We should not be afraid of the dark, it strengthens our faith and resolve in life.

We should not be afraid of the dark, it strengthens our faith and resolve in life.
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature School on Blog

Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid with Ms Melly C Tenorio

738 DZRB AM Band, 8 to 9 evening class, Monday to Friday

Sing or play an instrument with eyes closed as you would when praying.  Or listening to Hating Gabi, serenade by Antonio Molina,  Nocturne by Chopin, and Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the piano. 

Starry Night painting by Vincent Van Gogh.  A song was composed from this painting - Vincent (Starry, Starry Night

There in the darkness of the mind come alive the melody, the drama, the scenario that are more vivid than when you were under the influence of light, and the ambiance of the surroundings we neither can create nor possess alone. 

Darkness distills our experience during the day - the many scenes that passed before our eyes, sounds that strained into our ears, stimuli our senses capture willingly or not, from the incessant struggle of daily living. 

We surrender to darkness as if it were our refuge, like in the maternal comfort of the womb, or the purity of innocence in Plato's Allegory of the Cave.  We surrender to the voice in darkness that converted Saul into a saint - St Paul the apostle, to the prayerful realm of a blind girl, Fatima Soriano; the classical vision in a blind tenor-songwriter and lawyer, Andrea Bochelli. (photo, left)

Darkness makes the following day beautiful, as day makes a well deserve rest in the night for the body and  spirit to settle down in surrender and peace. Darkness recharges our will and strength, refocuses our direction and goal, restarts our tired mind, calms down our racing heart and pulse.

Didn't the exodus led by Moses happen at night, and wasn't in darkness on Mt Sinai that God handed him the ten commandments?  It was in the dark when God appeared to Abraham and promised him "more descendants than the stars"? Didn't the Resurrection take place in a dark cave?

Gautama Buddha meditated in the caves of northern India.  Mohammad received the Koran in a cave outside Mecca.  St Francis prayed in a tiny grotto near Assisi. Bruce, the Scottish
hero, retreated into a cave to escape his enemies and there watched a spider painstakingly built a web.  Inspired, he rebuilt his army, fought the English king and gained back his throne. 

Famous writers found the dark the best place to express themselves. John Milton (photo, left) wrote Paradise Regained in his blindness, in contrast to Paradise Lost  he wrote while his sight was not yet impaired. Helen Keller, blind since infancy, "saw" in three days in an article she wrote" If I were given three days to see." She saw and experienced the world for so short a time. She saw more than we who can see have seen.  

Author of Let there be Night, and preacher Barbara Brown Taylor recommend these simple ways to appreciate the dark: A walk in the dark can lead to wisdom, deliver us from fear and Taylor believes, bring us closer to God.
1. Walk slowly at night (where it is safe, AVR). 
2. Watch the moonrise.  
3. Unplug all your devices at night, and 
4. Sit in a closet (as close as a cave as city dwellers can get.) 

Author's Note: Fear of the dark is a common fear among children and, to a varying degree, of adults. Fear of the dark is usually not fear of darkness itself, but fear of possible or imagined dangers concealed by darkness.  It is recommended that people who are suffering of nyctophobia or achiuophobia, the phobia of fear should get medical advice before undertaking these steps.~
Acknowledgement: Time April 2014, Wikipedia