“To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.
To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,
and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,
and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.”
― Wendell Berry
The Age of Enlightenment provided the intellectual foundation for the Industrial Revolution. But, the sulfuric lamps and black smokestacks of factories came at a price we are still paying today: clean air, bright skies, and starlit nights. Many at the time wondered if we had stoked the furnace of economic progress only to snuff out the lights of Heaven?
The answer of the Romantic movement was a resolute, "yes." These artists and composers yearned for nature, connection, authenticity, and emotion. Sound familiar?
Nature seems to be fighting back these past few years. A seemingly endless pandemic mingled with devastating natural disasters erodes our hope with each passing day. In spite of all of our technology, the world feels darker and darker. And, here we are at the Winter Solstice, the longest, darkest night of the year.
From time immemorial humans have waged war against the darkness. And, Enlightenment materialism has ironically led us to evade nature rather than embrace it. Industrialists then and now have exploited nature for their own enrichment, imprisoning us all in an electronic parallel universe that's destroying our planet.
So, what if we tried a different tack? What if instead of fighting the dark, we succumbed to it? What if we turned off our phones, our laptops, our TVs, and just let the peace of a long, dark night nourish our exhausted souls?
Maybe the Romantics were on to something. Maybe, our circular logic, failing algorithms, and endless distractions can be cured. We just need a long, dark rest. So, let's stop fighting nature, connection, authenticity, and emotion. Let's turn off the lights and listen to them converse in their native tongue—music.