I'll not patronize and say these terrors are just our own fear of the dark, a fear that seems to spring from our very DNA.For there are real terrors, and there is real darkness, and to fear such is an adaptive trait.
And yet the same DNA seems to drive us to hope, to seek the light, to remind one another of its return. This capacity to hope, to believe that which cannot in that moment be seen, has fueled the festivals, the celebrations that mark this Mid-Winter time here in the Northern Hemisphere for as long as we can remember.
Our species has left its mark on the stone, the land, the oral and written record of our peoples, talking of the darkness, the terrors, and the light driving out the darkness. Twenty-six and more centuries ago a voice was raised saying:
"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light..."
Yet the odd thing, the salient thing for me, is the speaker/writer is not talking of the past. He spoke of the future. I have written before that we are a hopeful species. That seems to be as much part of our makeup as our fear of the dark.
So, look up. Look past the terrors. Look past the dark. On they who dwell in shadow...a light will shine.
Our truths tell us this.
*Image from: http://switched.deviantart.com/art/light-through-trees-20221042
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