I’ve always had a fascination with the fear of the dark. I never really experienced a real fear of the dark when I was younger, not that I recall, of course, then again my home growing up was never truly dark, either. Psychologists tell us that a fear of the dark is really a fear of the unknown and/or some leftover prey instinct we have from our days of living in caves. They also tell us that most children grow out of it by the time they become adults, theoretically because we know better what’s lurking in the dark and it’s no longer full of limitless possibilities and that makes it okay.
Now that I theoretically ‘know better’, I tend to have a love hate relationship with the dark. Sometimes it’s like when I was a kid – all the ‘real world’ goes away and you can hear the world without all that ‘other stuff’ getting in the way. The world is full of possibility and magic and wonder and unknowable possibilities. I like the world that way, it feels better and it makes more sense. On these days, I love to just spend time in the dark and feel the world uncaged. Other nights I know what’s out there, what kind of monsters are lurking in the dark, what’s possible and what isn’t anymore.
The thing that’s really important to me, though, is that when I realize I don’t know, the dark is a better safer place – the unknown makes the dark more comforting and when I know what’s out there, it’s a terrifying place. This duality is what fascinates me about the dark – and it reminds me that a lot in life really is just a matter of perspective. Is the unknown or the known more frightening? Do we want a world full of endless possibilities, both delightful and terrifying, or do we want a world full of knowns, both delightful and terrifying?
I don’t know. I sure wish I had something more insightful to say, but I suppose if I understood it thoroughly, I wouldn’t be quite so fascinated by it.
