Over in the forums we have been having a discussion about Depression and Spirituality.

One person pointed out that some depression may be caused by a lack of spirituality. Oh, he wasn’t talking about Clinical Depression, but what we might call “the blues”. Then another reader made this comment:

“I recently read about the different types of depression, and distinguishing clinical depression from a 'dark night of the soul' - a spiritual crisis that occurs for many people at some point in their spiritual journey. I do think the idea of a 'dark night' resonates for many people, including me - a period in which prior beliefs no longer seem to 'fit' and there is a feeling of loss and bewilderment before we 'grow into' our new self.”

At times it seems as if those of us that have a spiritual life are always supposed to be tranquil or happy. Yet the journey along that same spiritual life can often cause much heartache and confusion – especially if it flies in the face of what we have been taught as children.

This type of despair differs from Clinical Depression in that Clinical Depression is a physical ailment of the brain. It is chemicals that are off and medication can help restore the proper balance to a person’s chemical makeup. A spiritual crisis is just that, a crisis of the soul – nothing physical. Medications will not help. It is completely an internal despair of the soul that occurs during (particularly) times of growth.

Consider this; the early settlers of America reaching out into the unkown West. They were searching for a new home, but they had no idea what they would find at the end of their journey. They only had the hope that it would be a better place for them to raise a family. There must have been many times that despair set in; when the land was inhospitable, when disease ran rampant, when water was scarce – hope surely was a hard thing to hold onto.

That is much like what a spiritual journey can be like. We set out hoping to learn more about ourselves and our place in the universe – but have no idea where we are going to land. Sometimes it feels like we are all alone, there is no higher purpose, our friends and family do not understand – despair sets in. We become depressed and feel like we may never find our way.

And if we stop at this point and just sit and rail at the Universe this would be true. It would be like the settlers stopping their wagons and saying “we go no further” and just waiting to die of thirst. Instead we let this thirst for wisdom drive us harder and we continue to seek the answers.

I have always loved the analogy of plants growing in the valley as opposed to the mountaintop. You do not find much on the mountaintop where it is easy to see all around you and it requires little faith to go on. Yet in the valley where it is dark and you stumble through to where you are going, roots grow deep and plants grow thick. It is in the valley where we grow the strongest. It is in those moments of despair that our souls are actually strengthened to withstand the tests that we will face in the future. Even in the valley there are hints of light – we just have to remember to look for them.

We will all have moments of growth that hurt, that is why they are called “growing pains”. It is how we deal with them that matter most. Let your soul cry for a bit, crying can be cathartic; but then gather yourself together and look for the light to guide you out.

Even in a “dark night of the soul” there are stars that shine. And eventually the sun shall rise again.