides and which sustains. Hazur (Baba Sawan Singh Ji) used to say that once a saint has taken a soul under his wing, he is keen to compress the progress of twenty births into a single one. And if we desire to pack the accomplishments of twenty lives into a single one, we must pay for it." - Sant Darshan Singh

   “There are worlds beyond the stars, and there is many a test of love which has yet to be undergone.” - Sir Muhammed Iqbal

   "To the true lover of the Absolute, purgation is a privilege, a dreadful joy." - Evelyn Underhill

   "If you have not endured through the bone-chilling winter, how can you expect to smell the scent of plum blossoms?" - Huangbo Xiyun (Huang Po)

   “Last night, as dawn was breaking, He gave me salvation from sorrow, and in that darkest night, He gave me the water of eternal life.” - Hafiz

   "First the chaff is separated from the grain. This is an example of your conversion and separation from sin. After the grain has been separated, it must be ground by trials and by the cross. The grain is ground until it is reduced to flour. The process, however, is far from finished. The flour is course and must have foreign matter removed from it. The flour is kneaded and made into pastry. The flour appears dark as it is kneaded, but the kneading is essential for the flour to be made into pastry. The pastry, in turn, must be put into the fire. After the pastry is baked, it is destined for the king's delight. The king not only looks upon the pastry with delight, he partakes of it...This comparison shows you some of the different aspects of your spiritual journey. It shows you the difference between union with God and transformation...Not many people come to this place. For this reason, people do not talk much about the cross and transformation. We cannot speak well upon subjects we know little about."

   “Here is a true spiritual principle that the Lord will not deny: God gives us the cross, and the cross gives us God. You must learn to love the cross. He who does not love the cross does not love the things of God. (Matthew 16:23) It is impossible for you to truly love the Lord without loving the cross. The believer who loves the cross finds that even the bitterest things that come his way are sweet. The Scripture says, “To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” (Proverbs 27:7) - Jeanne Guyon

   “He hath sent fire into my bones, and has taught me.” - Lamentations, i, 13

   "The misery of human nature is such in this life that, when the communication and knowledge of the Beloved, which means more life for the soul and for which she longs so ardently, is about to be imparted, she cannot receive it save almost at the cost of her life." - St. John of the Cross

   “Never should we so abandon ourselves so to God as when He seems to abandon us. Let us enjoy light and consolation when it is his pleasure to give it to us, but let us not attach ourselves to his gifts, but to Him; and when He plunges us into the night of Pure Faith, let us still press on through the agonizing darkness…The directions of Christ are not, if any one will come after me, let him enjoy himself...On the contrary, his words are: “If any one will come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me.” (Math. 16:24). St. Paul declares that we desire to be clothed upon, and that it is necessary, on the contrary, to be stripped to very nakedness, that we may then put on Christ. Suffer Him, then, to despoil self-love of every adornment, even to the inmost covering under which it lurks, that you may receive the robe whitened by the blood of the Lamb, and having no other purity than His.’ - Fenelon

   “There are many Christians abroad who have received from the Lord magnificent revelations, great visions, and a great grasp of high mental truths, yet for all of this they do not understand those hidden secrets which come to those who have gone through great temptations and trials... Be not deceived in the midst of tribulation. There is no time in your life when you are nearer to God than when He has deserted you. The sun may be hidden behind the clouds, yet the sun has not changed its place, nor has one bit of its brightness been lost. The Lord allows a painful desertion of His presence from within you to purge and to polish you, to cleanse you and to despoil the Self. Your Lord does this so that you might have a clear-cut opportunity to give your whole being up to Him without any notice of personal gain, but rather only to be His delight. Although you may be groaning and lamenting and weeping, yet in the most secret and hidden places of your inmost being He is joyful and glad.” - Michael Molinos

   "I realize that no contemplative path wants to advertise the cross or the suffering entailed in the crossing over. On the other hand we must not be naive about this or in any way mislead others. The truth is that getting to the other shore will stretch the human limits to the breaking point, and not once, but again and again. Who can take it? It is not for nothing that the cross is the central Christian symbol." - Bernadette Roberts