The dark night of the soul
Comes just before the revelation.
When everything is lost and all seems darkness,
Then comes a new life,
And all that is needed.
Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell has been a wonderful inspiration to me. Through his books and his video tapes, I have been able to place my life into perspective many times. In the compendium A Joseph Campbell Companion, I have re-read many times his take on the ending of relationships. He indicates the pain we feel as an overload of projection. It is the idea of everything having meaning only by its fulfillment in the other. We cannot help narrowing our focus when we get involved in a commitment with someone else.
The healing can be much harder than the original hurt, Campbell says, but one can survive it and find the ability to find a larger base from which to draw. Each commitment we have is a “narrowing” of ones-self. When a relationship ends, we have to work to get back to our base of operation where we can gain the strength to carry ourselves forward. This requires moving into the pain, which makes us very uncomfortable. That’s why people try to assuage the pain with pills, alcohol or work. We seek anything to occupy ourselves from working through the issue at hand.
Campbell says he found a quote by Nietzsche that clarified the issue and helped him through a dark painful time. “Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say: “This is what I need”. It may look like a horrible wreck of a time, but if you look at it as a challenge, an opportunity for growth, you have the chance to improve your life.”
Looking back upon your life one sees that in great moments of perceived failure, followed by intense pain and/or heartache, we have landed right where we were meant to be! We are now at that place where we chose to be, these events shaped the life we are living right now. If you can think this way, then nothing can happen to you that is not positive.
And that is the lesson I re-learned yesterday.
Comes just before the revelation.
When everything is lost and all seems darkness,
Then comes a new life,
And all that is needed.
Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell has been a wonderful inspiration to me. Through his books and his video tapes, I have been able to place my life into perspective many times. In the compendium A Joseph Campbell Companion, I have re-read many times his take on the ending of relationships. He indicates the pain we feel as an overload of projection. It is the idea of everything having meaning only by its fulfillment in the other. We cannot help narrowing our focus when we get involved in a commitment with someone else.
The healing can be much harder than the original hurt, Campbell says, but one can survive it and find the ability to find a larger base from which to draw. Each commitment we have is a “narrowing” of ones-self. When a relationship ends, we have to work to get back to our base of operation where we can gain the strength to carry ourselves forward. This requires moving into the pain, which makes us very uncomfortable. That’s why people try to assuage the pain with pills, alcohol or work. We seek anything to occupy ourselves from working through the issue at hand.
Campbell says he found a quote by Nietzsche that clarified the issue and helped him through a dark painful time. “Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say: “This is what I need”. It may look like a horrible wreck of a time, but if you look at it as a challenge, an opportunity for growth, you have the chance to improve your life.”
Looking back upon your life one sees that in great moments of perceived failure, followed by intense pain and/or heartache, we have landed right where we were meant to be! We are now at that place where we chose to be, these events shaped the life we are living right now. If you can think this way, then nothing can happen to you that is not positive.
And that is the lesson I re-learned yesterday.
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