A Brief Guide to the Bright Side of Longer Nights
Darkness and night are mothers of thought. — Dutch Proverb
The yearly end of Daylight Savings Time is widely felt as a demise — of light, of opportunity, of long lingering evenings outdoors.
It feels like a loss — but is it possible to craft a healthier relationship with darkness, to appreciate its gifts, and savor its special qualities?
Can we accept (if not embrace) “Fall Back” — as a chance to brighten our inner reaches as the light fades?
The earth spins on its tilt and autumn night descends. Let’s spin along with it, and reframe the clock’s loss as our gain.
Why Darkness Matters
As much as we may complain about gloomy evenings, true darkness is a rarity in modern life.
Nature writer Henry Beston, who spent most of a year walking the unlit beaches of Cape Cod at night, disliked streetlights and other artificial illumination.
In banishing the dark, he said, we’ve lost something essential. “To know only artificial night, is as absurd and evil as to know only artificial day.”
For eons, the hours of darkness were a time for a different kind of thinking, a different way of being. Now unlit night is rare and difficult to access. Worse, we barely…
