| | Hey Michael,
This will not be a very thorough answer to your question so it would be great if someone else was to tackle it a bit better.
The thing about the stages of insight (Dark Night included) is that while they are symptoms of insight practice (which may or may not be meditation based, since for example the A&P is easily accessible through other means such as drugs), they too have emotional, perceptual, psychological, even physical to some extent, symptoms themselves. In the case of the Dark Night the best method of illustration is to compare it to a strong and persistent case of depression (even though different people experience it differently but this is often-times a common feature). The problem with this is that some people may then believe that they are in the Dark Night whereas in fact they are simply having psychological difficulties. Equally, I have met a fair share of people who were almost certainly in the midst of a Dark Night but did not believe that such a thing was possible, existed, or could possibly be happening to them, blaming it instead on their psychology. The problem with this is that therapy can not resolve what is being presented by the Dark Night, the only thing that goes through this is insight. This results in what is here referred to as a chronic Dark Night yogi (someone more or less permanently suffering from Dark Night symptoms).
So to return to your question, Dark Night is brought about through the practice of insight (conscious or not), but it hits all aspects of ones life and experience, same as the other stages. There are some common features to some of these stages that make diagnosis possible.
As for a difference between insight gained through meditation or through daily life, there are a lot of differences in how they manifest and in how one relates to them (but they are the same thing). It is, for example, very easy to believe the A&P to be something it is not, or it is easy to blame the Dark Night on outside influences or psychological makeup, if one is unaware of what these things actually are. Also, I would argue that it is very near impossible to get good at this stuff, or to get a couple of paths, let alone getting enlightened, without a very serious and determined practice, I do not think that this stuff is easily achievable in daily life (unless one was to do insight in daily life, which may be very difficult early on).
Was there a specific reason why you asked this question?
All the best,
Pavel |