Spiritual Trauma
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
This idea of the mysterious interdependence of joy and sorrow brings us to the subject of spiritual trauma, and of the mystical Dark Night of the Soul that comes when we lose contact with the Divine. In Dancing The Dream (1999) Jamie Sams says: “Great losses, like the death of loved ones, can destroy our happiness and begin a spiritual Dark Night of the Soul. Because we cannot figure out how a loving Creator could ‘let this happen,’ we find ourselves raging against God. We often blame God for our losses in life, forcing the destruction of any former foundations of faith and trust. It takes an enormous amount of courage to accept that our experiences are something that we cannot figure out at the time they happen and that there is a divine plan that may or may not reveal itself. Time changes our views and we go on, but whether we continue to have faith and trust depends upon our ability to heal the need to blame God, life, others, or the self. Again, the choice is ours.”
Truly, each
person must decide whether or not to have faith in the benevolent nature
of the Universe and in the guiding Intelligence behind it all. But how
can we continue to trust that the Divine exists for us when inexplicably
tragic events, like war or natural disaster, have destroyed our faith?
In such cases we must realize that we have most likely placed our trust
in human beings rather than in God. Humans and their works do not endure
as the earth and sky do. No one lives forever, and every city will one
day crumble to dust. By extension, no husband, wife, parent or priest
can ever be worthy of ultimate faith and trust. In Dancing The Dream (1999)
Jamie Sams also tells us, “Spiritual Dark Nights of the Soul can
occur when we have put our faith in the wrong person instead of the Creator.” Even
the kindest, most trustworthy person might not live long enough to keep
the promises they have made to us. We must lean upon one another gently,
and reserve our complete faith for powers that will always remain a mystery
to us. Sams continues with the thought that, “Expecting any human
being to be godlike or perfect at all times is a crooked trail. When
we trust our own direct connections to the Creator, Great Mystery, God,
we gain access to our authentic source of life force and spiritual well-being."
How do we make such a direct link with higher intelligence, cosmic forces, or what have you? The answer, as usual lies in our own minds. Human intelligence must be used in order to make contact with the Divine Mind.