Hi James,
James William Mitchell:
I couldn't sit for even five minutes without my mind screaming to stop immediately (and yet, in the background, knowing that there was more to do).
Note the screaming. Use "resisting?" as a note - giving it a questioning tone works well for me, ymmv. This is dukkha characteristic. btw.
Note the background knowledge of more to do. Use "hearing".
Note the fear, at the level of sensations. If there is a ball of fear in the stomach region, is it hot or cold? Does it expand or contract? Is there some rhythm to it? Note all that. This is not psychology, just noticing how it is to be a human being meditating in the spot you are in.
The suttas don't refer much of the dark night explicitly, but it's there in the Buddha's story, for example. Broke up his relationship, ran away, got into a strong renunciation trip, had falling-out with two teachers, then with even his closest friends, wanted to starve himself to death because he saw no other way out. How's that for a dark night?
That's what I meant by opinions making people miserable, btw. "It's not in the suttas, now I'm unsure how to proceed, which opinion is better, now I'm doubtful..." this stuff can and should be noted like anything else, of course.
You don't have to play with pure concentration practice. Like Trent wrote, you're already practicing concentration by doing vipassana. Dedicated practice, or starting a sit with concentration, will be a bit of extra training, that's all.
Going for a light, fun attitude in concentration training just helps, that's all. There is absolutely no extra merit in being extra miserable. The dark night isn't some kind of punishment we have to bear, it's just the discovery, at a very immediate level, of things like fear and misery within one's being, just like the A&P was the discovery of where joy and elation are to be found within one's being. Again, this is not psychology to explain something away, just observation of how it happens.
In short, it sucks, and you're not being naughty or anything for looking for a bit of temporary relief and just plain lubrication in the abrasive place where you're now. And you don't have to hit a jhana for the juice to show up, either, though chances are, as Trent points out, that jhana will arise anyway.
Cheers,
Florian