![]() ![]() Such a concept -it may be called binary or dualistic as opposed to the original complementary concept -does not interpret light and darkness in a mutual conditionality and, accordingly, in their relativity, but as only self-identical, irreconcilable entities rather than states. Its flaws result from the mixture of light and darkness, which happened accidentally and against the original plan. Ideas about the possibility of a total, eternal victory over and abolition of darkness come along with a worldview that has detected a fundamental corruption of and within creation. However, even with such implications, this conceptualization of light and darkness needs to be distinguished from the other, later one, in which the predominance of light no longer means its ever-new salvation through but its final salvation from darkness. ![]() Therefore, the vanishing of light into darkness has always caused anxieties and given rise to special rites and precautions. While the passage from light to darkness is performed without further problems, the reemergence of light out of darkness is precarious. Stipulating one another's occurrence, both are necessary phases of the life cycle that is altogether perceived as a harmonious totality. If light and darkness are interpreted as alternate stages relieving one another, they are viewed as complementary rather than oppositional. In the course of the history of ideas, however, another concept was developed, in which darkness is an outcome of failure within the creational process. It grants and is therefore a symbol for the primal conditions of life: warmth, sensuality, and intellectual and spiritual enlightenment. Darkness is the mysterious, impenetrable ground and source of light and light becomes associated with creation. According to the most ancient conceptions from the early civilizations of the Middle East, light and darkness are experienced in rhythmical alternation and hence as being contingent on each other. LIGHT AND DARKNESS are basic natural phenomena as well as symbolic or metaphorical meanings that are often equated with the pairs of Being and Non-Being, primordial chaos and world order. ![]()
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