The primordial darkness [Greek: ἄβυσσος; Hebrew: תֹ֙הוּ֙ וָבֹ֔, English: abyss] is not merely absence nor lack, but a space of fecund possibility, the womb of creation itself. This presentation explores mystical darkness as a transformative space for spiritual purification, social resistance, and divine encounter through the works of San Juan de la Cruz, Howard Thurman, and Raimon Panikkar.
Each theologian reframes darkness—not as absence or despair but as a site of re-creations: San Juan’s noche oscura purifies the soul, Thurman’s luminous darkness resists racial oppression, and Panikkar’s advaitic mysticism dissolves dualistic thought.
In dialogue with liberation theologies, this presentation reclaims the spaces of mystical darkness as a sacred, generative force, challenging theological traditions that privilege light and offering a vision where transformation unfolds within the shadows of the dawn of new life.