If you can't see with your eyes closed...?

Question

If you can't see with your eyes closed then how do you know it's dark?

Cancrab1 has just called me a "fool". Let's think about it shall we? If we are aware of darkness when our eyes are closed, then we must be seeing it, because we certainly aren't "hearing" the darkness or "touching" it now are we? Awareness of vision does not vanish just because we close our eyes. If it did, how could we perceive darkness? Actually, I already knew the answer to this question, I just wanted to see what others thought. I guess we all know what Cancrab1 thinks. Cancrab1, you're a genius!

Answer 1

Great Question!
Everything is about perception. The light in a room can be seen through the thin skin of your eyelids. So we perceive that their is light in the room. But...
The dark cannot be seen through your eyelids, what you actually perceive is the absence of light. Or the absence of large amounts of light.
Darkness is actually your own perception as well. How dark does it have to be for you not to be able to see anything? That would be the absence of ALL light, which is very hard to find in an uncontrolled environment!

Answer 2

Closing eyes does not cut the optical nerve and the link of vision and brain remains very much alive. Winks are very much stored in the brain memory cells. So, when the eyes are closed, there is a perception of darkness and one can perfectly describe it in words, write poetry on it, and author elaborate essays on it. In fact, a well known management guru conducts special lessons to corporate bigwigs in a room where all lights are put off and the business leaders are set free in complete darkness. The race begins and decisions are poured on all sides just in a dark environment. In fact, darkness is the best surrogate of an uncertain world. Now, this is an example when you do not close your eyes but you are in a dark environment and your thinking, analytical capabilities, decision making strengths remain unimpaired and, more than all this, remain in a true environment that is an environment of uncertainty.

Answer 3

Light would shine through your closed eyelids if it is strong enough. Also, visible light (except for fluorescents maybe) gives off a measure of heat that you might be able to feel if you are sensitive enough. Also, if you were sensitive enough, you might notice a difference in sound qualities as the energy of light excites the molecules in the atmosphere (you'd have to be pretty sensitive for that, but I figured we're talking hypothetically). Conceivably, light would change the air flow and change the portion of dust or other volatile molecules so that lighted air would even smell different. I imagine these things are not really noticed generally, nor have I tried this experiment.

Answer 4

Closing your is identifying darkness like jumping into water is identifying something wet Bring your darkness to light and breath under water

Answer 5

You can easily tell its dark. Think about it. When you are sleeping, and someone turns a light on to wake you up, can you not see the light through your eyelids? I can. And when its dark, you cannot see light through your eyelids. Plus, if you turned a light off, you should know its dark. =]

Answer 6

i wonder about this some times. If all of us gone blind, then what would we be touching, it's like an world, of 15 million miles of surface, and no one else on the world, and it's all dark, and you think that you're in your room, when you actually might be in hell, or on an 15 million mile world surface....

Answer 7

u cant see things, people, etc, but since ur eyelids are simply thin skin stretched across ur eyeballs, the light/dark are distinguishable thru that skin...

Answer 8

beacuse even if u cant see anything some people (not if ur talking blind) can still see the 'shade..like when i close my eyes and its bright outside..then...its like brighter on the inside........or darker

Answer 9

Open your eyes.

Answer 10

because you cant see there is the answer