I found this article from Time magazine deeply moving:


http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1655415,00.html


In it, is described how Mother Teresa, who ministered to the poorest of the poor, and epitomized charity and love for one's fellow human being, had, for many decades a  "dark night of the soul," as it were - feeling a disconnect from God and Heaven, even coming to doubt the existence.  I was a bit appalled that her private confessions were kept and released against her wishes - it seems that common respect would have kept the confessions in confidence. 

However, I am interested in the opinions of others on this story.  Many spiritual christians on this website believe that the two most important practices in life are love of God and love of one's fellow human beings.  Mother Teresa epitomized both, at least as far as one could see, however, she did not, apparently feel the connectedness that went along with her good works - for many, many years.


Matthew

Hey DocM,

it is for sure astonishing to read about such experiences as felt as a disconnection between God and a saint like Mother Teresa.
But doubts are even a part of believing, even believers ask themselves if that what they are doing is wether right or wrong.
Maybe it was kind of asking herself, if it was enough she has done to gather gods love, it really sounds like she was on a journey to the ultimate truth about God and life itself, and if there are no proper answers (it is comparable to the doubts that also appear on this board about god, the afterlife and their existence), it is outsourcing, so to say, a "dark night of the soul". For me it is not that god was absent, just her doubts have overgrown the feeling of being part of him.

If believing had been nonsense for her, she would have quittet the service she was doing and searched for something else. But it seems that it was a serious issue for her, being with god (if it was the other way around she would not have helped in his name.
Referring to the sentence "I want you to pray for me", it is best expressed, she seemed to think of herself not being able to connect with god, maybe we could talk of lacking guidance, maybe she desired more of it, and by being unfulfilled, it felt like being an empty shell, that is forsaken, kind of a lacking affirmation (for her) of the divine one.

But doubts and believe go hand in hand, doubts are there to make you search for your true, innermost deeply beliefs, and to find out, what they are, what does not mean, that the ansers reveal just the very moment you search for them, like it was for her, they were fellows for decades!
So feeling to have lost the touch, means not actually that god let her down.
Maybe it is more difficult for people like her to find pleasing arguments and answers, could be really like she searched for a deeper relationship, than that she towards god, and so for her it felt like falling apart from him. She thought she was incapable, I think she was not forsaken, just sort of broken.

Stupid as it sounds, life is full of ups and downs, for some the downs last much longer.

Love,

pulsar

Perhaps she was more of a believer and service Soul, rather than a mystic.  Unless our beliefs are backed by mystical experience, they are liable to be challenged.

It could also be that early on in her life she was inspired to help, but later on it became more of a duty, partly to maintain her reputation.

It could be that things became a bit ritualistic. I don't remember the exact details, but I remember reading once that her sisters would get up early every morning so they could pray for four hours. I've found this isn't a positive approach to spirituality. It is better to pray/meditate according to need and inspiration, not according to an enforced schedule. Eventually things can become dry. When a meditation session doesn't feel productive, I stop.

She also exposed herself to the energy of a lot of sad and sick people. This is liable to take its toll after a while. An improper diet, possibly due to the places she lived, also could of had an effect.

I receive lots of energetic work from the spirit of Christ. This certainly helps me. I wonder if she opened herself up to such help.

There is also the factor of whether or not she included in her spirituality, the practice of letting go of though patterns that effected her in a non-positive way. For example, if she had some traumatic issues from her childhood (I have no way of knowing about this), and she didn't clear them up, they might've festered within her energetic system. I've found that when it comes to becoming spiritually clear, Christ can't do his part, if I don't do my part.

hate to possibly burst the bubble, but i don't think mother theresa was the saintly person she portrayed herself as.  more like a scamming sadist.  here's a video on the kind of conditions she actually put people in:  http://youtube.com/watch?v=8q1m-8npkJ4 (contains profanity)

also gandhi did great things, but was a racist - http://youtube.com/watch?v=j-QK35hYIWo&mode=related&search= (also profanity)

I think I'm with Bets on this one. Mother Theresa is like a social worker who also happens to have religion. what frequently happens of a natural course in the helping fields, which includes nurses, social workers, counselors, probation officers, etc. is a thing called burn out. when that happens they will either get into another line of work or go into that soul searching, perhaps like a dark night of the soul, as their existence and identity is tied up in what they are doing, and frankly, people in these helping fields will go through phases where it looks like everything you say and do is just not working to help (fill in the blank)

when this happens, I say its natural, because before you can help another, whether it's a spiritual business, or your career in any field, you have to take care of yourself first or the body organism will suffer itself the same, with the defeatist thoughts. and it's true, that if you feel tired you should take a nap. Driven people, inspired people don't take naps, or breaks to reconnect with the source of life, whether that is nature, or their god.

love, alysia

Hey there,

have to agree on the "burn out" point, made by Alysia. There has to be rest, or else it will turn out negative.
But it is maybe too much in our heads, that we have to be on the standby-mode, so that we are available if someone pushs the button.
But it really happens to be, like it was said before, that if you really found a task you like to fulfill and your on it with your heart and soul, you mostly ignore the signs, if they are made by the body or the mind, in order not to let down the ones that depend on your work. It's really like "check yourself before you wreck yourself"?!

So who helps the helpers?

Love,

pulsar

Hey there,

varja, that is what exactly what begins to fade away, real compassion.
But sad to say that, what we get taught regularly, over-self-confidence, craving to be, you called it "something" (someone), that we can rely on.
Is this something out of that what the majority claims to be right, you would be immediately nothing, how stupid... .
This conditioning thing is what we shall get used to, routine, to function like a machine (that is what I consider the issue that has brought her to the "dark night of the soul", I mean, you can give a certain amount of love, if you do something by heart, but there must be time to refresh, to regain energy, that you can go on to pass love) , so this turns into a race, who is no.1? I am pretty sure it could also work if we would see it like everyone gives his/her contribution to the world, in how far he/she is capable of, without making it a competition.
There is too much focus on success and money (even if we need it here, in a certain amount to have a living), everyone is only a number in a big pile of registration formulas, we could make it also work if there was more "feelings" involved, an interest in which persons around one works with, in my pov it would state a positive "climate".
Human became too much of a god, so we lost that ouf of the mind.

I would go that far to say, egotistical behaviour indicates lack of self-compassion, and the need to be the best in order to show that you have "balls". It is a way to overcome hating oneself, but not the right one.
But driven by the idea always to win, you would immediately make others hate you.

Maybe our heart is wiser than our mind.

Love,

pulsar

I guess the magical thing about the way this total reality works B is that everything is arguably exactly what it needs to be for the ultimate good of all.

Just theorising, but you could argue that among the many many dimensions that determine that total picture:

Mother T maybe wasn't (despite the Church hopping on the bandwagon and her ending up a media celebrity and probably a saint) realised, but on the other hand she probably learned (or was exposed to) exactly the lessons she needed to truly care more about herself.

The church in the meantime was helped (and it's probably important that there's a simple stable system of conventional belief around for those needing rules), but on the other hand maybe reminded of the need to stick with the basics.

She in the meantime did good work for some created additional awareness of the situation of the poor in an uncaring world. Many of the poor have their own lessons to learn out of being poor, but compassion is really important in the mix because it lessens the likelihood that having escaped that their response will be to put down others out of fear of its happening again....