The Dark Night Of The Soul

After a while, I finally leave the house. Immediately I start looking for a comfortable means of transport, quiet and economical to get to Mimoso. I analyse all the possibilities and end up deciding that the most viable was a taxi, because the distance wasn’t so far (24 Km). The decision taken, I make use of my resources to catch the first one passing by. After some attempts, I finally caught one. The car stops, I get in, close the door and make myself comfortable. At this moment, I sense that I am being scrutinised by the driver, even before he asks me:

—Where to, sir?

I look at him and simply answer:

—We are going to Mimoso, a place near the Ororuba Mountain, a sacred mountain.

Having said this, he looked at me with disdain, saying:

—Well, I know very well where Mimoso is, let’s go. However, I didn’t know that the mountain of Ororuba was sacred. Tell me straight away about this story.

Without wanting to lose too much time at that stage, I promise:

—It is along story. I will tell it during the trip. Can we go? I am anxious to arrive at my destination.

He agrees with me, although not happy, and then the car leaves at a medium speed. In the meantime, now and again, the driver looks at me. What will he think of me? I think for a while and come to the conclusion that his reaction is natural, after all few know about the secret of the cave. However, I am not any fool so that he can treat me in such a way. As a result, I decide to tell the truth.

—Driver, I am ready to explain. What is your name?

— My name is Aurelio and yours?

—My name is Aldivan, but you can call me the seer or son of God. I am going to elaborate so that you can believe in the statement I made a while ago.

—I am ready. You can tell me.

—Approximately a century ago the Xukuru tribes were at war because of the ruses of a sorcerer called Kualopu. For a long time, there were many battles fought and thus the Xukuru nation was in danger of disappear. Thinking about it a kind sorcerer decide to intervene. He made a pact with the forces of the Universe, offering his life in exchange for the end of the war. After that pact a miracle occurred. The sorcerer was killed and the war ended. The sorcerer paid the price and peace was restored. From that day on the mountain of Ororuba became sacred and the cave of despair, located on its top, received miraculous powers capable of turning any dream into reality, provided the dreams are not selfish. It is the second time I have got the pleasure to live on the mountain.

—Very interesting. You say that this is the second time you go there. How was the first time?

— It was a year ago. I was a poor dreamer in search of knowing and controlling my “Opposing forces”. With that objective I climbed the mountain, reached the top, met the guardian (a miraculous being knowing profound mysteries), accomplished challenges, met the ghost, the youth and the little boy, and finally I entered the cave. This last experience changed my life completely, because I became the seer, a being able to surmount the time and space barriers and omniscient through its visions. With my new powers, I could understand the most profound feelings and intentions of other people. Meanwhile, I still cannot say that I am ready. Life is an eternal learning in which the cave was only a stage. Now I am ready for new challenges and therefore my life is back. This time I want to understand my dark night of the soul, the significance of everything I have lived two years ago. I believe I will find answers in the mountain or at least I will begin a new journey.

—Your story is really impressive. I believe you, because I could feel your sincerity. I only did not understand one thing, what is the meaning of this expression, dark night of the soul?

—At this moment, I myself don’t know the complete meaning of dark night. But I can give a basic notion, it is the moment we detach ourselves from Universe benign forces to only think of our vanities. This moment is critical, being able to destroy or to save a human being’s soul, depending of the case.

—I think I understand. I have already passed through the dark night when I was unfaithful to my wife with ladies of the night. When she left me, I realized the true value, I repented and we were able make up. From then on, I was a new man.

—What happened to you I can guarantee it was a lapse. Indeed, the dark night is more profound than we can imagine. I hope to find the answers that I so much need.

—Good luck with your search. I can see you an educated lad, intelligent and determined. Determined people always reach their objectives.

—Thank you. Now I need to meditate and have a rest. Don’t wake me up until we have reached our destination.

Aurelio reassures me and then I concentrate on my inner, forgetting all the preoccupations. Gradually, the body relaxes and the extra-sensorial senses are awakened. Soon I start seeing distorted and confusing images. A while later, rocked by the strength of the thoughts, I see myself in an enormous plain by all sides. I am exactly in the middle of this place. From the right side emerges a scorching and strong sun. It cleanses all my impurities and gives me a sensation of peace and freedom. At the same time, from the left side appears a thick and dark cloud, bringing a heavy atmosphere, full of negative feelings and thoughts. This force is capable of condemning all those nearby, those absorbed by its shadow. Next to it I feel guilty, even without having had a fair judgement. The two forces are getting near all the time, producing in me the meeting of the two “Opposing forces”, that some time ago it seemed I had controlled. Soon after, between the two forces, an angel appears and it carries on the face the mark of the word choice. I invoke it, and the shock between the two opposing forces stops, at least temporarily, leaving me a little more relaxed. Even so, I am not free of the possible interactions of the dark night, which it seems to be part of any and every individual. After the invocation, the angel, the sun, the dark cloud, the scenery, everything disappear and gradually I am becoming conscientious. Finally, I wake up. I feel I am in the same place, inside of a taxi in motion. What will all this mean? In order to find answers, I look out of the window and I see that I am almost at my destination. I am happy, I am closer to get some answers.

The path to the mountain

Finally, the car arrives at the destination and stops. Immediately, I grab my suitcase and I get out with conviction. Leaving, I start to imagine all the aspects of the village center. At first sight, it seems very quiet and cosy just like the last time. I start going forward and some known people come to meet me, trying to help. I thank them and straight away we start chatting. After a short while, I say goodbye, using as an excuse important and urgent business at the mountain. The walk restarts, carrying the heavy suitcase and the undesirable preoccupations. What will await me after climbing the mountain for the second time? How would the dear guardian lady be? Those were some the questions filling my brain.

I carry on walking and for the first time I feel tired. The circumstances make me stop for a while and again an anguish invades my being completely. What was happening to me? Where was the spirit, the faith and the energy of the adventurer, who started his dream a year ago? At that moment, everything made me believe that I was no longer the same person. Before total despair, I decide to analyse impartially the situation. In a short and intense period post-cave, situations quite adverse have occurred, which made me rethink about who I was. However, at that moment I conclude that it was necessary to return to myself, the dreamer. Without it, I would certainly not be able to face all the obstacles that perhaps separated me from fully understanding the dark night of the soul. Thinking about that, I inhale and exhale deeply searching for the energy capable of guiding me, and when I believe I have reached it, I walk again. At this moment, I feel already more relaxed and comforted, although I am only at the foot of the mountain.

I walk a little away from the bottom and the voices of the mountain are starting to act. I feel confused and dizzy, because they are really strong. Like the other time, they try to persuade me to give up. Apart from the voices, my sixth sense is submitted to a sequence of images. In them, I see fire, pain, inhumane actions, betrayals, the meeting of the opposing forces and the dark night of the soul. For a moment, I lost conscience and I see myself in the Brazil colonial times. I see the beginning, the middle and end of everything. In this retrospective vision, I see the first contact of the innocent owners of Brazil, the Indians, with the foreigners that behind their amicable appearance hide their second intentions. They are welcomed, and without the hosts suspecting, they try in every way to find the riches. In their first attempt, they don’t find what they are looking for and withdraw. Later on, they come back and brutally enslave the Indians, explore their natural resources and this causes one the greatest ethnic massacres of all times. This represents the fire of the dark night of the soul, a fire that destroyed lives, dreams and hopes.

At other moment I see myself in Nazis concentration camps, in the Second World War. In this vision, it is very well clear the aspect of the oppressors’ dark night, because they act with falsehood, cunning, cold and evil without limits. I am subjected to very strong scenes of violation of the human rights and this makes me burst into tears. How can there human beings, image of the Creator, be capable of such atrocities and with such hate? People like that, nationalists and prejudiced, that make Satan look like an angel indeed. This represents the pain of the dark night of the soul and is a path without return.

A moment later, I am carried away to an explosion of vegetation, more precisely the amazon forest. I fly over the area and at a certain time I see a large clearing in the forest. I decide to land to investigate. With little surprise, I meet men with various type of tools, aiming at felling the greatest amount of trees possible, in an area which ought to be for environment conservation. The situation makes me cry again and I curse the source of power and wealth which are the cause of all this. In another place, not too far away, the dark night is completed with the indiscriminate killing of the fauna. I got enraged with the situation and ask myself: What right does mankind have to act in this way? We are not the owners of this world, but only passing guests that should respect it and preserve it. At this rate, we will not even have a future for the next generations. This represents the inhumane actions of the dark night.

A little while later I see myself in Jerusalem, the holy city. I see a simple man, son of a carpenter, teaching, admonishing, exalting, conducting healings and miracles and opening the doors of heaven for all the sinners. At the same time, I see the envy of a powerful minority planning a trap for the master. To achieve their aim, they join the enemy, Satan, personified in Judas. With his help they are able to arrest the master and taking advantage of the situation to torture him, to humiliate him and finally killing him. However, not even death can defeat or destroy the one that with his father have created life. After three days, he has resurrected glorious from the tomb whilst the traitor is dead and given to the torments provided by the dark night. After the resurrection, Jesus appears to his followers and makes some recommendations. Amongst them, he is very clear not to give rise to prejudice, whatever it may be. Everyone without exception, has the right to a full life and the salvation from the dark night of the soul is possible for those who believe in him. This represents the betrayal of the dark night of the soul and whom betrays it.

In another moment I see myself in the struggle that is the opposing forces and the emergence of the doubts relating to the dark night of the soul. The final battle of the previous book has showed me how powerful goodness is and how it can change lives. The only condition for such thing to happen is that we free ourselves of any and all feelings which are evil, such as hate, envy, stinginess, egoism, selfishness amongst others. After seeing all those situations, the whirlwind of images in my mind starts to disappear gradually. A while later I become conscious and I feel well. I decide immediately to walk again, because the summit is still far way. The voices from the mountain stop and so I start climbing the mountain more relaxed. The fear, the shame and the restlessness were left behind. I think of the visions that I was subjected to and it renews my desire to explore. What is awaiting me? Honestly, I did not know. Whatever it may be I am already prepared to face and overcome the challenges. After all I was the seer, a super-gifted being who was the only man to face the cave of despair and conquer it.

With the objective of finding answers to my profound anxieties, I carry on and I manage to complete a third of the walk. At that precise moment, again I stop to rest. I take the chance to rehydrate my body and mind. Soon, it comes to my mind the struggle of the previous climbing and how I felt alone and unexperienced at the end of the world. I was only a dreamer searching for the last string of hope to realize my dreams through a miraculous cave and that managed to survive a steep climbing. After climbing, I recall the moments that I have spent there, including the guardian, the ghost, the youth, little Renato, the challenges and entry into the most dangerous cave of the world. I had partially realised my dreams with the victory that I have achieved, but the actual situation is totally different. I am now the seer searching for the second evolution stage. The first has been accomplished, I have reunited the opposing forces and helped someone to find himself. I was at the second one which was to discover the dark night of the soul, that same night that the guardian lady had mentioned at our last meeting. A night that was able to save or condemn the individual. I start to walk again slowly, intent in saving energy, because it was still morning and I had all the time in the world to prepare myself to meet again the guardian lady, that strange lady who I still did not know well. Who was she? Not even I myself knew, despite having lived with her for more than seven days. All I was certain of was that she had been a great help for me to understand my opposing forces and bring them together like I did. This time, I didn’t believe that it was going to be different and I felt ready for the new challenges and revelations, even if I had to make sacrifices. In the end knowledge has got its price and I was prepared to pay for it in full.

I carry on walking at a slow but steady pace, having passed half of the distance. Suddenly, I looked down and there it was my dear village called Mimoso. Looking at it and analysing it I reach the conclusion that it is very important to me, because it was exactly at that place that I had my first adventure: Travelling through time, I have corrected injustice, put together the opposing forces and I have helped someone to find himself. The moments that I have spent there were moments of critical growth, human and spiritual that I will never forget. I remember all the past facts, and I think that I was just better prepared on account of that. After some time of ecstasy, I begin again concentrating in my objective, staring at the way that gives access to the top of the mountain. At this moment, the stones move as if wanting to say something. Will it be that I was heading to the downfall? Will it be that this dark night is not too dangerous? Well, that what I was trying to find out and I was quite near to it, because I have already exceeded ¾ of the way. This made me happy and this was a conquest of my last adventure, because exactly at the cave I was faced with three doors representing happiness, failure and fear. Thinking about that I recall that my knowledge was decisive in choosing the door of happiness disregarding the others. This time I hope that I have the same inspiration.

I walk again and after a few steps I am close to the top, this same welcoming top where last time I accomplished challenges. There were three in total, and they evaluated my capacity and competence. Only after passing life tests I could enter the holy cave and start an adventure culminating in bringing together the opposing forces. This time, I believe that it is not going to be different, but I have got no idea of what awaits me. In the end, I know very little about the subject in question.

I gather my remaining energies to carry on walking and try to discover the unimaginable. A few more steps and finally I reach the top. Arriving there, I feel the sun shining brighter, a gentle breeze blows, and I can listen clearly to the altered voices. What they reveal it is an absolute secret which I cannot reveal. To access its understanding and content it is necessary to climb the sacred mountain like I did.

A new challenge is launched. Let’s continue together, reader.

The first day at the mountain

I have just arrived and this makes me more relaxed. I look at the pocket watch and realise the lunch time is near and straight way I open the case to get something to eat. Among the several paths available, I chose the same one of the last adventure which I already know and thus I don’t take the risk of getting lost in the expansive and enigmatic summit. A few minutes later, I manage to have a glimpse of a banana tree and a coconut tree. I am safe, at least for the moment.

I get closer and when I arrive exactly to the place, I climb the banana and the coconut trees with the same faith and claws that I got up the mountain; I harvest the fruits, climb down, eat and rest a little. In meanwhile, I don’t lose too much time, because I still have to find the timber to build my cabin. This was strictly necessary for protecting myself from the wild animals. Having got what I needed, I come back.

On my return, I start to build my abode, but the time goes by and there is no sign of the guardian lady. What could have happened to her? Will it be that she does not exist anymore? Well, if this was the case I would be really lost, because I still believe that she is the key or at the least arrow that points me to the desired way of the dark night of the soul. I try not think about the worst and carry on building my temporary roof and as I already have experience it will be quite strong for my safety during the night. With lots of dedication from my side, finally my roof is ready. I decide to rest a little, because it was almost night time.

A while later, a cold wind blows and I have a bad feeling. What is about to happen? I scan the surroundings and it gives me more signs that the mountain is about to react to my presence. It was expected, in the end, I was walking on the sacred ground, without even asking for permission. With all buts and ifs, I decide to lock myself in the cabin and wait for the next day, the night was already falling. Good night, readers. Till the next chapter.

The dark night of the soul

I am happy and relaxed at the top of the sacred mountain which facilitated my objectives. The weather is good, I am alone, but it doesn’t make me afraid, because I have learnt how to control this weakness in opposing forces. All of a sudden, the appearance of the mountain begins to change sharply: The ground disappears from under my feet, I begin to float in the air, dark clouds in the sky are approaching and every minute a mysterious anguish is suffocating my chest. Simultaneously, from the north side, a group of Indians led by Kualopu appears, the sorcerer of the darkness. As they approach, the dark clouds in the sky gather even stronger, completely covering the sun, leaving the day looking like night. Watching the scenery, I hear Kualopu pronouncing unintelligible words, as trying to expel his occult forces. When he does that, the dark clouds moving rapidly envelop all of my body. At the same time, a circle of light surrounds me, holding me hopelessly. The next moment, the gravitational forces are shaken and a kind of time tunnel is formed. Immediately I am pushed against the tunnel, and when touching it I am subjected to a sequence of visions. In them I travel to the world of spirits, more exactly for a meeting between the most developed spirits. At the said meeting, they are sited, they talk democratically, specifically about the partition of the opposing forces. In the end, it is agreed the performance of each one and the choice aspects in relation to the dark night of the soul. It is necessary to point out that nothing is very clear, because those mysteries are not given to the human being. After the meeting ending, a baby crying was heard and life began.

The childhood is a period of discovery and finding the self. In this period, the family has got a primordial role in the formation of each individual. The parents have the duty of being the moral foundation necessary to make just and good persons. Still talking about the childhood, it is also at this stage that the extra-sensory phenomena are at their sharpest. Particularly, my visions reveal some of those moments: The vampire of the haunted house, the woman that rises from the ground to frighten, the dead person asking for help to find so desired light, amongst other moments. In each of those situations appears the despair of the unexplainable and the questions that seem never stopping. Are we alone in the Universe? The door between the two worlds is it really closed? Who had the answers to these questions could write marvellous books.

Yet the adolescence and adult phase are the most adequate times for solidifying the concepts acquired in childhood. In my case, it is also the phase of doubts and hope, in general and particular. A dream appears: Aiming to be a writer. It starts with a simple collection of biblical passages of the books of Ecclesiastes, knowledge and proverbs. Sometime later, the crisis come and the vision of a medium appears. Soon after, came unemployment and the start of the dark night of the soul. At this moment, the circle breaks up and I come in contact with all that was bad for me and that made me believe that I was not a worthy being. The shadows of the dark night got stronger and the voices convict me of something I did not have control of and it was absolutely not my fault. I rebel and shout loudly: I am also son of God! With this attitude, the vision of the dark night disappear and I feel better.

Then I begin to see my trajectory that drives me to this day. I leave home, happy with the last string of hope to see my dream come true. Searching for the dream, I arrive at Mimoso, climb the mountain Ororuba and reach the top, meet the guardian lady, the ghost, the youth and the little boy; I accomplish challenges and finally I enter the dangerous cave of despair, the cave capable of realizing the deepest dreams. Inside it, avoiding traps and passing the scenes, I finally arrive, with great effort at a secret room, where I became the seer, a special and super-gifted being, able to understand the most troubled hearts. Almost ready, I leave the cave and there it starts an unimaginable adventure on the timeline. My objective in the journey was to put right injustices, help someone to find himself and getting together the opposing forces. The result of all that is a book with the same name. After having seen all that, the sequence of the visions breaks down and again the dark night gets closer, and with that, the circle of light reappears in me and leads me to run through the future without seeing it clearly. Quickly, I get to the end of the line, I die, go to judgement, and the dark night remains around me. In the audience, the night lays claim to possess me in account of all my past actions. The judge listen to the arguments and I remain in expectation. A moment later, an abyss open under my feet and I am sucked fiercely into it. I begin to fall very fast in a time interval that seems an eternity. When I am almost at the bottom, I am caught by strong hands and arms. I quickly look to the being that saved me, and it is an angel with beautiful wings. On its face it is written: Repentance. We go back the same way and the dark night no longer has any power over me. A while later I arrive in Heaven and I am going to live in the company of the most evolved beings of the Universe, working with them to maintain the miracle of life. And so, a new phase begins.

The first meeting with the guardian lady

A new day appears: the birds sing, the sun appears and the morning breeze envelops all my body and awakes me in this mystic atmosphere that is the sacred mountain. At this exact moment, I think of the night before, concluding that it was a night to forget, because did not bring back good memories, due to the fact that the ground was hard and the unusual dream that I had. What did the mountain expect from me? I think that it is a relentless will to win on a subject that I proposed to learn more about it and thus evolve. Trying to gather the necessary strength for that, I get up, have a stretch, have breakfast and see nothing more nothing less than the mountain’s guardian lady. Our eyes meet and in a quick assessment I realize that she looks younger than the last time we met each other. I then decide to start a conversation.

— Guardian lady?! Is it really you my lady? I was desperately looking for you.

— I knew, but I don’t know the reason. To what honour do I owe the dreamer’s visit, son of God, whom I haven’t seen for so long?