For centuries, darkness has been associated with evil, and light has been associated with good. However, the 24 hour day contains both darkness and light, which are both required for human survival. The ability to hold one’s alcohol well is considered a strength, but choosing to not drink at all is also considered a strength. Experimentation is considered a normal part of teenage development and entrance into adulthood, but the wrong choice or an experiment gone wrong can lead to soul and physical starvation, as any drug addict or alcoholic will attest to. What is truly dark and what is truly light? Do we as humans need both abundance and starvation? Do you choose one over the other, or do you wield the best of both worlds?
There are two balances in this equation. One is the dark lifestyle and the light lifestyle, the difference between the streets and the palaces. The other balance is abundance and starvation, the difference between having more than enough, and having less than enough. These dichotomies are often lined up next to each other, with darkness and the street life and individual independence being associated with each other, and light and comfort and community involvement being associated with each other. Is there a good and a bad in this equation, or is this a quadrant in which any human can choose their own particular lifestyle, somewhere along these two lines?
As a former addict, the author wishes to state that the answer given in this article is not the ultimate answer of all time. Not everybody may aided by this information. The author has personally found that darkness and light can both exist in an abundant lifestyle and bring plenty of satisfaction, but that alcoholism and drug abuse only exist in a lifestyle of starvation, where neither darkness nor light can exist. Affecting your brain for any period of time is like giving up your choice to govern your own life, whether for good or for evil. Without this choice, you are not living, but are a zombie walking around among humans.
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