Audio PodcastSpiritual Growth
Many of us have been through or are going through a dark night of the soul right now; one might even say that we are indeed in a collective dark night of the soul. The dark night of the soul has a purpose that is often missed, which is an opportunity for immense spiritual transformation.
In this podcast, we are going to cover signs of a dark night of a soul, the origin of the term, how it relates to “purification,” astrological transits, the misconceptions about a dark night of a soul, share personal stories, and how to heal from a dark night of the soul, the potential gifts of the dark night of the soul, and more.
Show Notes Part 1:
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- The dark night of the soul has a connection with spiritual growth
- The origin of the term (Saint John of the Cross)
- Signs of a dark night of the soul
- Misconceptions of the Dark Night of the Soul
- We often go through several dark nights in life
- The loss of meaning and purpose
- Laura’s decade-long dark night of the soul when struggling with trauma and addiction
- How to heal and navigate a dark night of the soul
- Don’t believe that the point in life is to be “happy”
- Transformation and Transmutation
- Gifts of the dark night of the soul
Bernhard Guenther & Laura Matsue
Go HERE to listen to Part 2 if you’re a member or REGISTER to become a member to have access to the membership section (including the membership forum.)
In Part 2 (only for members), we go deeper into:
- What happens when we don’t face our Dark Nights of the Soul?
- The Hero’s Journey and the Dark Night of the Soul
- The trap of missing a step on the journey (Refusal of the call)
- Bernhard’s Dark Night of the Soul
- Atonement and Rebirth
- How the Dark Night of the Soul relates to the “Law of Ascent and Descent”
- Dark Night of the Soul and astrological transits
- Scorpio / 8th house / Pluto transits
- Creativity and the dark night of the soul
- How the Dark Night of the Soul relates to facing the Shadow from a Jungian perspective
- The Dark Night of the Soul and the Individuation Process
Go HERE to listen to Part 2 if you’re a member or REGISTER to become a member to have access to the membership section (including the membership forum.)
www.lohas-magazin.de/veil-of-reality
When Following Your Dream Can Turn Into A Nightmare
And You Lose Yourself In The Process
People always say, just follow your dream and manifest your desires and goals. I’m all for it; go for it!
But rarely do people ask where their desires come from, to begin with.
Here’s my observation based on having worked with thousands of people over the past 15 years:
The #1 reason for their suffering & unhappiness was that they pursued desires & goals that were not their own but based on social, cultural, and parental conditioning or trauma responses.
Many of your desires are conditioned, influenced, and programmed by:
- Your upbringing and unconscious parental image
- What media, society, and culture tell you success is all about, and what you “need to have” or „be“ to be “happy”
- Your friends, peers, people on social media, or anyone you compare yourself with
- Mechanical biological drives (survival impulse, sexual impulse, and superficial sexual desire/attention-seeking.
Many of your desires, feelings, attachments, and behaviors can also be expressions of unconscious trauma responses from childhood wounding, lack of self-worth, and unconscious shame, resulting in trying to fill an empty hole within yourself via external means.
Don’t Believe The Hype And Appearances!
Not all, but many entrepreneurs, influencers, and celebrities whom people [maybe even you] look up to as role models [or you are envious of and shadow-project on] are, in fact, deeply wounded individuals who use their work, achievements, and success to cover up deep-rooted insecurities based on toxic shame and have created a false persona.
It is a trauma response. They are driven by this internalized toxic shame to become “super-achievers.”
They need to identify with external success, attention, possessions, and the image they have built around it in order to avoid feeling the pain of [unconscious] shame, which would shatter the false persona to the core.
But internalized toxic shame can also show itself in the “under-achiever,“ the „loser,“ the person wallowing in misery, addiction, poverty, self-pity, and victim/blame, projecting their suppressed shadow, envy, and unhappiness on anyone who is successful or wealthy.
Super-achievers and Under-achievers driven by trauma are two sides of the same „internalized shame“ coin.
They define each other and project on each other. Both are driven by the false personality covering up internalized shame.
The Way Out To True Fulfillment
The way out is to find your deeper purpose coming from your true Self [and not trying to perfect the false self] as a vessel for Divine Will that expresses itself uniquely through you based on your inherent talents.
The moment you copy/imitate others, just mechanically follow trends, or compare yourself to others, you not only lose yourself but the „matrix has you.“
Be honest with yourself, for the wounded ego will shut down your conscience and tempt you to act out of integrity [hence the rise of plagiarism on social media]
There is something ONLY YOU can provide. The Great Work of connecting to Essence [your true Self] is the gateway.
It’s the process of Individuation [not to be mistaken for self-actualization]
Individuation is a major theme for the next 20 years as Pluto has entered Aquarius.
It’s not always a pleasant process [and not everyone is ready for it], for it will ask you to come out of hiding and burn away anything that is not in alignment with who you truly are.
Godspeed.
Bernhard Guenther
Learn More Here:
Becoming Who You Are Meant To Be
How To Heal Toxic Shame And Not Feeling “Good Enough”
Your Psychological And Spiritual Survival Guide For 2024
Toxic Shame Is Spiritual Bankruptcy
“Toxic shame is unbearable and always necessitates a cover-up, a false self. Since one feels his true self is defective and flawed, one needs a false self that is not defective and flawed.
It is crucial to see that the false self may be as polar opposite as a superachieving perfectionist or an addict in an alley. Both are driven to cover up their deep sense of self-rupture, the hole in their soul.
They may cover up in ways that look polar opposite, but each is still driven by neurotic shame.
In fact, the most paradoxical aspect of neurotic shame is that it is the core motivator of the superachieved and the underachieved, the star and the scapegoat, the righteous and the wretched, the powerful and the pathetic.
Toxic shame looks to the outside for happiness and validation since the inside is flawed and defective. Toxic shame is spiritual bankruptcy.”
– John Bradshaw, “Healing the Shame That Binds You”
We talk more about it on our recent Cosmic Matrix podcast episode, “Your Psychological And Spiritual Survival Guide For 2024,” where we give an overview of what to expect in this new year from a physical, psychological, and spiritual perspective. We give practical tools and advice on how to align with the evolutionary forces and use them to catalyze your growth and ride the immense waves of change during this Time of Transition
By Bernhard Guenther, January, 2024
