Working with attachments in the night of the senses

Use the night of the senses to examine what you have been clinging to for identity and security.

Why it works

John’s "night of the senses" withdraws the sensory and emotional satisfactions that spiritual practice has been providing. His insight is that much of what people experience as devotion is actually comfort-seeking, and the withdrawal of comfort reveals the attachment underneath. The examination that becomes possible in this dryness — what was I actually attached to? — is the material for the genuine transformation the night aims at. Psychologically, this maps to clarification of values under pressure: adversity reveals what people are actually invested in.

How to do it

1. During a period of spiritual dryness, ask honestly: what have I been receiving from my practice that is now absent?
2. Without self-criticism, name the consolations and satisfactions that were present and are now gone.
3. Examine which of these were genuine openings toward God and which were self-serving comforts.
4. Do not immediately pursue what is absent; instead, hold the question of what the attachment reveals about your deepest orientation.

Evidence

Values clarification under adversity is supported in post-traumatic growth research, which finds that crises can prompt examination of previously unexamined assumptions and investment patterns. John’s specific theology of attachment is distinct from this psychological framework. (mechanistic)

Values clarification under adversity has psychological support; John’s account of the mechanism of spiritual attachment and purgation is theological.

Common mistake

Using the period of dryness to accumulate spiritual practices desperately, rather than sitting with what the withdrawal reveals — which is the information the season is designed to deliver.