. Jake .:
Hi and welcome! --cool topic
describe in more phenomenological detail your meditation practice, and what you mean by dark night and equanimity. try to do this in plain descriptive language without using those terms.
My meditation practice usually consists of insight practice. I usually try to recognize the three characteristics in all phenomena that occur while I'm meditating: thoughts, emotions, physical sensations, etc.
I started meditating because I had some really bad panic attacks and after trying drugs and realizing they were only band-aid solutions. After I started meditating, I got into a deep deep depression that lasted for a month or so. Then it slowly cleared away and I felt an enormous amount of energy. I experienced a whole range of amazing emotions. Confidence, bliss, tranquility, you name it. I continued meditating and after a few months I felt this amazing peace... it was unlike anything I've ever experienced before. About a month or so after during one of my morning sits I experienced a "blip"... or a reset? I honestly don't know what to call it. I was reading MCTB at the time and I figured this is stream entry. A wave of good feelings washed over me.
Honestly, I should have clarified about dark night and equanimity. I am honestly not sure where on the path I am. After my "blip", things have changed drastically. For the first month or so afterwards, I had an enormous amount of energy. I partied a lot, I just wanted to be around people. Afterwards, I started to cycle from really high highs to really low lows. It felt like I was on a roller coaster ride. But slowly, I secluded myself more and more. I felt a lot of negativity. Sadness, anxiety, etc. This is usually when my vivid dreams occurred. After a while, it started to give and I felt at peace for a week or so. Then it started happening again. I really got sick of it so I switched over to do strictly concentration practice. The darkness really gave away then and I felt normal again.
Then if you could clarify how you approach dreamwork, what you hope to get out of it, that could help guide responses to that aspect of it.
I don't really plan on doing any "dreamwork". Honestly, I'm naturally a curious person and when I started seeing these dreams occur I figured it might be due to my meditation practice. I wasn't sure if there was some underlying message inside my dreams to better help guide me through my dark night, or life in general.
Anyways, this has been a lot longer than I intended. Thank you for reading.