Darkness

I was reading the other evening until about seven o’clock. I love to read. I’ll read just about anything non-fiction. Anyway, I’d been at it a while, so the only light I had on in the house was the one I was using to read by. It was just kind of the dark side of twilight when I put the book down and switched off the light, and the darkness took me by surprise. I hadn’t noticed it getting dark outside. My first impulse was to switch the light back on, but I stopped short of doing so as an unexpectedly peaceful feeling came over me. This darkness wasn’t the pitch-black kind that has you feeling like a pinball as you try to navigate amidst your furniture. It was a friendly sort of darkness that seemed to invite me to stay a while. So I just sat for a couple of minutes, enjoying the peace, until the DJ on the radio intruded and ruined the moment. Later it occurred to me that darkness is very good for thinking. All the daylight distractions are removed, and it becomes very easy to focus your thoughts. Walking is like that, too, for some reason, even if you’re walking in the daylight. All this thought about thinking, however, brings me to a more profound conclusion: sometimes it’s best not to think at all.