That is how one writer described the impact of Thomas Edison's illumination of Lower Manhattan which had occurred when Edison threw the switch on September 4, 1882. His light bulbs were "pushing back the dark." Through his invention light could enter "the dark corners" of American nights.

   What a metaphor for what spiritual illumination can mean in our lives. Light & dark are the ultimate analogues for hope & despair, good & bad, love & hate, or love & its even deadlier opposite, grey indifference. 

   We are not born fearing darkness. Why do we begin, as children, to fear the night? Why do so many still carry these fears as adults?

   We know the answer & we forget. Entering the night offers the promise of healing sleep. We need darkness to rest & thus close our eyes. 

   But what if you have profound anxieties that block sleep? The medical names are nyctophobia & somniphobia.

   One sleep study of 93 students at Ryerson University supported a predictable premise: Most poor sleepers harbored fears of the dark. In most cases, the fears began in childhood. The study yielded more research & some success in helping sufferers sleep better using anti-phobia psychology. 

   Spiritual darkness is far more pervasive. When we are at peace spiritually it improves our chances of finding peace at night.    

   There are no pills for such peace except faith & trust. No medical doctors. Just ministers & therapists.

   Billions turn to Jesus, Buddha, Hindu gods & Jewish prophets. These spiritual guides urge us to look within and to take them with us. Some say they sleep with Jesus. Others enter their beds with statues of the Buddha or Vishnu on the night stand. 

   We seek a bearable lightness of being not the frenetic energy of a sleepless grave. 

   May God be with you caregivers & caring people who suffer sleeplessness & deliver rest that enriches your days & pushes back the dark.  

Reverend Erie Chapman

Part II will further address the challenge of sleep

Photograph: "Angels of Light & Dark" by Erie, 2017 & 2021