Is the 'dark night of the soul' when God stops communicating with a saint?

That is an expression used by saints like St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila, who said her dark night lasted twenty years, so she knew the day it started and the day it stopped; this was not her imagination but a real movement in her soul, a spiritual vibrancy that she knew was different when it was not there. We are not sure how the soul absorbs a movement of God over and above the normal; it is mysterious, and there is no manual. But it is confirmed by the New Testament, where Paul lists the gifts of the Spirit, and to be a saint the Church requires miracles in the person's life. I can see why God might do this: the general principle is that we live by faith, not by sight. God would like to give us sight, but our first parents misused theirs, so now he requires faith, as he did of Abraham. So perhaps God says to a soul like Teresa's, now that you have known me in intimate ways, let us see if you can live without that vibrancy, humdrum day in and day out, and still believe, for twenty years, and come out saying, I believe because I believe. That is what he was looking for.