Paul Brunton Philosophic Foundation homepage > Notebooks of Paul Brunton



When the dark night comes, its effect stuns him. His eager aspirations fade away into despondency and his spiritual exercises fall into disuse. Nothing that happens around him seems to matter, and everything seems so aimless, futile, or trivial. He has to force himself to go on living outwardly as usual. His will is listless and his emotion leaden. He feels inwardly dead, hardly aware of anything except his own state. The experiences and surroundings that each day brings him are passed through as in a dream.

-- Notebooks Category 23: Advanced Contemplation > Chapter 3 : The Dark Night of The Soul > # 8