I believe the soul is the most authentic part of us connected to our authentic self, and for many of us it is a journey to find the way towards it, a way which often leads through a lot of undoing of conventions and conditioning for those of us who arrive on this earth looking and feeling deeper and hearing the beating of a very different drum that we may have tried to dance to but been judged for.
And then if just happened to lose our way, the path of return may lie through the gates of hell, torture, ‘insanity’ or suicide or attempted suicide, for it seems that if the psyche can set up a protector inside of us that would rather us die than live an inauthentic life that is not true to our soul, isn’t it in some way better that we go back to the spiritual realms and try for a new incarnation?
I have also been thinking about how someone’s suicide may benefit learning and growth in the world and the lives of others. I was listening to a brief interview with the parents of teenager Dolly Everette who committed suicide due to bullying abuse. I posted a post earlier in the year about her calling attention to the issue.
https://wordpress.com/posts/emergingfromthedarknight.wordpress.com?s=bullying
What her parents said was they were not taking things seriously enough. Dolly had done a drawing of a girl doing a backward bend that said this “Speak Even if Your Voice Shakes.” At this stage the bullying had been going on for some time.
The soul has to find it’s voice, it must sound out its authentic note, but what if killing voices in culture and society and bullies act to try to destroy this voice or light? Is it not then a case of a bright light being rejected from the world? The soul then chose to retreat and the aftermath had lessons for many and would promote more awareness and clarity and determination to see this kind of thing ie bullying nipped in the bud or would be a very intense ‘wake up call’ for certain people!
We should be mindful that often a breakdown is really a breakthrough, it is a breaking down of a false self that hides the kernel of the true self or soul, the dark night of the soul acts on us similarly. In it what the darkest part is, is a grieving for what was lost or never found a way to express in this world that may not be consciously known (yet!) but is trying to make itself known. Medication can only help us so far to find the way back to authentic self hood. Many die along the way. And it takes enormous strength to keep going sometimes in a culture ruled by illusions and shame, illusions and shame we must pierce through on the dramatic path of soul retrieval.
Emerging From The Dark Night 