Now, I just went downstairs to get myself a Coke Zero to keep me awake whilst watching A Clockwork Orange (very violent, isn't it?), and unfortunetly for me, it was pitch black downstairs.

 

It's midnight here, and my parents went to bed a little while ago, turning off everything downstairs. And as I walked down the stairs into the darkness, I felt a lot of tension, and thought to myself, 'hey up, this could spark up the lately fairly boring Off Topic board!' [/ramble]

 

 

 

What is it about darkness that makes it so feared by our culture? I am not a religious boy, nor am I superstitious, and yet I have my apprehensions about darkness, and this seems absurd to me, what am I (almost) afraid of?

 

I think to myself, ghosts? Hah! The devil? Hah! Zombies? Hah!, I live in a safe neighbourhood, so crime isn't a worry, and despite all this I still reach for the light switch as soon as I can.

 

Is it simply because I have been brought up in a country where religion is widespread? I bring this up, because I can't see where else this fear of the dark has come from.

 

Or is it something deeper? Is there something about humans, or just me, that makes us fear what we cannot see?

well I guess similarly to the way that being deprived of a sense heightens others, your imagination runs wild when you don't have sight to tell you what is actually around.

 

 

 

I'm watching a clockwork orange too at the moment.

An innate trait that dates back to times before civilisation - if it's dark, it's harder to see predators coming.

Out of interest did you think you were going to get murdered by a giant erotic "sculpture"?

I actually love the darkness and prefer it :P But for those people who don't like it, I think it's the main aspect of not being able to see anything, something that we rely so heavily on on a daily basis.

I actually love the darkness and prefer it :P But for those people who don't like it, I think it's the main aspect of not being able to see anything, something that we rely so heavily on on a daily basis.

 

 

 

Same here, its so quiet and peaceful when its dark outside -- I love it.

I actually love the darkness and prefer it :P

 

 

 

How goth is that sentence?

I actually love the darkness and prefer it :P But for those people who don't like it, I think it's the main aspect of not being able to see anything, something that we rely so heavily on on a daily basis.

 

 

 

You evolved from an owl. Get out!

Out of interest did you think you were going to get murdered by a giant erotic "sculpture"?

 

Haha no, but I would LOVE one of those for my room..then I could use it for breaking and entering, then murder some old lady with it whilst wearing a funny nose.

 

 

 

That makes perfect sense Parabola, do you think it is the ONLY reason, bar the instillment religion has put into us?

personally i have no issue with the dark, its more of a "am i ganna run into the wall? or trip over that chair?" but what i darkness is a natureal fear placed inside people that we must overcome, just like loud noises, darkness is just an unconcious thing. darkness represents the unknown, and what you cant see, can defently hurt you! so we have an unconcious thought of "beware, you dont know whats in there" kinna thing

It's an instinct that probably developed way before our ancestors crawled out of the sea. If you can't see, you can't see potential threats, you can't defend yourself agaisnt potential threads. There's a reason most animals crawl away at night, except of course for those that have found other ways to 'see'.

I used to be afraid of the dark ever since I was a lil kid, even I dunno why i was and kinda still am afraid of the dark :?

 

I usually make a dash for the light switch as soon as possible any ways, regardless if I think something is behind me...

Probably because the dark could potentially contain anything - from a surprise party to a small, cog driven piece of fruit.

 

 

 

The unknown is scary.

Primal instinct? Maybe somewhere deep in our brains we're still cavemen who are afraid of being hunted by larger animals. It's also one of the reasons why we sleep at night and not during the day, the darkness helps hide us. A guess another reason is when we're young we're all a little afraid of the dark and that fear is still kind of around. The last reason I can think of is that your brain is like, "Oh my gosh, I can't see anything, turn on the light you fool!" And your actions are almost involuntary.

The same reason why many people of the world fear things: The unknown. If you can't see around you it's less easier to predict what will happen. We humans always want to know. That's why some people fear death, they don't know what will happen. Why some people fear eating kebabs sober, they don't know what will happen.

 

 

 

However, fear can only be two things: an enemy of a friend. Befriend it. I love the dark :P

That makes perfect sense Parabola, do you think it is the ONLY reason, bar the instillment religion has put into us?

 

 

 

What do you think religion has to do with it? Toddlers who have never even had religion mentioned to them are afraid of the dark. I'd wager that the age group with the highest percentage afraid of the dark has never even considered religion, nor anything outside the four walls of their home for that matter.

That makes perfect sense Parabola, do you think it is the ONLY reason, bar the instillment religion has put into us?

 

 

 

What do you think religion has to do with it? Toddlers who have never even had religion mentioned to them are afraid of the dark. I'd wager that the age group with the highest percentage afraid of the dark has never even considered religion, nor anything outside the four walls of their home for that matter.

 

Yes, but don't you agree most 10 year olds + have discredited their irrational childhood fears of the dark? Religion ALWAYS associates darkness with evil, and I think because we live in a society heavily influenced by the Church, this association is taken in by everyone, religious or not.

I prefer darkness, I actually can see things clearer for some reason, when there's a small amount of light :?

 

 

 

Also, darkness is useful...ladies. 8-)

I don't think what you're saying about them discrediting their previous fears is right, fears are generally irrational - we all know we're not going to be bitten and killed by a house spider.

 

 

 

There will be cultures in places untouched by the big religions that will have a fear of the dark. I don't think it's remotely true that fear of the dark is a product of religion, or any other part of culture for that matter.

 

 

 

Besides, it would make perfect sense for the creators of the religions to associate evil with darkness because darkness is something they were afraid of beforehand. If you're writing a story about some demon, where's he going to lurk - in front of the fireplace or in a dark corner? So I'm positive that it is the other way round to what you said.

Would be interesting to see these out-out-religion's-influence peoples' reactions to the dark then...

I was forced to lose my fear of darkness back when I was around 10.

 

 

 

It was either be a coward and lose my rabbits, or man up and go feed them.

 

 

 

Now I laugh at people who are scared of the dark :P

It's just the absence of light.

Im pretty sure its because your main sense gets cut off. I also read that if you cant sense anything your mind is unsure if you're still alive, so fear is pretty natural when just one of these isnt working.

I don't prefer pitch black (or near pitch black) darkness, that'd just make me some cocky liar if I tried to make some statement like that (ehem... first page). Nontheless, I generally steer clear of horror films, so I'm not too scared to go downstairs and get a Coke in the dark :-w .

 

 

 

Though, I do prefer to do my homework in the night, downstairs in the family room. It's so peaceful without three younger siblings making it impossible to concentrate :) .

I would susspect that it is built into us. To survive in the wild we are naturaly more aprehensive in the dark, to reduce our chances of being taken by supprise of some savage beast that wandered into our cave. Then things like scarry stories and imagination allow us to start fearing actual things, rather than just being tense because its dark.

 

 

 

Look at it this way, the cave men who werent tese and suspicious of there surroundings in the dark, were all killed off by savage beasts, natural selection ftw.