Shiva-Ratri is the destruction of the ego (PFT attitude) in the discovery of the Self (Shiva).

Lord Shiva at Chinmaya Mission San Jose, CA

"Nature specializes in a kind of Paradox: Nature destroys and her destructions are all always constructive destructions. The bud is destroyed when the flower blooms, and the flower fades when the fruit emerges, and the fruit decays when seeds are scattered and seeds decay when plants sprout.
This process of constructive destruction is Shiva, the annihilator. This Shiva-Ratri is the destruction of the ego (PFT attitude) in the discovery of the Self (Shiva).
May all devotees come to experience at least the shy rays of the early dawn at the end of one's inner ratri, in emerging beams of Shiva spirit in us.

Be quiet. Be silent within. Blind.Deaf, Mum - be. Invoke. Be expectant.
Let Shiva happen - TRY."
-Swami Chinmayananda