Eckhart Tolle describes the dark night of the soul as what happens when the story you built your life around falls apart. A parent whose child rejects them, becomes seriously ill, or dies loses not just that person but the narrative that gave them purpose, leaving a darkness that can linger for years.
What triggers the dark night of the soul, this deep sense of pointlessness and the emotion that goes with it, just the heaviness, it's often triggered by the collapse of ultimately a certain narrative that gave meaning to your life. But not only that, it also provided you with a sense of identity, of self. Let's say your meaning is you have a child or you have children and your children give meaning to your life, which is wonderful. And then the child does something really stupid and walks away from it all, disregards all that you have done for him or her, even worse, becomes ill and maybe even dies. It does happen. Everything collapses in your life. Everything. Your You're not just deeply sad at the death of a loved one, which is normal, but you become despondent and you become consumed by the sadness, and the sadness becomes a darkness that envelops you, and it can go on for a long time.
Why alcohol feels like relief, and what it is really giving you | Eckhart Tolle
