“Darkness is death’s ignorance and the devil’s time.”
-James Brown
EF seems to have rediscovered his inner philosopher of late. I’m referring to myself in 3rd person in the spirit of The Examined Life. Thank you friends who have been chatting with me here in recent posts! LampMagician caused me to revisit my notes on the Greek Philosopher, Socrates. And it’s the kind of knowledge that restores hope, Truly!
2 posts ago I provided a quote from the sci-fi novel, Dune that suggested Light cannot truly be understood without first knowing Darkness. We want the light, yeah? Metaphorically? So, if Dune is true, then logically we need to figure out what is darkness.
James Brown, offered his own definition in “Beat The Devil (2002)” an ultra-hyper, stylized short film starring Clive Owen and Gary Oldman. “Darkness is death’s ignorance and the devil’s time.” Thought-provoking…
If The Godfather of Soul’s definition doesn’t satisfy you, I have begun my own Socratic Dialogue about what is darkness. It’s a thought experiment to arrive at something true. If you’re interested, follow along and see if you agree with the logic. I stopped short.
Socrates: What is Darkness?
EF: Darkness is an umbrella term for moral wrongdoing, moral confusion.
Socrates: So darkness is some kind of metaphor for the absence of morality, as you say. And there are two components it seems… The first being: moral wrongdoing. The second being: moral confusion. Correct?
EF: Yes. And I would add at least one more component: Moral despair. Because a state of darkness can befall not only the wrongdoers and the confused, but also the victimized. For example, the couple who’s son is crushed by a falling tree, leading them to believe no God exists, bc what god could allow such tragedy? They may come to believe, firmly even, that Chaos rules, there is no god, no hope. The tragedy might forever cast a shadow over their lives.
Socrates: An important example. So we will add a third component of Darkness: Moral Despair. Despair is commonly defined as the complete loss or absence of hope. Is this how you mean to use the term?
EF: Yes.
Socrates: So then, we might say a person can experience darkness under three general conditions. 1) They have done wrong. 2) They are confused about what is right and wrong. And 3) They have become the victim of wrongdoing by someone or something else.
EF: Yes
Socrates: Are there any more components to moral darkness besides these 3?
EF: No I don’t think so.
…And I stopped there, as this could go on for quite a long time!😆
Experience Film 
Typical Socrates, he is just great, and of course, long! 😉😊 I thank you, my friend, for honoured me as a reminder of waking your memories. If we understand our dark side, as you quoted by Dr Jung, we can find the way out to our balance. We always have both sides in us: the dark side and the bright side. Have a great weekend and cheers. Sincerely Aladin Fazel. 🙏
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Thank you for spreading this wisdom. Cheers 🍻🙂
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You are highly welcome and appreciated 🙏
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Socrates always was the devil incarnation, wasn’t he? *winks*
— Catxman
http://www.catxman.wordpress.com
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So he was called by the powers that be, and sentenced to death! For “corrupting the minds of the youth.” But his sole purpose was to find truth. And to do that he called bullshit On people who could not defend their logic. And bullshitters get offended by that, rather comically.
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