“The Dark Night of the Soul” is a chapter from the book Writing at the World's End by Richard Miller. In this chapter, Miller provides many examples of how reading and writing help the world and asks questions to discover whether literature and its teachings cause change in the present. Miller states, “Why bother reading and writing when the world is so clearly going to hell?” (The Dark Night of the Soul 433). I believe this is the best statement to summarize what Miller is trying to convey. Why read? Why write? Will it matter in the end? Does it really help anyone? These are all questions that arise to the author while reading this chapter. What is the dark night of the soul? It is a term used to describe what might be called the collapse of perceived meaning in life, the eruption into your life of a profound sense of meaninglessness. The inner state in some cases is very close to what is usually called depression. Nothing makes sense anymore, nothing has purpose anymore. Sometimes it is triggered by some external event, perhaps some disaster, on an external level. This could be triggered by the death of a loved one, especially an untimely death, for example if your child dies. Or you have built your life and given it meaning, and the meaning you have given to your life, your activities, your achievements, where you are going, what is considered important and the meaning you have given to your life, for for some reason, it collapses. In a religious meaning, I believe it is best described by St. John of the Cross as “the journey of the soul towards the divine union of God's love” (Perrine). The darkness represents the hardships and difficulties the soul encounters in detaching from the world and reaching the… middle of the paper… taking the page out of one's books and trying to live our lives with one's teachings in mind. The importance of having a good support system that we all create is of great importance and the effects of not creating such a system could be disastrous. Our future, confidence and even self-respect can be affected if we don't create our own motivation or have the rock, so to speak, to always be there for us to get through. Instead of avoiding difficult situations in our lives, we should face them, because avoiding them will only make the situation worse. Dealing with the situation may not always be the path of least resistance, but it can be a very important decision in the long run. Whether what drives each of us is reading, writing, movies, or music, I hope we can all find it and put it to good use, and become better people through it...