From St. John of the Cross and Dr. C. J. Jung, Part III, Chapter 9. Inner Growth Books, 1986.
A Psychological Dark Night
This attitude of receptivity will in the absence of contemplation easily be transformed into a receptivity that will become aware of the contents in the unconscious which have
attained almost enough energy in order to become conscious. If for someone like Molinos they have a sexual nature, then he will begin to create spiritual explanations, i.e., the devil wishes to stop the practice of this contemplation.
By calling this a psychological dark night I am trying to point out its continuity with other developmental problems
where energylessness and the search for a new attitude play major roles. From this point of view this dark night is a call to psychological growth. The functions that were engaged in the life of prayer can no longer work as they did before, but if the psyche can be developed, new energy will be available to employ in praying.
But we are at a delicate
point. To imply that psychological development is the total answer would obscure the fact that we are dealing with the spiritual life, while to talk in a purely spiritual language like the active contemplatives is to miss the very real and important psychological dimension.
Both these directions must be taken into account if we are to arrive at a
viable solution. We can hardly say that we can no longer employ the natural faculties if, in fact, there is a whole dimension of the psyche which could become conscious and add an important breadth to these faculties. Individuation is a much more comprehensive way of judging what belongs to the natural psyche, and thus to what St. John calls meditation. I have looked at this developmental problem elsewhere from a typological point of view, and there is abundant literature on individuation. (33)
It is the other half of the question that is much less talked about.