SPIRITUAL FREE FALL

Despair is a spiritual aspirant’s greatest enemy.  In fact, in Christianity it is considered a mortal sin, “the one unforgivable sin.”   It is the feeling that one has lost his connection with God.  He had it once, but no more, and the prospect of his getting it back anytime soon feels, to him, remote.

In Christianity this is called the Dark Night of the Soul.  It does not last long, if one is lucky or blessed, but it can.  In some cases, it continues for years.  For St. Paul of the Cross in the 18^th Century it lasted 45 years, eclipsed only by Mother Teresa in the 20^th Century for whom the Dark Night lasted 49 years.

Its cause, in the view of Vedanta, is the analytical, thinking mind overwhelming the intuitive, transcendental, spiritual mind or consciousness.  It is the “sheaths” overtaking the Atman.

Buddhism does not explain the condition but neither does it worry about it.  Despair is merely a state of mind, an emotion, and states of mind and emotions pass.

Despair need not cause a person to lose his faith, in any event.  St. Paul of the Cross and Mother Teresa, despite their suffering, remained in their vocations, and near the end of their lives their Dark Nights vanished.