Dark Night of the Soul' takes readers on a deeply spiritual journey through challenges, hardships, difficulties, and temptations to complete union with God. St. John narrates this journey of the soul, which requires death to self and detachment from the world. In a step - by - step process, he shows how God can use this 'dark night' to eventually bring our human spirits into great illumination, revealing: âEUR¢ Divine wisdom and the passion of divine love âEUR¢ How the soul can walk securely through the darkness and the wonderful effects that are wrought in the believer as a result of the dark night.