The Spiritual Journey
The stages of the spiritual journey have been laid out by many traditions. Don Riso and Russ Hudson lay out the journey in nine strata in their book, The Wisdom of the Enneagram, pp. 372-377.
The first stratum is “our habitual self image.” This is how we perceive ourselves, or how we would like to be. There is no self-examination here – we see ourselves as good or bad, with good or bad attributes, but we really don’t understand ourselves, and often really don’t care, as long as what we’re doing is working. When it stops working for us, often as a result of a confrontation with another person, we may be driven to seek help or examine our behavior.
Their second stratum is “our actual behavior.” This the where we may get a bit of a shock when we notice that our actual behavior doesn’t line up with our beliefs about ourselves. For example, a person may think of herself as upbeat and positive, when in reality she does an awful lot of complaining.
Their third stratum has to do with noticing “our internal attitudes and motivations.” Why do we do the things we do?
The second set of 3 strata in the R&H writings, have to do with leaving the realm of habitual self image, and understanding our motivations. They deal with what happens on the spiritual journey. In stratum 4, We start to become aware of “underlying affects and tensions.”
In stratum 5, we connect with “our rage, shame, and fear and libidinal energies.” This is about as far as traditional psychotherapy can take us. This is a very uncomfortable part of the journey, and many are tempted to turn back here and find an easier way. It is important here to get support from others on the spiritual journey. At this level, it becomes increasingly important, and difficult, to learn to relax and accept the discomfort, and accept and love ourselves. When you find yourself judging yourself harshly, it so important to have a companion on the journey to give you a reality check, so that you know that you are NOT these difficult qualities you have found in your personality. It is important here to “let go and let God” and trust that the ground of being will support you. One school of thought refers to this stage of the journey as “Dragon Fight.”
And then we start the cycle over. We are reborn in a sense, and go through the process all over again. We observe ourselves, we are dismayed by what we find, we suffer, we become willing to ask for a miracle, we experience the void and are reworked a bit, and then we are reborn…
Joan Kellogg There was an underlying order that has been her gift to us, her all encompassing life cycle theory, which she called “The Archetypal Stages of the Great Round of Mandala.” This model can be applied to understand just about anything, from the evolution of man, to the creation of a painting, to the stages of a relationship. “She may well have stumbled upon the schema for the hardwiring of the human mind…” (Thayer, 1994, p.204).
(Susanne Fincher, Coloring Mandalas)
“Dragon Fight has to do with adolescent conflicts that accompany your separation from your parents, and from the tribe or community in which you grew up. At this stage you may break out of hidebound traditions in general. Dragon Fight is characterized by an increase of tension at all levels of the psyche. Issues are polarized and may be acted out in emotional confrontations with others… Important transitions later in life – times such as midlife – can bring you around again to the stage of Dragon Fight.”
The Dark Night of the Soul
The stages of the spiritual journey have been laid out by many traditions. Don Riso and Russ Hudson lay out the journey in nine strata in their book, The Wisdom of the Enneagram, pp. 372-377.
The first stratum is “our habitual self image.” This is how we perceive ourselves, or how we would like to be. There is no self-examination here – we see ourselves as good or bad, with good or bad attributes, but we really don’t understand ourselves, and often really don’t care, as long as what we’re doing is working. When it stops working for us, often as a result of a confrontation with another person, we may be driven to seek help or examine our behavior.
Their second stratum is “our actual behavior.” This the where we may get a bit of a shock when we notice that our actual behavior doesn’t line up with our beliefs about ourselves. For example, a person may think of herself as upbeat and positive, when in reality she does an awful lot of complaining.
Their third stratum has to do with noticing “our internal attitudes and motivations.” Why do we do the things we do?
The second set of 3 strata in the R&H writings, have to do with leaving the realm of habitual self image, and understanding our motivations. They deal with what happens on the spiritual journey. In stratum 4, We start to become aware of “underlying affects and tensions.”
In stratum 5, we connect with “our rage, shame, and fear and libidinal energies.” This is about as far as traditional psychotherapy can take us. This is a very uncomfortable part of the journey, and many are tempted to turn back here and find an easier way. It is important here to get support from others on the spiritual journey. At this level, it becomes increasingly important, and difficult, to learn to relax and accept the discomfort, and accept and love ourselves. When you find yourself judging yourself harshly, it so important to have a companion on the journey to give you a reality check, so that you know that you are NOT these difficult qualities you have found in your personality. It is important here to “let go and let God” and trust that the ground of being will support you. One school of thought refers to this stage of the journey as “Dragon Fight.”
And then we start the cycle over. We are reborn in a sense, and go through the process all over again. We observe ourselves, we are dismayed by what we find, we suffer, we become willing to ask for a miracle, we experience the void and are reworked a bit, and then we are reborn…
Joan Kellogg There was an underlying order that has been her gift to us, her all encompassing life cycle theory, which she called “The Archetypal Stages of the Great Round of Mandala.” This model can be applied to understand just about anything, from the evolution of man, to the creation of a painting, to the stages of a relationship. “She may well have stumbled upon the schema for the hardwiring of the human mind…” (Thayer, 1994, p.204).
(Susanne Fincher, Coloring Mandalas)
“Dragon Fight has to do with adolescent conflicts that accompany your separation from your parents, and from the tribe or community in which you grew up. At this stage you may break out of hidebound traditions in general. Dragon Fight is characterized by an increase of tension at all levels of the psyche. Issues are polarized and may be acted out in emotional confrontations with others… Important transitions later in life – times such as midlife – can bring you around again to the stage of Dragon Fight.”
The Dark Night of the Soul
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What is the dark night of the soul?
Up until this point, our experiences can be understood through scientific concepts about the mind, and through working with a psychotherapist. As we reach the next stratum, we enter the world of true spirituality. We reach what St. John of the Cross called “the dark night of the soul.”
Suzanne Fincher calls these stages the “Gates of Death” and “Fragmentation.” These stages have to do with destructuring the ego as a prelude to a major reorganization of the ego. “For many, this stage is profoundly disturbing, as they find their belief in the ultimate order of things challenged…”
She continues, “Your understanding of the nature of reality may be changed by what you experience here in Fragmentation. It may seem you have completely lost contact with the Self, but the chaos experienced here is really orchestrated by the Self. The disorganization speeds the letting go that is necessary before your ego can be restructured in a stronger, more complex pattern in keeping with your potential for wholeness. The Spanish mystic Saint John of the Cross knew this stage well. He described it as the Dark Night of the Soul. This stage can bring you intense spiritual experiences.”
In the Riso-Hudson work, Stratum 6 is about “Our Grief, Remorse, and Ego Deficiency.” This is different from guilt and shame that comes from the judgments of our superego or our ego. This is a real sense of the deficiency of our egos, that comes from an encounter with the divine, with truth itself.
In the Riso-Hudson work, Stratum 6 is about “Our Grief, Remorse, and Ego Deficiency.” This is different from guilt and shame that comes from the judgments of our superego or our ego. This is a real sense of the deficiency of our egos, that comes from an encounter with the divine, with truth itself.
How I interpret this is that at this point we realize the extent of our separation from our true selves, and from our God. It is that point in the 12 step journey where we say, “I can’t do it myself.” It is what Martin Luther talked about as being “backed up against the wall.” It is where author Marianne Williamson, in her book A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles"
, says we need to ask God for a miracle. It is the realm of grace.
, says we need to ask God for a miracle. It is the realm of grace. At stratum 6, we become willing to “ask for a miracle” and release our attachment to our habitual personalities, and jump off the cliff into “The Void.”
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Riso and Hudson’s strata 7-9 are about what happens in “The Void.” It is a place without the constraints of ego, and yet we still ARE. We experience true freedom, and all that comes with spiritual truth – love, gratitude, peace, joy, awe. We are aware of the divine.
In the Buddhist tradition the void is referred to as the “Shining Void.” It is the place where everything comes from, and to which everything returns. In the void there is no ego, and no attachment, there is just pure being.
Paul Tillich often talked about experiencing “fragmentary moments of unambiguity.” I believe what he was talking about was fleeting moments of experiencing the void. The void is where everything comes together into a unity – there is no good or bad, self or other, there is only God. We are separate, but at one with the ground of being. Everyone, whether doing dedicated spiritual work or not experiences these fragmentary moments. They are times when God breaks into our experience, and we see things clearly, if only for a moment. People who are doing spiritual work may actually be able to sustain these experiences for a bit longer, but even the most spiritually developed people can’t live in the void. Everyone must return.
Susanne Fincher continues, “After this comes transcendent ecstacy – a moment of experiencing the divine ‘through direct experience,’ rather than by intellect. This is a peak experience.”
When we return from these experiences in the void, we are changed. There is an increased awareness of the divine nature of reality, and our place in reality. We are aware of the power of God and the purposefulness of life, even though we can’t know that purpose. Sometimes a miracle does happen, and we are able to let go a piece of our egos that causes us pain; let go of some of our attachment to our suffering. (Gurdjieff said that the last thing people will let go of is their attachment to suffering.)
In the mandala system, after the peak experience, comes the beginning again, and in this system, the beginning is The Void. Then one makes the journey through the circle of the mandala all over again, each trip around the circle developing greater spiritual depth.
Whichever system we use to interpret our experiences on the spiritual path, there is a universality to the experiences. Mystics from all the major world religious traditions all speak of these experiences in similar terms.
There is a spiritual practice that is followed which allows us to see ourselves more clearly and to examine our lives. This causes crises that involve suffering and pain and attachment to that suffering and pain. Eventually our journey leads us to a place where we feel disconnected from all that we have known in our lives, including our God. This is a terrifying place of darkness and unknowing, what Christian mystics call the dark night of the soul. And yet we continue on the spiritual path because all we have known up until this place has proved empty and insufficient. There is a spark of truth that carries us through this difficult period. Sooner or later we are able to let go and fall into “the void,” in which we experience what is beyond the limits of our existence. We come out of the void as changed beings, with new understandings. Then we start all over.
