You feel confused, lost, meaningless, empty, and lonely.Here are some of the shared symptoms that one can find in both the dark night of the soul and depression: When you are experiencing a Dark Night and you don’t know about the term, “depression” will be a good word to describe your experience to others since the two are rather similar in terms of symptoms. We don’t know who we are, what we want in life, and what to do with our lives anymore. That’s why we experience an existential crisis and a loss of identity.

The conceptual framework that once gave us meanings and kept us going in life collapsed. But once we realize that these things don’t actually make us happy, we lose our purpose in achieving or acquiring them. Previously, when we act from our ego, we derive our identity from our career, our wealth, our relationships, our roles, and etc. What dies, in essence, is the egoic sense of self. So we are stuck in between these two states and have no clear sense of identity or a stable home to reside in.Īccording to Eckhart Tolle, the “Dark Night of the Soul” is a term used to describe a collapse of a perceived meaning in life. We realize that the ego’s perspective no longer works for us anymore but we are not yet connected with our soul. The Dark Night of the Soul signifies the beginning of a shift in perspective from our ego to our soul. We act from the ego instead and therefore, we suffer. But the problem is most of us are not in tune with our soul.

It’s always expanding and connected to the Higher Power. Our soul is always full of aliveness, joy, freedom, and love. However, this term can be somewhat misleading because it suggests that our soul is suffering. Somehow along the way, the term “Dark Night of the Soul” becomes more widely used instead of the term “Dark Night”.

The long dark getting water