Worst stage of the path?

I know everyone is an individual and all that, but are there any general patterns in terms of which dark night is the worst? I just got SE and feel better than I have done in years. Please tell me pre-path DN is the worst?!

It differs for everyone. For me, post 3rd has been the worst. Right after 2nd was the least "suffering" per say but it was very confusing. I think it depends on your previous conditioning and what you are prone to be bothered by. That being said, some people fly by without much of a problem at all.

"It differs for everyone. For me, post 3rd has been the worst. Right after 2nd was the least "suffering" per say but it was very confusing. I think it depends on your previous conditioning and what you are prone to be bothered by. That being said, some people fly by without much of a problem at all. "

When you say 'worst,' how bad do you mean? Suicidal bad? I've been suicidal for ten years and just got SE and now don't feel suicidal anymore for the first time!! But I'm still scared of later DNs? Presumably it's not possible to extricate this from people's individual psychology/biology etc?

No, not suicidal, but I don't know what that feels like. Congrats on feeling better! My advice is take care of yourself psychologically by whatever means necessary while you pursue your meditation practice. This practice is not a substitute for any medication or therapy you may need.

Please take care of yourself, and you cannot know what the future parts of the path will be like, so no need to fuss over it now.

My 1st path dark night was much worse than pre SE. But it was over with fairly quickly. I think of my pre SE dark night as maybe spread out mildly over many years, and the 1st path one was more intensely concentrated into a couple of weeks. My theory would be it depends on how much stuff you have resisted at that strata in the past. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I think we just have to feel all that sucky sh*t and accept it and then it isn't so bad anymore.