Creating Light in a World of Darkness
How an unexpected YouTube video woke me up and directed me towards the light
While browsing through YouTube one day, a video caught my eye. Released by the channel Disrupt over a year ago, it was about a man who spent a week in total darkness.
Being a voracious consumer of media, I clicked.
It woke me the hell up.
An estimated 5% of American adults, according to a survey conducted in 2001, had a fear of the dark, or nyctophobia. A popularized explanation for this phobia is that people aren’t scared of the darkness itself, but rather, fear what the darkness conceals.
In short, people fear what they cannot see or predict: they fear the unknown. The dark is a tangible experience of this fear.
Jak Wilmot, the subject in this YouTube video, combats the unpredictability of his environment by creating a daily routine for himself, keeping a simple checklist of items to complete, such as running on a treadmill.
The action of creating a routine allowed Wilmot to be certain of the things he could control. In his situation, there were really only two things he could be certain of, his present current moment, and the fact that after one week he would be able to leave the room.
This same concept can be applied to life. In life, we are only certain of two things: Death and the present moment.
However, there is just so much constantly happening in the world around us, that often, we forget just how valuable our time is until all the lights go out and we’re forced to confront the realities of the world.
Wilmot remarks at one point that
There was no differentiation between yesterday and today. Only present space.
Your reality is what you make of it. Either you choose to make the most out of your days and time, or time will run on without you and the days will melt into one. Even when we aren’t making the most of our days it feels like we are, because we are so constantly distracted.
We don’t realize just how removed we are until we’re stripped of everything we know and thrown into the unknown.
Wilmot’s video thus can be interpreted as a metaphor for life. By enclosing himself in a dark room for a week, he effectively experiences the raw reality of life and the world: now and release (death).
We go about our days taking light for granted. Light is the present moment; light is what we’re sure of because the truth is we live our lives in the dark. The future is dark, unknown territory: we are only certain that we will one day pass.
This all being said, how are you living your current life? Are you actively lighting up your reality, or are you instead, choosing to ignore what it is that you need to do, or are capable of doing?
The difference between not making the most of your time and finding purpose and productivity in every minute of your life is like night and day. Don’t stay in the dark. Strike a match, start a fire, there is so much that you are capable of.
Because really, ALL YOU HAVE IS NOW.
My favorite quote of all, that gets me through rough days when I mentally just do not want to do something, do not want to be present, is this:
“The best way to predict the future is to create it” — Abraham Lincoln
I don’t want to stay in the dark. I don’t want to worry about the future, or things that are wholly out of my control. All I know is that one day I will die, and until that day, my time is precious.
Light up the world, baby.
Live like your life depends upon it.
