3:35 AM
This part of my human world is still asleep. The frogs and crickets are singing and at least five different groups of frogs are doing their group songs. The night is warm, humid and welcoming and I wonder why people are afraid of darkness? The primal fear is still with us, proving that we still have more room to grow as a species.
Steepshot
favourite time of day is 3am til 6, when everywhere is silent, with a relaxed aura about it.
Mine, too, @drvimto! Mine begins at 2:30 because i like the quiet time to begin the day. I can read without interruption, listen to nature awaken, and sip in Earl Gray tea. Perfect!
during the day somedays, is a nightmare here...
Tell me more about the daytime nightmare.
just harder to focus with daily noise, dogs/people.
That increase in the average noise level is the very reason I left the suburbs and moved to a country-forest setting.
i use to live where it was part noisy, but also quiet an secluded.. here it use to be fairly quiet in the rural town.. times changed after a few years 😀
Those same things have changed around me, too. There are not many habitable places left that are convenient to towns because people moved to them over the past decades and they are no longer rural. Plenty of swampland, barren land, land with no water or are not build-able. Such are the pressures of increasing populations. About all we can do is hold on to the best place we can find.
Look peaceful! It's wonderful listening to the symphony of the frogs!
It is peaceful, Xuan. Those three hours seem to move more slowly than the others in the day when the pace speeds up. I heard an owl nearby just after I made the photo. I always consider them as being my spirit animal, and having one speak seems like a special gift just for me. When you sleep late, you miss those things.
In my way of thinking, the darkness is situational. Sitting on such a lovely porch at night, listening to the crickets and the frogs with their serenades, swatting at a mosquito here and there, and breathing in the fresh air, doesn't generally engender fear.
However, if you're out in the middle of the trees, lost and hearing larger creatures than crickets or frogs, the added element of darkness is bound to increase the fear factor.
I have to say, though, the darkness does offer a welcoming covering blanket. You can be alone, away from prying eyes. You can become more aware of your other senses, including inside your own thoughts. With less visual stimuli, the mind can focus.
The question is, though, why 3:35 AM? :)
Because that's when I took the photo. I had finished breakfast, shaved, fed the dogs, and taken them out for their morning business, and thought the morning was worth sharing.
Our primitive "lizard brain stem" is still functioning and reminding us that darkness hides unseen dangers. For our deep ancestors, maybe so, but for most of us now, that really does not apply.
Admittedly, though, hundred million year-old habits are hard to break.
Okay. Well, I can see my attempt at teasing fell flat. I suppose being up at 3:35 AM is part of your normal routine if you're eating breakfast then and attending to the dogs' needs. The rest of us humans, are still going to be in bed, though, which is probably just fine with you. :)
Yeah, I would say if it were only a habit, that would be hard enough, but wired in responses are even more so. So be it a society-wide habit or left over from a 'lizard brain', it's still in effect.
I would agree that for most of us, it doesn't apply. Again, my thought is it's going to be situational. I would hope people are over any fear of just straight up darkness by the time they work through their pre-teen years.
There's plenty of things to be afraid of in the light, too, when you can actually see it all coming.
Oh, I knew you were teasing! That's why I didn't mention that I get up at 2:30 every morning so I would have quiet time to read before things begin stirring and ruin the mood; things like sunrise and all that. Early hours have always been good times for thinking and writing.
I agree that it's situational. I doubt I would be comfortable in the Yukon or Borneo, or in the Congo where there are professional human eaters running around loose. The most ferocious carnivore around my neck of the woods are small and very timid. My worst enemy in the dark is walking into a spider web face-on! I know it won't hurt me, but it's unpleasant.
You'll like my latest article if you want to read about primal fear and growing as a species =p
I used to be afraid of the dark, then fought at night in the pitch dark streets of Iraq, learned what real fear is, and since then nights are just beautiful and enjoyable as the day.
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STOPI went out to look for shooting stars a few nights ago. It was a futile attempt because my view of the sky is only a small patch directly above the house and I soon realized that my neck is simply too old to look straight up for extended periods! I did ok sitting out there alone in the dark until I heard a twig snap in the woods behind me, and quickly decided it was time for bed!
I share that problem! The last meteor shower I watched was done lying on a tarp spread on the lawn so I could look up more than five seconds ( and even then have to hold the back of my neck to prevent it from bending ). It was overcast here the night of the shower and I didn't bother to wait it out.
I spent a good portion of my youth looking at stars with and without a telescope. I built a 6 inch reflector when I was in the tenth grade and it had terrible optics, but it made the stars brighter and I could see Jupiter's moons. I finally brought it into my bedroom, arranged it so I could project the sun's image on the ceiling, and had a one-foot circle of the sun. I kept daily maps of the sunspots as the sun rotated.