Deep in the Dark: Abiding During the Dark Night of the Soul

I am a huge fan of TED Talks. I have listened to Brené Brown describe her “breakdown” when she discovered that the same thing she is avoiding continues to show up as the bedrock of authentic human living- vulnerability. (http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_listening_to_shame.html)  She then goes on to say that her spiritual director named her breakdown a “spiritual awakening.” I am wondering around the connection between “breakdown” and “spiritual awakening.”On a particular Sunday, I made this post on my Facebook page, “Was the writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes at the height of spiritual awakening or suffering from acute depression when he wrote the book?” This Book that seems to negate everything that human beings long for and aspire to achieve is unquestionably included in the Bible.My questions then are many. How would a faithful youth worker know that she/he is deep in the dark? I mean that point that transcends doubt and has plunged one into the deep abyss of darkness?  Is it real? Does it have a name? How has it been described in the long years of Christian history? What could be done? Or rather, what should not be done?These and many others are the questions I seek to engage during The Summit. I promise you that I have no answers to them. My hope is that we will be able to ask the questions and hold them together.Until then,Nkiru