July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Only in the darkness can we see the light (04/21/06)
Guest opinion
By By Robert Lake-
True darkness is a refuge and a revelation. I remember standing in a church one Christmas Eve at a candle-lit service, at the moment of darkness when every light was out, and suddenly having a sense of the real power of the Christmas image of a light shining in the darkness.
I believe that long ago, the whole world was dark. Then there was electricity and now we have become cut off from the stars.
We are a neon, a halogen, laser, light bulb dazzled generation and most of us have never experienced true darkness at all.
What we think of as darkness is no more than a deeper kind of shade. But generations before us lived with true night-time darkness, a depth of darkness in which the light of a candle was a wonder — an image of huge power.
We use the word darkness as a synonym for the bad, but it isn’t. Darkness is good. Darkness is the soil out of which we come from and which we return. It is dark in the womb when we grow slowly, into a newborn.
We seek darkness at night when we need to shut down our physical and mental body for rest and repair. It is dark in the earth where bulbs and seeds begin to unfold before spring. It is dark in the places where we dream, cinema and theatre and our own beds.
It makes me sad that children are growing into adulthood in cities all over the world without truly experiencing darkness and its God-like meaning — a glimpse of the astonishing, mysterious universe of which our planet is a tiny part.
Some people feel fear and nothingness when they gaze at the night sky and realize how infintesimally small they are, but I find it comforting. It gives me an epic scale against which to measure myself as connected to the mysterious universe.
In the city, among the lights, I am sometimes astonished by the sight of the moon over the rooftops. Sometimes I stand out in my yard at night, transfixed by the brilliant golden glow at Mars in the east, by the creamy dust of the Milky Way.
Many winter nights, a clear night sky isn’t guaranteed, even if you can escape from light pollution, so I try to travel, driving from the city to country spots around Jay County.
You can see some of the brightest stars. It’s the most beautiful of paradoxes that we need to experience deep darkness to see the most brilliant of lights.
******
Lake, who is retired, is a Portland resident.[[In-content Ad]]
I believe that long ago, the whole world was dark. Then there was electricity and now we have become cut off from the stars.
We are a neon, a halogen, laser, light bulb dazzled generation and most of us have never experienced true darkness at all.
What we think of as darkness is no more than a deeper kind of shade. But generations before us lived with true night-time darkness, a depth of darkness in which the light of a candle was a wonder — an image of huge power.
We use the word darkness as a synonym for the bad, but it isn’t. Darkness is good. Darkness is the soil out of which we come from and which we return. It is dark in the womb when we grow slowly, into a newborn.
We seek darkness at night when we need to shut down our physical and mental body for rest and repair. It is dark in the earth where bulbs and seeds begin to unfold before spring. It is dark in the places where we dream, cinema and theatre and our own beds.
It makes me sad that children are growing into adulthood in cities all over the world without truly experiencing darkness and its God-like meaning — a glimpse of the astonishing, mysterious universe of which our planet is a tiny part.
Some people feel fear and nothingness when they gaze at the night sky and realize how infintesimally small they are, but I find it comforting. It gives me an epic scale against which to measure myself as connected to the mysterious universe.
In the city, among the lights, I am sometimes astonished by the sight of the moon over the rooftops. Sometimes I stand out in my yard at night, transfixed by the brilliant golden glow at Mars in the east, by the creamy dust of the Milky Way.
Many winter nights, a clear night sky isn’t guaranteed, even if you can escape from light pollution, so I try to travel, driving from the city to country spots around Jay County.
You can see some of the brightest stars. It’s the most beautiful of paradoxes that we need to experience deep darkness to see the most brilliant of lights.
******
Lake, who is retired, is a Portland resident.[[In-content Ad]]
Top Stories
9/11 NEVER FORGET Mobile Exhibit
Chartwells marketing
September 17, 2024 7:36 a.m.
Events
250 X 250 AD