Spiritual isolation

Is spiritual isolation the dark night of the soul ?

[Bluto]

What is spiritual isolation?

[Hemera]

I don't think they ae the same thing, but you can experience them together or separately. A dark night is usually a transformative experience that involves breaking down conditioning of the ego and leads the way - eventually, and not always in one hit - to awakening to the true nature within. That's my understanding anyway.

Spiritual isolation is a common component of a dark night as the person going through it quite often finds they have changed so much that they can't relate to their family/friends etc in the same way anymore, and as such people naturally fall away. Also, the person may choose to spend time alone as part of the need to turn inward and contemplate what is happening to them.

You can be spiritually isolated without going through a dark night. Spiritual isolation can simply be not having like minded people around to share your beliefs or experiences with. It doesn't mean you're having a transformative experience which is what a dark night usually is.

Originally Posted by Hemera

You can be spiritually isolated without going through a dark night. Spiritual isolation can simply be not having like minded people around to share your beliefs or experiences with. It doesn't mean you're having a transformative experience which is what a dark night usually is.

Hemera,

This is helpful, thanks. I am wondering if spiritual isolation can lead to ego death….where affirmation of others no longer exerts power…realizing it is pointless to expect that sharing anything should not be with expectations of response. Sort of like claiming a new freedom while realizing that I am allowing others the same freedom…..but wanting that change of mind being considered an act of love rather than apathy……I can still listen with excitement for others while realizing our paths may differ,,,,even recognizing that perhaps I once shared that same path…..I must say that forming a response was therapeutic…….:)

….re spiritual isolation as I was thinking…..Christianity is my most frequent interest…..the vast majority of adherents approach it using a literal reading of Scripture….I am convinced that within Scripture there is a much deeper meaning that can only be uncovered by understanding symbolism, clues, etc that come to understanding via the Spirit rather than the intellect…..one that has this approach realizes that he is isolated from others…..being basically different languages….same words but with quite different meanings……

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Molearner

I am convinced that within Scripture there is a much deeper meaning that can only be uncovered by understanding symbolism, clues, etc that come to understanding via the Spirit rather than the intellect

Just gotta remember that your interpretation isn't better or more important that anyone else's.

[FallingLeaves]

Originally Posted by Molearner

one that has this approach realizes that he is isolated from others…..being basically different languages….same words but with quite different meanings……

i know what you mean on this, I'm doing kinda the same thing and have been all my life... yeah ego is a bear because how can I pretend I can understand something that others simply don't? And if I can indeed pretend that doesn't that somehow make me special? God has made cautions against such thinking though I think... I heed them as best I can...

Honestly it isn't as much a problem for me, as it is for my perceptions of how others might want to see me... that is an endless problem for me, my perception of how others might want to see me.... work in progress I guess lol....

But there are also all sorts of passages that kinda indicate that many wouldn't understand too I guess.... and even that it isn't so much a matter of others 'can't' as it is they 'won't'. Their desires aren't in line with the kind of learning I'm doing and they won't dare step into the land of adverse desires for even a second?????? It is also rough on me because then I perceive a lot of hostility for the fact that I choose to value what nooone else wants to value.

still it is SO easy to read what one wants into things and that makes solo journeying for me incredibly difficult. Because at the same time I'm learning stuff I gotta introduce a sense of reality. Rather than just let my mind do the normal thing we all do with the flaming sword...

I think our interests, what we want to learn from this, must be different because I don't really gravitate towards the kinds of meanings you have found/expressed... But you don't seem to much like mine either lol!...

which is ok I think as I'm thinking that 'life' isn't about one-size-fits-all shrink-wrap solutions and is personal to each and every one of us... hard to deal with that in a world so wrapped up in understanding other people's meanings at the expense of one's own all day long though...

[Miss Hepburn]

Since I had a diff idea of what you meant by spiritual isolation I deleted my post for the sake of your point. :)

[Unseeking Seeker]

I guess it means different things to different people, depending on their perspective and journey.

To me, dark night of the soul used to be the stage when the spiritual experiences offered suddenly stopped and I found myself alone. Also, ‘progress’ in as perceived, plateaued.

I look at it now as a kid learning to ride a bicycle. First, the father runs alongside but later, as we learn to balance, he gives a final push and then we are on our own. Thus the master first appears and then he disappears. It is disconcerting, no doubt though. But it is what it is. As for ‘plateauing’, it is like latent heat. We can have water at zero degrees centigrade as also ice, latent heat which we do not see is yet at work silently in the background.

[Nikos1982]

I think that Spiritual isolation can be processed by us alone, call it the ego if you like - while the dark night of the soul is like it happens to us.... without our volition.