St. John of the Cross coined a phrase many know as the “dark night of the soul.” However, contrary to what many might believe to be the dark night, what St. John of the Cross is actually referring to is a spiritual detachment from all consolation in this world.
What this entails is God stepping back for a time, allowing a soul to be purified of all worldly attachments; teaching the soul to cling tightly to God instead of earthly pleasures. This period of time is often very difficult and it can appear that God is distant. Yet God is close by, looking upon us as a loving Father watches his child ride his training wheel free bike down the driveway. Similar to that image of the Father, He encourages us to plunge ourselves into the darkness of detachment in order that we may truly see the Light of Christ. We must be detached from the training wheels of worldly attachments in order to fly free.
St. John of the Cross teaches that we must make room for the burning love of God and to do that, we must be detached from our comforts in this world. God can only fully breath life into a soul who has become empty. Just like a cup cannot be filled with water unless it is first cleaned of all dirt, so a soul must undergo a spiritual cleansing to be receptive to God. Consequently, every soul who desires to be in total union with God must experience a dark night.
Frodo’s Dark Night
J.R.R. Tolkien knew this truth very well and found its expression in the life of both the characters Frodo and Bilbo. First off, Frodo experiences a great and tortuous dark night, where he is deprived of every physical pleasure. He traverses through the land of Mordor with little hope that he will ever return to the Shire and is forced to give up the very few possessions he had. Not only is his priceless mithril coat of armor taken away, but even his most prized possession, the Ring.
After this final moment of being stripped from his last attachment (the Ring), by the greed of the creature Gollum; Frodo realizes his weakness and knows that he could have never done what Gollum accomplished. Frodo is then seen to be “pale and worn, and yet himself again; and in his eyes there was peace now, neither strain of will, nor madness, nor any fear. His burden was taken away” (pg. 926).
Then, after being further detached from the Shire, Frodo was able to let go of Middle-Earth and sail off Into the West, to the undying lands until the end of his days.
Bilbo also knew this dark night, though in a less dramatic fashion. He, like Frodo, was led away from his home, forced to give up the many comforts of hobbit life. Being on an adventure far away from home with a company of dwarves was not Bilbo’s idea of a good time and he continually had to be detached from the simple pleasures of being a hobbit. Not only did he desire the food of home, but also the safety and comfort of his hobbit hole.
Yet, this period of detachment that Bilbo underwent proved to be meritorious. At the end of a long journey, Bilbo reaches the Lonely Mountain with the dwarves and is able to resist what has been called the “dragon sickness.” This excessive greed and desire for material wealth possessed not only the dragon, but also the dwarves. They become enamored by the treasure they saw and it possessed them in a way that created many problems for them and for those in the surrounding area. However, Bilbo stood firm and did not succumb to the temptation that was before him. He was detached from the pleasures of this world and had the strength to withstand the assaults of the darkness that often seeps into men’s hearts.
This should remind us all that we too must go through a dark night of the soul and become detached from the many comforts of this world. In the end, Heaven is our final destination and in order to get there we must not catch the “dragon sickness” and be weighed down by the treasures and comforts we build up on earth.
Philip Kosloski
Philip Kosloski is the founder of Voyage Comics & Publishing and the writer and creator of the comic book series, Finnian and the Seven Mountains.