Here's a classic diagnosis: Bright lights, strong concentration, etc, all A&P.
The misery that comes after that, which sucks, is dark night, as you correctly hinted.
It is normal to cycle back and forth between both without any apparent alternative.
The way forward is to go "through" the dark night into Equanimity. The way to do this (the way I've done this) is to meditate with the dark night symptoms until you are able to be equanimous towards them; one day they won't seem so bad, and then soon after that they are gone, replaced by a new kind of mental ability. It is not the fancy super-energetic bliss of the A&P, it is way less fancy and yet much better, for it is devoid of the euphoric rush, the insatiable drive, which characterises A&P. "All is well."
Joshua L.:
Hey,
I chip away up through the 3C's until I get into A&P territory, then each sit nearly I cycle into A&P pretty easily, I get very confident and spiritual driven, by the book, eventually I'll have some epic bliss out accompanied by a dramatic shift and this brief sense of kundalini bursting out of me like a smokestack,
A&P followed by "unknowing event".
afterwards in subsequent days that A&P becomes a memory and I no longer can meditate well, I usually feel like I'm wasting my time, and often begin dreaming while attempting to meditate.
Dark night.
I am very confused by this because I would love to assume that this is DN territory, but wouldn't I have to cycle through the 1st and 2nd jhanas to get there, and yet I rarely hit the 1st during these phases.
You'll have to ask someone else about that. I haven't enough practice with jhanas.
To make matters worse, this is only describing my current last couple months, previously I really believed I was experiencing Dissolution and beyond because I'd feel my body disolve, the white lights go out and a drop after the A&P climax, and then after passing through all that (without any negativity, but without positivity as well) I'd pop out feeling equanimous,
This is dissolution, it is the nana corresponding to third jhana. After this comes the suffering stages, and after those comes real equanimity.
The sudden loss of concentration is a hallmark of the beginning of the dark night. Well done!