Colleen was
out of the country with her family for most of the week, leaving me at home and
in charge of the various animals in the house (For those who don’t regularly
follow this blog, I live with my in-laws with the house separated into two separate
units). It was on an overcast night when I was taking the dog out before bed
that I noticed just how dark it was. We live out in the country, so the only
lights around at night are the ones on the houses. Outside the bubble of light
from the house, the rest of the one-acre property was almost completely black.
My stomach
clenched in its way of saying, “We’re not really
going out there, are we?” while the dog tugged playfully at the end of his
leash. It struck me, then, how much instinct we have built into our system –
and close to the top of those instincts is a fear of the dark.
I found
myself wondering why that is. The answer is obvious for if we look to the past,
before we had all this technology – back then, there was a lot of danger out in
the darkness. Now, though, we've tamed the world. At least, the parts we live
in. There’s almost no chance of a threat being out there.
Yet, still,
our instincts tell us to freeze – to stay in the safety of the light. We know it is safe. In my case, I even had
a dog with me, with senses far better than mine, showing no signs of distress.
Still, I
hesitated. My instincts told me not to go. I realized that it was more about
the uncertainty than the darkness itself. I'm used to being able to see
everything around me, of knowing when there was a threat. What the darkness hid
wasn't something I was afraid of, but the potential of something – anything –
being out there. The fear wasn't of the dark, but of the inability to know for
certain everything was fine, even though I was already certain.
Once I left
the “safety” of the light, my eyes started adjusting to the darkness. It wasn't
so much that I could see everything, but I could see enough to feel comfortable
and confident. That’s when I realised there could be something more behind our innate
fear of darkness.
Our ability
to create light.
Ever since
we discovered how to make fire, humans have been able to control light and
banish the darkness. Our instincts became based around staying in the light,
where we could see clearly. Meanwhile, those same instincts gradually forgot
that by being out in the darkness for just a little while, our eyes adjust and
we can actually see fairly well. So, we keep to the light.
The ironic
part is that someone (or something) out in the dark can actually see more than
someone in the light. More than that, from the darkness, someone in the light
sticks out as a clear target.
If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.
