In every tradition, saints and poets speak of the soul’s search for the beloved, the seeker’s yearning for the divine, for the Self beyond ego. This holy longing is a secret feeling with many disguises, leading us to pursue a higher union in spiritual practice, religious discipleship, even romantic embrace. It guides us to timeless wisdom and transcendent experiences.
But it also can go awry when we project the divine onto a therapist, teacher, priest, guru, rabbi, or roshi who is all too human – who has unhealed wounds, undeveloped empathy, or authoritarian tendencies; in effect, a woman or man who has a shadow. If he or she abuses power– sexual, financial, or emotional coercion — we feel the shock of betrayal, our innocence lost, our faith destroyed.
Today, we have witnessed many contemporary teachers of Buddhist, Hindu Hasidic, Muslim, Catholic, and Protestant groups act out their shadows in destructive ways, leaving their followers traumatized and lost. This can be viewed as a mythological moment of ordeal or dark night of the soul.
Suffering spiritual disillusionment, we can learn to apply the tools of depth psychology and spiritual shadow-work to help us recover and rekindle the flame of longing in our souls.