For many, night is the signal for conviviality and entertainment. As if the glare of daylight inhibits emotions, night is nearly everywhere viewed as a time of reverie and socializing.
For the solitary and the reflective, night closes the labored schemes and necessary relationships of society and daytime. Night closes another output of work, study, service, [...]

Western mystics describe similar experiences, but there is no mystic personality type. Nor, strictly speaking, are they necessarily solitaries or even introverts.
For example: Hildegard of Bingen was a strong-willed and creative artist willing to confront bishops and bureaucrats. Meister Eckhart was a scholar who preached regularly to a parish of intellectually humble minds. Teresa [...]