I am sitting here, my monitor light turned down to a gentle dullness and no other lights on but a fleet of strategically placed candles throughout my apartment.
It's nice.
The first time I did this, I left all my lights on. I didn't even think to turn them off. I must admit, I lit the candles to play with the fire and not to light anything but in truth, the next time when I accidentally flicked the switches off and saw how lovely the room glowed, I began to ponder about our need to be in the light. Not metaphorically but literally. We like bright places, look at Las Vegas.
I remember sitting in the family room during my adolesence, reading by the light reflected from outside and my mum, without fail, coming over and turning on a lamp. Telling me it was too dark. I always thought to myself, "It can't be too dark if I can still read" but avoided saying that, since the mother has the supreme powers of punishing one's ass if they talk out of turn and I'm not a fan of punishment. No, I'm really not.
I have always wondered about these memories, but that concept slowly became ingrained and low and behold I am one of those people who can't do anything without turning a light on and speculates whether it's wise to turn it off.
In my defense, these days it's cheaper to pay the electric bill rather than enough candles to last a month. People who are the 'Candle Makers' don't get orders in the volume they used to so now the trade is for 'artists' who charge several very pretty pennies for their goods. You can buy them cheaply from Ikea, but they are as good a quality as the rest of their balsa-wood crud. Candles simply are not practical anymore, despite how lovely they are.
So I decided to do an experiment, one that didn't tie into this subject until I was at the end. Every now and then I like to test myself. I took a rather long scarf, tied it across my eyes and wandered around my apartment like we did in grade school to understand what it was like to be blind. I did the dishes, even folded my laundry. At the end I realized I didn't turn off any of my lights. I even turned a couple on, out of habit.
What for!?! I couldn't see; it wasn't enhancing anything or aiding me in any way shape or form, because I couldn't see shape or form. I even chided myself for such a silly thing and a minute later did it again.
We all think we need so much light, but do we really?
I think there's a chronic fear of the Boogey Man and because of that jerk we have to make sure every inch of the path is lit. No more milling in the dark for us, waiting for something to happen. No ninja can get us with our pants down if there's no shadows to hide in. Right?
Well, this is my thought anyway. I'll work on this myself, although the whole Boogey dude thing does seem to play it's part but I actually like the dark, or at least I did. I hope I can become reacquainted.
Sincerely,
Dust in the Wind
