Scared of the Dark?

[Stryder]

I've written this post because I was reading a post that had absolutely nothing to do with this topic but I thought I might as wel put my understand of what people fear and is it really because they are Scared of the Dark?

Firstly I'm not scared of the dark, although on occasion I do find myself staring restlessly into the darkness when trying to sleep. I find on occasion I can't stare for too long because the night itself is alive.

How I mean alive is the fact that night, although suffering from the lack of daylight still has particular light frequencies floating around, which is known especially when nightvision is mentioned.

I noticed that these frequencies can cause a flickering sensation within a room, from bouncing off walls, and being at opposite ends of a visual spectrum. The shape of the room can also contribute to how these near un-noticible visuals are percieved such as an open cupboard etc.

I realise that these very flickers could cause minor or un-noticible epileptic attacks, that could cause paranoia, the feeling of nausia that could be associated with being scared.

That merged with a state of mind that is preparing for sleep would possible also spike the imagination into seeing, hearing or thinking of things that scare. As all of us know the saying:


Once bitten, Twice Shy

I see that as a method to explain that if you awake in the night in a panic stricken state, you feel as if your bitten and then find it particularly hard to get back to sleep because you feel twice shy.

Night is also something that can be feared because our visual range doesn't allow us to see things within a room, and any movement has our imaginations and logic trying to sculpture some physical understanding of what the movement was from and where it was.

Any trickle of light through windows also can cause shadows which is something else that can cause the mind to try and elaborate upon using the imagination.

Has anybody anything to add of perhaps their fears of the night/dark? perhaps you've combatted your fears through finding out the answer, and explaining what you realised might help someone somewhere. Feel free to reply :D

[Banshee]

I like to reply.
About Afraid in the Dark, I am not. I even see better when night falls.
The things that come with darkness are mostly what scares people off. Bad concious maybe??
You have to pay attention, especially at night.
There are things to see and to experience if you look for it.

Go take a walk in the dark woods, it is breath taking.
A little spooky, but so unrealistic, so strange, so beautiful.
Go there, by ful moon, it is breath taking, really...
I love it.
;)

[tmegeney]

Up until about the time I was 20, I was deathly afriad of the dark. Darkness had a kind of tangible presence that could surround you and draw strenght from you. Since that time, I have lost my fear. I have come to develop a fondness for the dark. To have an ability to wrap the dark around me like a shield.

To some, it might just be a stage of maturity, but I believe that the answer lies beyond that. I think it has something to do with vision. When I was 20, I had eye surgery to combat farsightedness. It worked, but also had an unusual side effect. I think you might have hit it right on the head as there are plenty of light frequencies that we as humans do not consciously perceive. That doesn't mean that we can't unconsciously perceive them though.
Terry

[Banshee]

You see what I mean by I can 'see' more in the dark??
The only thing you have got to do is pay attention.
But then, that counts for the day time too.
Pay more attention.
There is much more to 'see' if you look right.....
;)

[Deadwood]

Perhaps being afraid of the dark could have something to do with a fewar of the unknown? Just a thought.

[Banshee]

Yes, I guess you are right there.
People are afraid of 'things' they do not understand and fear, because they do not understand that there is nothing to be afraid of.

Is it bad conscience? Or something very old, what grew along with humanity, throughout all ages.
Always people feared bad demons.
Where does that come fom??
Where has this began??
Long ago, very long ago.
But why??
I do not have a clue.....
I guess in earlier times people feared thunder and lightning in the sky.
That made them afraid. So the first demon was born, I guess....
I do not know how the thought of a bad demon has existed, but some how it brought out the 'bad demons' or whatever you like to call it. And through the ages all people learned from their elderly people, bad demons exist.
it is only a thought, nothing more.
I can be so wrong, I don't have a clue.....

[Stryder]

I'm not one for running through old post that I put in the category and replacing them at the top of the list :p

But I kind to had to, because people seemed to be
"Scared more by the thread, than of the dark" :D

[peter/peter]

Try getting lost on Bali in the middle of the night 15 miles from where you want to be and do it drunk.

That will scare the crap out of you.

The place ain't all pretty and surreal then.

[Bowser]

I think that in the darkness you are more alone with your imagination. Depending on the nature of your imagination, darkness can be a good thing or it can be a bad thing.

I often lie in bed, alone with my thoughts, in the dark. It's very relaxing.

[Banshee]

But why are humans afraid of the dark?

Doesn't matter at what place you are located. If the humans at such place don't behave themselves after dark and you can't go out of your house because of it, the matter changes totally.

As far as being afraid of the dark because your imagination takes over...well, how come?

Bad concious?

Imagination comes from your consiousness.

The dark is just a part of the day...called night.

Look up at the Sky...Lights enough.;)

[Bebelina]

I am very scared of the dark. There. It´s all out in the open. Go ahead, mock me. I can already hear your minds...."oh, that´s how illuminated she was..." spoken with a very annoying voice...:D
I see things, I feel presences and they are not always friendly. Of course it´s my fear that draws them to me...but what can I do? It´s probably something deeply rooted from my childhood that I don´t seem to be able to get rid of...
Its not that I can´t master the feeling if I have to, but it´s just uncanny and I prefer to stay in the light. :)

[peter/peter]

Stop drop'in the acid so late, then you may stop feeling those presence's.

[Rick]

untill about 14 i was always afraid of dark,i had this stupid friend of mine(James,no not James R)who used to tell me places and crappy stories about ghosts and witchcrat etc,whenever i used to be alone,it scared the hell out of me.

gradually when our meetings decreased as i had moved couple of blocks away,i lost this habbit.

bye!

[Greg Bernhardt]

i kinda still am afraid of the dark, i have gotten better though.
Stryderunknown, I think you are really on to something, keep it up!

[Banshee]

Bebelina, my friend, nobody has to mock you for this.;)

Let them come and I'll kick them for you.:p

Short minded humans...

[MuliBoy]

Cool darkness is what soothes me the most. Hot darkness sucks if you´re trying to sleep.
But yes, I love the dark :)

[Banshee]

The darkness of the night is great. Especially when you can go to the Woods by a ful Moon and have a long walk there.:)

You can hear and see all kind of sounds in the Woods at night...A whole new world...

At a clear night by ful Moon and all the Stars up above.

I love it...

Yeah, if you are made afraid of the dark as a little child, because of the stories about witchcraft and creepy creatures, I can imagine that you are afraid of the dark.
Humans should know better then to tell little children these 'ghost stories'. Poor children, it are stories, no truth.

But the imagination of a child works completely different then of an adult. Children believe in those stories, because they are not so closed minded yet. When older, the big world and the rude behaviour come to them and then they don't have the time to see things that clear as in their childhood.

They grow up and change into adults who are shaped by the vision of the world. And sometimes the creepy feelings of the stories they are told keep with them...

[machaon]

Perhaps I am afraid of the dark. But only when it is dark, and I am in it. When I am lying alone in bed listening to the cars as they pass by on roads slickened with the night rain. What demons pass by smiling like children on the way to school in a big orange bus...? How many cold stares gaze at the warm light cast forth by my window? Hands shaking, I turn off the lamp. My prayers a styrofoam shield against my own pain, burst like a dam in my dreams.....

[esp]

Got to admit, I'm with banshee again on this one.
I've been on three Outward Bound Expeditions, in the Welsh mountains, the English lake district and the Scottish highlands.
The highlight of each of these has been being in the middle of nowhere, with no artificial light for miles and miles, wandering about the foothills and waterfalls in the middle of the night.
Spooky but a real tonic for a city boy like me.

There can be fewer things more unsettling than complete darknessthough; the sensory deprivation aspect of it alone gives me the willies.

Humans are afraid of the dark in general. It houses the worst fears of our minds because we cannot visually prove at the time what isn't there. Our imaginations people the pitch of night with the most appalling entities possible.

Anyone see the film I think was called Pitch Black or Pitch dark or something? Stay away Bebelina, stay away.

The monsters come when it's dark.
(Paraphrase, Newt, Aliens, Alan Dean Foster)

[Banshee]

Great, wandering through the Highlands in Scotland in the dark.

Must be wonderful to be there. Man, I envy you...;)

If humans are afraid of the dark because they can't see enough and there is darkness in their minds, well, figure it out then.

Something special why they have these imaginations only by darkness...??? Unless they are made afraid of the darkness by things happened to them in the past.

Time of day isn't important. Time is passing by every second and the darkness of night belongs with it...

[Acerbus]

i think we can create things of our minds in the dark that it seems so real it almost becomes real to you...try being outside at night in pitchblack and in fog now thats scary..

[esp]

The way I see it, being afraid of the dark is similar to being afraid of heights, snakes, spiders, fire, etc.
Things that are preprogramed into the human psyche and stem from primeval times.
A lot of people are able to either dismiss or adapt to their fears, usually helped by intellect.
This doesn't imply detraction from the intellect of one still experiencing fear.
The description of the pitch being peopled by our minds worst imaginings is still relevant to those who haven't shaken their fear though.

[Banshee]

Esp, there you are very right. All true what you are saying, oh yes.:)

But shouldn't it be better for those humans to face their fear against all those programmed fears in their minds?
Perhaps they find a way to break lose from it then and are more at ease.

Snakes, for instance, are beautiful and if you watch your step, they won't harm you. Great inhabitants of Nature.

Got to admit that adults and older brothers/siters like to tell you rotten stories about them, particular if you are raised with the so called story of gods creation of the Garden of Eden. Wonder why they chose the Snake as being the 'bad' one.

In other cultures the Snake is a bringer of good and virtility to the harvest. The Snake is worshiped by humans living in Suriname, in the old Fo-Doh knowledge which is practised until this day and goes on.

I was afraid of Snakes under my bed when I was very young, brought into my head by my parents just about that stupid creation story of that bible.

Took a real big jump to get into my bed, didn't last long though...;)

[Ana]

when the lights FIRST go off....my eyes take an unusually long time to get adjusted to the light change and I literally feel BLIND and start to lose my balance and actually have fallen---it's almost like my head starts spinning and my eyes wiggle around really fast -- that part scares me. Once my eyes have adjusted I can see less than the average person and have to rely heavily on my memory ("short-term" photographic since some things aren't always in the same place) to get around without hurting myself. On ocassions where there is some light available that helps me make out shapes, then I have no problem and no fear. It's not like I think some monster is gonna come after me....although that did last until my late teens and I have my dear older brother to thank for that.....:mad:

[esp]

Originally posted by Ana
when the lights FIRST go off....my eyes take an unusually long time to get adjusted to the light change and I literally feel BLIND and start to lose my balance and actually have fallen---it's almost like my head starts spinning and my eyes wiggle around really fast -- that part scares me.
That's exactly what I was talking about earlier... the way that the worst part of being in the night for me is when there is complete darkness with no light and it's like sensory deprivation.
It's reminds me of reading about people trapped under the snow after an avalanche and they were unable to perceive which way up was.

Banshee;

Of course it's better to face one's fear, but that was my point :)
Some people overcome and some people can't or have extreme difficulty doing so.

Regards
esp
:)

[scilosopher]

The pitch black of the closet when I was little used to scare me. Only when it was open though.

Vacuuming at night when I was young I used to constantly look behind me ( I had to finish my chores by the next day to get my allowance). The dark is so much more fearful without other senses to fall back on.

It's amazing how specific the fears can be and how they feed on themselves. Like you train yourself to be afraid of things.

[Banshee]

Scilosopher, that is a good one. Like you amost train yourself of being afraid of the dark. :)

Guess that is what happens a lot because of all the stories and crap you hear in your life when you are young. You carry that within you for the rest of your life.

Esp, I understand what you and Ana mean. If you have trouble finding your way in the blackness of night it can be very disturbing and frightening. :(

Perhaps you can make your eyes a little more adjust to the darkness by lighting a candle and then after that turn off the light.
It takes away the complete darkness and your eyes get the change to adjust to some lesser light, so maybe it'll help a little to help yourself out in the sudden darkness.;)

It doesn't count for humans who are scared of the darkness that's there in their minds...

[Rick]

I am afraid of dark,only when after watching a horror stuff on tv etc.i dont know why it happens,although i know that there is nothing to be afraid of but i am still hesitant to go in dark after the movie that i watched in my own house.i think uncertainity of what lies in the dark is scary.

i have noticed an important fact if i watch something great,like jay leno tonight or maybe david letterman or a comedy i usually forget about those things...

bye!

[Bebelina]

Zion, I agree. Although Leno and Letterman can be scary too, but in a very different kind of way, they do seem to have the effect of taking the edge off the chilling fear that one has after watching horror movies.

I remember when Twin Peaks just came, then I was scared to death of "Bobs", they could be everywhere....

And I always leave the light on in the closet, because I just know there live a whole community of ogres in there, with very sinister intentions...:D