Stay in the Light

“Welcome to the dark side...”

We all know what that means. Even if we have never seen ‘Star Wars’ we recognise the inference in those words.

The word ‘dark’ is commensurate with the unknown and things that are unknown are things to be feared.

Hundreds of thousands of year’s worth of honing the survival instinct has led to us developing, if not a fear, a distrust of the dark.

Light is good; dark is bad.

As a young lad I was happy to wander around the neighbourhood in the dark. The night was like a protective blanket wrapped around me. The reasoning was that if I could see nothing then a potential threat would be, equally, unable to see me.

I am still comfortable in darkness. Of course, there is now the knowledge that there are things out there in the dark that have different senses than do I. There are things with different tastes, different visual ranges and things with acute hearing.

Ghosts? Ghosts, if they exist, are intangible. If we cannot touch them then they cannot touch us.

Darkness, for us human beings, is unknown. It is the fear of the unknown that constrains us in our day-to-day lives.

How often have we shied away from a possible adventure or course of positive action because we fear that unknown?

Some years ago there was a list passed around informing us that a new base of operations was opening up in a desirable part of the country. The list was originated in a place that was complained about. The majority of people there said that it was a dreadful place to be and how wonderful it would be if only they could relocate elsewhere.

The list was where people could append their names in order to volunteer to go to this new place.

A year later there was news that the new place was to open imminently. All those, and there were very many of them, who had volunteered to go to the new place could now confirm their wish to relocate; they could then be selected for a move.

There was, instantly, rending of sack-cloth and pouring of ashes.

Oh, how desirable it would be to go to this new place if only...

The excuses tumbled out. The wife has a good job here, the children have exams...

The dawn of a fresh start in the new place was glowing bright on the Eastern horizon and fear set into their hearts.  Hard, cold and brittle fear. The volunteers, so ardently desirous in the initial stages, were now faced with a door in their lives. To go through that door meant facing the unknown, a place of darkness.

Placing a hand on the handle of that door was a step too far; retractions came thick and fast.

We are all of that ilk. Every one of us dislikes something new. Opening that door to a new opportunity is just too much—far better to stay where we are, where it is safe, where we know our surroundings.

Familiarity is comfort, safe.

What if we open that door and see... darkness?