Darkness
/We are used to phrases like these:
I’m afraid of the dark.
Be home before dark.
The dark night of the soul.
Keep someone in the dark.
And of course we know that stars shine brighter in the dark, the dark night of the soul leads to enlightenment, and darkness is not all bad. But, I invite all of us to consider our personal relationship with darkness. It might bring some insights of self-awareness or be a helpful metaphor for something in your life.
Every year, when the darkness comes earlier in the midwest, I start to get melancholy. I dread the lessened daylight. This winter, I’ve been working on my own relationship with darkness. I started talking walks in the evenings after dark. If you just thought, “oh Ginger, it is not safe to be out at night walking alone,” then you are especially who this email is written for.
It’s very peaceful on my dark walks. The world is more quiet. Deer are bedding down for the night in groups. There is a calm in the air. The rush of the day has lifted. Houses are cozy with lights on inside. My mind feels clearer. These walks have begun to re-shape my relationship with the dark.
How is your relationship with the dark?
As a society, we often make dark a bad thing. In faith we refer to seeing the light and avoiding darkness often. Racist people fear those with darker skin. Day feels safer to many of us than night. A black cat signals something eerie. Many epics like Star Wars and Harry Potter tell of the hero fighting against the powers of the darkside. These things lead to a bias that darkness is something to be avoided. But as compassionate and curious people, let’s see if we can flip that and see the beauty in the dark. It offers us something new. Something to ponder. Something to explore.
It makes sense that dark feels threatening to our brains. We can’t see as well. And when we can’t see, our brain sounds the alarms that a threat may be looming. This is another thing we have to work on to nuance our brain. It will default to safety every time. We have to stretch it to have a full life. Ranier Maria Rilke has a quote I return to when I need courage, “Whoever you are: some evening take a step out of your house, which you know so well. Enormous space is near.” This is a metaphor for stretching our brain beyond comfort to experience the enormity of this human experience.
If you are in a season of darkness, know that light always returns. The days will soon be longer, but until then maybe there is something to be found in the darkness.