Opinions please--on being afraid of the dark?

Question

Okay, so i'm afraid of being in the dark specifically because i can't see what's right in front of me, but i regularly sleep with a blindfold on (& it's not to keep out the light--'cause i sleep w/ a very small nightlight on), & being blinded gives me a sense of safety & security. Why would not being able to see give me comfort if i'm actually afraid of not being able to see?

Answer 1

Fear of the dark is really just fear of the unknown. When you are not blindfolded and looking into the dark, you are trying to see through it, and the fact that you are not succeeding gives you this fear. But when blindfolded, you know you can't see, and furthermore, you're not even trying to. By blindfolding yourself, you are robbing the dark (or the unknown) of its power over you.

Answer 2

First the blindfold thing. It gives you a sense of safety and security because one you put it on yourself and you can take it off with no problem because you have a night light on . You know that light will be on when you take the blindfold off. Secondly, it can bring back prenatal feelings and emotions you experienced of safety and security.
The dark itself is another matter entirely. For centuries mankind was ingrained to believe that the dark presented a threat to their life and safety, think of the cave man huddled in his cave behind a fire, peering out into the darkness of the night. Hearing animals and not knowing what some fo the sounds were that were being made. Bring it up a few centuries, and people fully believed that evil resided in the dark and dark places, that bad things happen in the dark. Perhaps something happened to you when you were a child or a teen in the dark, perhaps you have always associated the dark with the supernatural, mysterious, or unkown. Few people openly want to venture forth into what they do not know, hence the dark is a type of blindness that you can not take off, it exists and the only way to make it go away is to turn on the light. But what happens if the ligths go out? What happens if the electricity is gone? What happens if you wake up and your night light is out?
Personally you have some things in your life you need to face. What they may be only you know. If you are afraid of the unknown or the future, then prepare yourself as best you can fully knowing that you can never prepare yourself fully for any situation.

Answer 3

The major difference is control, on the one hand you have control of what you see, or don't see. On the other you don't. Rationally we all understand that for the most part there is nothing there in darkness that wasn't there in light. However, the small child within us would have us believe that there is. True fear is usually of the unknown, and because we feel we have no control of the situation.