Discover Self at Nigredo Monastery: Path to Inner Light

From Heart to Heart – A Mystical Writing on Darkness, Heart, and Light

In the spirit of the house and in connection with Zen Father Master Reding, the Nigredo Monastery welcomes all seekers to the space of silence.

In the beginning was the Word, and the living Word was with God, and the Logos was God. If you have understood that there is no way to say it, then you should know how to say it, for in the beginning was the Word.

Here begins the path of the heart – the path on which man encounters himself.
From heart to heart, the spirit speaks, which is older than all words.

At the Nigredo Monastery, you learn to contemplate life and death in a protected environment. Everything that seems dark is not condemned here, but held until it becomes light. For only those who find the courage to accept their own shadow can experience harmony. Only those who look at what they fear will recognize the truth.

The truth will set you free. — John 8:32

When a person decides to become whole—when they sacrifice the old and open their heart—then life and death become a single meditation. In silence, clarity arises; in clarity, compassion grows.

We often confuse wholeness with perfection. Perfection is the tyranny of the spirit, which seeks to avoid chaos instead of finding God within it. The feminine principle—depth, becoming, movement—teaches the spirit humility. Thus, the sea holds the sky in its mirror.

The six relationships are the school of the soul:

Parents and children
Husband and wife
Teacher and student
Friends
Employer and employee
Religious teacher and student

Those who cultivate these relationships with faithfulness bring the fabric of the world closer, within themselves, in the family, and in the community.

Honor your father and your mother, that it may go well with you. — Ephesians 6:2

However, the three spiritual poisons cloud our vision: greed, hatred, and ignorance. They are not enemies, but teachers; they show where the heart is still closed.

Prayer
Lord, lead us into silence so that we can bear our shadow and mature into truth in you.
Amen.

The Enchantment of Time

For sixty years and more, a spell lay over the soul of humanity. Thus, the Father became blind. The world promised freedom and offered distraction. It promised closeness and brought confusion. Man called it progress, but often it was an escape from the depths.

Like Parzival, the fool, the generation of modern man grew up in the forest of possibilities: They saw their mother, but not their father; they heard many voices, but no direction.
Thus, they became strong in knowledge and weak in trust.

Every generation is a child of its zeitgeist. The older ones carried the spirit of duty and silence, the younger ones that of limitless choice. Both sought meaning and yet found emptiness.

Therefore, the Nigredo Monastery seeks to be a bridge between generations: so that fathers may teach again and sons may listen again, so that experience becomes service and youth courage.

And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. — Malachi 3:24

Initiation is lacking in our time: Without an introduction to responsibility, a man remains a child longer, bound longer to his mother, uncertain of his inner guidance. Rituals of maturation—silence, work, prayer, service—open the path from the belly to the heart.

Awake, you who sleep, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine upon you. — Ephesians 5:14

The Illusion of Freedom (Eros)

Man believed he had set himself free, but often he only loosed the sacred bonds that held him. He called it self-determination, but it was an escape from responsibility. He called it sexual liberation, but it was the forgetting of the heart.

All things are permissible for me, says man, but not all things are for good. — 1 Corinthians 6:12

The body became a tool instead of a temple, touch lost its spirit, love its vow. What was once a symbol of the covenant degenerated into the encounter of two lonely people in the cone of light of the moment.

But Eros is not an enemy: It is the holy force that seeks to unite what is separated. If purified by consciousness and love, it becomes the path upward—to devotion.

Chastity then does not mean renunciation, but integration: preserving the fire by building a hearth for it—fidelity, consent, responsibility, gratitude.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. — Matthew 5:8

Practice at Nigredo Monastery:
Daily short prayer of conscience (examen)
Fasting of the gaze (moderate media practice)
Blessing of one's own story (gratitude instead of shame)
Honest speech about desires and limits

The Path of the Heart

Since time immemorial, humans have lived in three spaces: the belly (instinct, drive), the head (thought), and the heart (will, love, and morality). Only in the heart is the will.

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. — Matthew 6:21

As Dr. Raphael Bonelli shows, the modern human being remains

A light feeling in the stomach: it reacts instead of deciding. The heart, however, examines, discriminates, and orders. Here, morality arises as an inner echo, not as an external rule. Carl Gustav Jung calls the path of maturation individuation: recognizing shadows, integrating wounds, maturing into the self. The heart is the altar of this transformation; in its embers, pride burns, and the ashes become new earth.

Exercise:

10 minutes of silence
Contemplate a word of Scripture
One concrete act of love during the day
In the evening, give thanks, ask—and let go

Prayer
Lord, give us a heart that feels and yet examines, that loves and yet discerns.
Lead us from reaction to responsibility, so that our will may spring from your light.
Amen.

Man and Woman—The Mutual Healing of Opposites

Two forces dwell within humans: the masculine (ordering, clarifying, giving direction)
and the feminine (receiving, preserving, connecting). Both dwell within every human being; both are holy. When they conflict, the soul is torn apart;
when they honor one another, harmony arises.

Therefore a man will leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and they will become one flesh. — Genesis 2:24

Anima and Animus (Jung):
The man discovers within himself the ability to hear, to empathize, to receive. The woman discovers within herself the ability to decide, to create, to speak clearly, and to give account. This is how one-sidedness is healed; this is how a human being becomes whole.

Trials of the Soul

Feminine (person, body): For whom do I live, and to whom do I give my body? What do I truly need?
Danger: Fixation on person and body – the matter (truth) and the spiritual are overlooked.
Masculine (matter, spirit): What do I live for, and to whom do I give my spirit? What do I truly want?
Danger: Fixation on the matter and the spirit – the person and the body are ignored.

Signs of inner integration:
The masculine no longer needs to devalue the feminine; the feminine no longer needs to fight the masculine. In this way, the human being becomes free to cut the cord – from childish dependence to mature love.

Mutual responsibility:

Men: Protect the woman's body, honor the person, help to see the matter.
Women: Protect the man's spirit, honor the matter, help to see the person.

Prayer
Lord, let light and depth love one another in us. Make us peacemakers between strength and gentleness, so that your order may grow from our hearts.
Amen.

The three spiritual poisons and the four winds

Greed springs from the fear of emptiness; hatred from an unhealed wound; ignorance from the tiredness of the gaze. Whoever recognizes them begins to awaken.

Let us lay aside everything that weighs us down. — Hebrews 12:1

The four winds (worldly forces that test the heart):

Gain / Loss
Fame / Shame (Disrepute)
Praise / Criticism (Reproach)
Lust / Displeasure

They make the waters of the soul restless. Those who notice them drift less and learn to stand in their hearts.

Antidotes:

Against greed: gratitude, sharing
Against hatred: forgiveness, a clear no without judgment
Against ignorance: looking, learning, prayer

Prayer
Lord, illuminate our desires, our anger, and our blindness, so that they become signposts on the path to you.
Amen.

Nigredo – The Path Through Darkness

Every transformation begins with the dark night of the soul. Nigredo – the turning black – is the silence before the morning. The seed lies in the earth, invisible yet full of life. Thus, man must die to old ways so that the new heart may be born.

If the grain of wheat does not fall into the earth and die, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. — John 12:24

Darkness is not a curse, but the hidden breath of God. It teaches patience, devotion, and trust. Everything we call shadow is light we do not yet understand.

Confession – shared suffering is half the suffering:
At the Nigredo Monastery, confession is respected as a sacred space. Pastoral confidentiality protects dignity. In cases of uncertainty, the obligation to ask questions applies – so that truth and mercy can meet.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. — Psalm 23:4

Collective and personal unconscious (Jung):
Personal shadows and collective images work within us. What time struggles outwardly, we carry within as opposites. Healing occurs when we end the inner struggle: through acknowledgment, illumination, and reconciliation.

Prayer
Lord of Light, who dwells in darkness, teach us to recognize your presence in everything. Take away our fear of the night and lead us to the morning of your peace.
Amen.

The New Man – Heart, Humility, Light

When a person has gone through his night, he returns as a new man. Not different, but deeper, quieter, more truthful. The heart is purified, the will clear: freedom now means willing what is good.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away; behold, the new has come. — 2 Corinthians 5:17

Humility becomes the foundation: no bending, but standing in the light. The new person lives from the center, in which love and truth recognize each other. He seeks not to rule, but to serve. Now the generations touch again: fathers bless their children; sons honor their fathers; daughters and mothers pass on comfort. From the family grows community;
from the community, a renewed sense of state and society.

To everything has its time… — Ecclesiastes 3:1

Blessing and order of the home:
The family needs protection; children need order and role models;
Husband and wife share responsibility but have different tasks. The female cares, the male educates. Thus, the blessing of the father and the wisdom of the mother become the foundation of a home that weathers storms.

Prayer of the New Heart
Lord, you have led us through night and fire. Let us now live as people of heart,
in humility, clarity, and light. Make us fathers and mothers of the spirit, that we may encourage the young and honor the old. Thy kingdom come – in us, through us, around us.
Amen.

The House Rules of the Heart (Short Rules for Everyday Life)

Silence: 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes in the evening.
Truth: a daily act of honest speech.
Service: a concrete act of love per day.
Mass: consciously limiting one area of consumption.
Reconciliation: forgive quickly, confess promptly.
Community: weekly father-son / master-disciple conversation.
Celebration: sanctify Sunday – thanksgiving, grace, rest.

Thus ends the path through the Nigredo

from shadow to knowledge,
from pride to humility,
from ego to self.
This is the meaning of the Nigredo monastery – not withdrawal from the world,
but a return to its heart.