Tuesday, October 2, 2007

the speed of darkness: two theories


1. Darkness stands still. It's the background music, the underlying theme, the default position. Light scatters across the void, endlessly giving way to the blackness beneath.

2. Darkness travels exactly as fast as light.


Edited to add: You can, if you like, view this as a metaphor. You can probably view pretty much everything I write as a metaphor.

14 comments:

Magpie said...

But what is the speed of a swarthy complexion?

Anonymous said...

(pseudo)scientifically, I'd say that darkness is the absence of light or so -- towards (1). But then again, light vanishes as quickly as it comes, so you'll have darkness back as fast as light comes or goes. Which might be rather (2).

Lori Lavender Luz said...

Darkness is the feminine, the passive, the receptive. It is about BEING. It doesn't move. It just is.

Light is the masculine, the active, the penetrator. It is about DOING. It moves.

I like the symbol of the tao, because it shows them as two parts of the whole, inseparable.

And embedded in the extreme of each is its opposite.

And maybe I'm full of crap.

painted maypole said...

i go with one. but what do I know?

Lori said...

You never cease to amaze me with the interesting things you put out there.

I don't have the mental stamina today to figure out where I stand between these two theories.

Christine said...

i think theory one is on the money.

the key is to capture the light before it scatters. make it last as long as we can.

E. Phantzi said...

I think option 1 is my default assumption.

Anonymous said...

But then you've got black holes, which swallow light. And I could play off the first Lori's answer and take it in the direction of genitalia, but then, that would be so predictably like me as to be boring.

niobe said...

Furrow: You know I love it when you talk dirty.

Lori Lavender Luz said...

Sorry, Niobe. I think I went down the literal path.

And I'm only metaPHORically full of crap. Well, maybe a little bit literal, too.

Can I select BOTH #1 and #2?

Love the image you chose.

Anonymous said...

# 1 - especially in the metaphorical sense.

Emily said...

Einstein said that darkness is the absence of light, that darkness cannot be measured only the amount of light in it, and therefore, darkness does not exist.

Thanks Niobe. I've been wondering when I'd be able to pull out my one bit of Einstein trivia! :)

niobe said...

emily: So darkness just seems to exist? Thanks for a great concept to think about.

Anonymous said...

The metaphors are what I like so much about your writing. Even though I probably get them wrong occasionally.