A few positive images of the dark in our overlit world.
by Jesse Miller
Dec 4, 2024
“Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars,” said Kamala Harris in her concession speech. The gospel of John tells us, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
I certainly feel the darkness. It took a few days after the election for it to really hit me. Then, I woke up one night with a sense of dread.
Our future government is shaping up to be a kleptocracy, or in the words of climate scientist Michael Mann, a petrostate. Trump’s pick to lead the EPA promises to loosen regulations (that protect the environment and our communities), and the new energy secretary will be a fracking executive. Meanwhile, global emissions are not going down, 2024 set the wrong kind of records, and the goal of keeping warming below 1.5 degrees, the threshold set by policymakers in hopes of limiting the worst effects of climate change, seems to be dead.¹
I understand and resonate with the metaphors equating darkness with evil. But, here, I want to explore a few positive images of darkness.
The natural rhythm of earth involves a blend of daylight and darkness. We need the clarity of day, but we need the night for renewal, to help us dream dreams.
1. A Dark Cloud
A rich tradition of negative theology acknowledges our inability to adequately talk about God. Our language and concepts always fall short.
Gregory of Nyssa wrote of Moses and the dark cloud, referring to Exodus 20:21:
“When therefore Moses grew in knowledge, he declared that he had seen God in the darkness, that is, that he had then come to know that what is divine is beyond all knowledge and comprehension, for the text says, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was."²
Humans are good at creating God in our own image, something we can better understand. But, the God that brings liberation comes as mystery.
Something is a mystery when we know that we don’t understand it fully. When we are dealing with a mystery, it’s good to have some humility, and expect to be surprised.³
2. Light Pollution
Humans are also great at transforming the earth for their own sake, seeking comfort or profit, banishing otherness and mystery. One way we do that is artificial illumination.
A growing body of research documents the problems with light pollution. Too much light disorients birds, especially during migration seasons, and leads to fatal collisions with buildings. Female fireflies stop flashing, causing lower reproduction rates. Large animals, like cougars or coyotes, avoid artificial light and are forced into smaller, fragmented habitats. It turns out, 70% of mammals are nocturnal, relying on darkness.
For humans, light pollution is connected with sleep disorders, depression, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Lower income and BIPOC communities are disproportionately overlit.
It’s also worth considering what we lose when we can no longer see a sky full of stars. My kids have no idea that they are missing the Milky Way. Think about how humans in the past, in all parts of the world, have found meaning in the stars. They saw gods, animals, and stories. The stars helped them make sense of their place in the world, and they provided a sense of mystery, of wonder.⁴
Here’s the good thing: brighter isn’t always safer. The glare of bright lights can makes it harder to see clearly, according to Ken Walczak, senior manager of Far Horizons at the Adler Planetarium and board member of DarkSky International. Walczak demonstrated this in a presentation, sponsored by Natural Habitat Evanston, which I recommend watching because it covers much more than I can here.
So, use outdoor lighting only when necessary and keep it targeted. Keep levels low. Use motion detectors and timers. Keep the color of the light warm. Go to Dark Sky Chicago for more info and updates on legislation.
And do look up at the night sky. Even in Evanston, we can still see some stars, find the Big Dipper and Orion.
3. Hope in the Dark
We also find ourselves in dark times in the sense that we cannot see where we are going. The future is an unfolding mystery filled with uncertainty.
Optimists continue business as usual, believing everything will turn out all right. Pessimists are convinced we are all doomed and there is nothing we can do about it. Hope is neither of those options.
Rebecca Solnit, author of Hope in the Dark, writes, “Hope locates itself in the premises that we don’t know what will happen and that in the spaciousness of uncertainty is room to act.”
I don’t mean to imply that we don’t have plenty to mourn already. We are, it seems, in the midst of the sixth mass extinction. The frequency of floods, fires, heat, and hurricanes will increase. That much is locked in. We have to mourn what is lost, and also see what is still possible.
Maybe asking “What gives us hope?” isn’t the best question. Duke professor Norman Wirzba came to this realization after speaking to many groups and, predictably, someone would always end by asking about hope.
“What if hope isn’t really, or at least not fundamentally, a thing to posses?” writes Wirzba in Love’s Braided Dance.
“What if hope is, instead, a loving way of being that is animated by an affirmation of the goodness of this life, a practiced way of life rooted in the conviction that this life is worth cherishing, defending, and celebrating?”
A better question to start with is, “What do we love?” This is a much more animating question, one that leads to care for our community, our neighbors, and the natural world around us.⁵
A few more things
All Creation Waits: Our family is reading this beautifully written advent devotional based on how animals survive the winter. It’s a little advanced for our three-year-old, but my eight-year-old is enjoying it. Recommended for adults too.
December 21st Winter Solstice Celebration Saturday, December 21, 7:30 PM at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (939 Hinman Ave). “With candlelight, wassail, and solstice crafts, this collaboration with Climate Action Evanston, Interfaith Action of Evanston, Evanston Public Library (Blueberry Awards), and St. Luke’s Episcopal Church will include music, stories, and reflections on our connection with nature.”
Ric Hudgens on hope: Ric has also been writing about hope here and here. He writes: “I’m proposing that we make this Advent a season for redistributing hope - among ourselves and our friends. Despair doesn’t need reinforcement. We need to make hope plausible.” And also: “The hope that is spoken of in the Bible was never formed under ideal conditions. In fact, Christian hope is perhaps best forged on the anvil of despair.”
Refugia Newsletter: In her latest newsletter, author and Calvin professor Debra Rienstra shares some good news, the fact that the energy transition continues despite the U.S. election. She also covers COP29.
Come, Have Breakfast: These are the words of Jesus and the title of a book of meditations on God and Earth by theologian Elizabeth Johnson. I recently listened to this interview with Johnson, and I’m really looking forward to reading the book.
Chicago Ave. bike lanes: As I wrote about last letter, our love of parking makes it so we can’t have anything nice. The RoundTable reports on pushback from merchants and other residents to a proposal to expand Chicago Ave. protected bike lanes south to Howard. However, as noted by Streetsblog Chicago, protected bike lanes make roads safer for all users, and experience from other cities shows that it will not harm business. Hinman is not a good alternative: there is no space for protected lanes, it doesn’t connect to the city of Chicago, and it diverts cycling patrons away from retail shops.
Envision Evanston and transit plans: The advocacy organization Evanston Transit Alliance has an excellent plan for a comprehensive bikeway network.
Mitchell Museum rebrands to Gichigamiin Indigenous Nations Museum (RoundTable):The museum is switching from a “broader focus on Indigenous people of North America to concentrate on celebrating the rich histories and cultures of the Native communities within Chicago and the Tribal Nations of the Great Lakes region.”
Notes:
1
“Deader than a doornail,” says one expert. I think it’s still physically possible to keep under 1.5C, just highly improbable. Of course, every tenth of a degree matters.
2
Quoted by Catherine Keller in On the Mystery: Discerning Divinity in Process.
3
Another good approach to some mysteries, as demonstrated by Lieutenant Colombo, is to play dumb and keep asking questions.
4
For more on our relationship to the night sky, check out The Human Cosmos by Jo Marchant.
5
I could have titled this section “Love in the Dark”, but I’m trying to keep things family friendly.
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