HEAD(hed), (n.) 1. the top part of the human body or the front part of an animal where the eyes, nose, east and mouth are. "Your brain is in your head." DIBS(dibz), (n.) 2. a thick, sweet syrup made in countries of the East, especially the Middle East, from grape juice or dates. [Arabic "debs"]--World Book Dictionary, 1976.
“She gazed ahead through a long reach of future days strung together like pearls in a rosary, every one like the others, and all smooth and flawless and innocent, and her heart went up in thankfulness. Outside was the fervid summer afternoon; the air was filled with the sounds of the busy harvest of men and birds and bees; there were halloos, metallic clatterings, sweet calls, and long hummings. Louisa sat, prayerfully numbering her days, like an uncloistered nun.” A New England Nun By Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (1852–1930)
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What Is A "Dark Night Of The Soul"? Suffering In Love
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"One dark night,
fired with love's urgent longings
-- ah, the sheer grace! --
I went out unseen,
my house being now all stilled."
(St. John of the Cross, the mid-1500's)
One aspect of the "the dark night of the soul" can be described as that time in a person's life when God wants to draw him/her closer to Himself and that person has either no desire for God and resists His wooing or that person hears God's call and follows.
When The Lover calls, the Beloved at first is overwhelmed with unconditional love and may resist, but when at last giving in to the call, the Beloved realizes one has a decision to make, another "dark night," as it were. One must either leave the current state (mind, heart) and steal away "fired with love's urgent longings" or remain in the dark night of separation from God.
The night is also dark because the soul is being led by God into a "night" of uncertainty, of taking The Beloved away from everything he or she once knew . . . a night of pain, of second-guessing, or tears, of dying. Again, a "night" of decision. The Beloved overshadows with grace if only the Beloved would accept it . . .
. . . and in John's poem, grace is accepted and The Beloved goes to meet The Lover on a dark night, fired by love, sneaking out of the house . . .
Legend has it that the astronomer Ptolemy (1st century A.D.) suggested that falling stars were caused by the gods moving in the heavens, thus knocking stars out of their places. Somehow people reasoned that that if the gods were moving, they must be getting close to earth so they would lift their "prayers" or "wishes" (literally, "desires") whenever they saw the stars falling in hopes the gods would notice and grant a favorable answer. But how does one wish on falling star? Once you see it, it's gone before the wish or prayer can be made! The answer is simple: meteor shower. That's how to get your wish. Mrs. Ann Hodges had a wish fall right into her lap. Sort of. In 1954 Mrs. Hodges was sleeping on the couch when a 8 1/2 pound meteorite fell through her house and into her living room where it bounced off the radio and struck her left hip leaving her with a bruise. Not sure what she was wishing, but that's not how to do it. Epictetus hel...
“Keep constant guard over your perceptions, for it is no small thing you are protecting, but your respect, trustworthiness and steadiness, peace of mind, freedom from pain and fear, in a word your freedom. For what would you sell these things?” EPICTETUS, DISCOURSES, 4.3.6 b –8
