The Darkness of Winter

What is it about the human mind that makes us think that if opposites exist, then one must be good and one must be bad?  What makes us think that opposites are really all that opposite?

As part of my "learn to love December and winter" plan, I've been thinking about darkness.  Why do I assume darkness is bad?  Darkness can be good.  Darkness can focus our attention on where the light is.  Why do you think they dim the house lights in a theatre or concert hall?

Darkness can make us pay more attention to our other senses.  In the dark, you rely much more on touch or sound than you might if you had the sense of sight available.  Does darkness scare us because it can hide the unknown?  It shouldn't.  It only hides from us what we would normally see.  There are other ways of knowing.

The darkness of winter brings a time of rest, a time of introspection.  I recently read that darkness is not the absence of light, but the absorption of it, meaning that the darkness gives me a chance to explore that light deep inside of myself.  I can nurture that light until it is once again ready to reveal itself.

I still rejoice in a day of sunshine, but I'm learning to see the beauty, value, and inspiration of the darkness.