In my mind, darkness is not a force to be crushed or defeated. How do you even go about eradicating shadows? I imagine one would have to position light fixtures from every conceivable angle and never turn them off. But in an artist's mind, rendering a subject with 100% light would flatten the image and make it cartoonish. Rendering shadow gives an object dimensionality, and that is the stuff of life. Artists must make friends with shadows or their art loses credibility. In real life, we don't turn off the light switch and turn on the shadow switch. Darkness is no more than the absence of light; it has no real existence of its own. It's just a default setting.
We don't live on an artist's canvas. In real life, we must navigate in daylight as well as in shadow. The earth will not stop spinning, so night time will always come - literally and emotionally.
There is a difference between darkness and evil. Darkness is inevitable and, as we tell children at bedtime, there's nothing to be afraid of. Evil, on the other hand, thrives on our fears and hides in the convenience of darkness. It's not the darkness itself that we can eliminate and we really have no reason to want to. It's the menacing evil when we magnify our fear that causes problems.
I've written a post or two about overcoming fear, so I'll leave it at that.
I would, however, like to draw the reader's attention to a best-selling book that has been around for several years and will always hold a special place in my heart: Women Who Run with the Wolves by Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés. Estés describes and explains the power of various cultural myths like a wise sage instructing young ladies on the verge of adulthood. Many of the myths concern sacred traditions of maturing that require learning from uncivilized sources. These uncivilized sources may be considered "dark" or "witchy".
My contention is that darkness is a fact of life and the strange creatures that dwell in the dark can be fantastic instructors. Dark creatures are also God's creatures, so let them serve their purpose. There's nothing to be afraid of.
Merry Christmas, Happy 2019! Make someone else's day magical!
Mackenzie
#WomenWhoRunWiththeWolves
#overcomefear
Nice post. I never thought of a difference between darkness and evil, just always figured they were the same and needed to be avoided.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting take. The older I get I find dark/light are rather subjective, but certainly people view that in different ways. I try to be a light wherever I am.
ReplyDeleteBut, I enjoyed this post, and the book selection.
-GGG
Good morning Grey, Grizzled and Gaijin, thanks so much for taking the time to read and post. I agree, dark and light are highly subjective, and being the brightest light we can be is a lifelong goal worth pursuing. My WIP addresses that and notes that the presence of a lighthouse is not to make the dangers hiding under the surface go away, but shine a light so the dangers can be safely navigated. Be well, shine on!
ReplyDelete