"Learn to reverence night and to put away the vulgar fear of it, for, with the banishment of night from the experience of man, there vanishes as well a religious emotion, a poetic mood, which gives depth to the adventure of humanity"
About this Quote
Beston treats darkness like an endangered habitat, not a void to be “fixed” with better lighting. The provocation lands in that word “vulgar”: fear of night isn’t merely common, it’s culturally manufactured, a reflex he thinks modern life has trained into us. His intent is corrective, almost conservationist. He’s asking readers to relearn an older literacy of shadow and silence, where the world feels larger than our schedules and safer-than-safe interiors.
The subtext is a critique of the modern conquest narrative: if you can illuminate it, patrol it, monetize it, you can stop being haunted by it. Beston argues that this bargain costs more than it pays. When night is “banished,” we don’t just lose stars; we lose a psychological register. Darkness carries humility: it reminds humans they’re not the only actors, and not the measure of all things. That’s why he links night to “religious emotion” and “poetic mood” - not as churchy sentimentality, but as experiences of awe, reverence, and productive unknowing. Night makes room for mystery, which is increasingly hard to come by in a culture that treats certainty as a lifestyle accessory.
Context matters: Beston wrote in the early 20th century, as electrification, urban growth, and industrial time were rewriting daily life. Read now, his line anticipates today’s light-pollution debates and the always-on glow of screens. The “adventure of humanity” isn’t just external exploration; it’s inner depth. Remove night, and you flatten the soul’s topography.
The subtext is a critique of the modern conquest narrative: if you can illuminate it, patrol it, monetize it, you can stop being haunted by it. Beston argues that this bargain costs more than it pays. When night is “banished,” we don’t just lose stars; we lose a psychological register. Darkness carries humility: it reminds humans they’re not the only actors, and not the measure of all things. That’s why he links night to “religious emotion” and “poetic mood” - not as churchy sentimentality, but as experiences of awe, reverence, and productive unknowing. Night makes room for mystery, which is increasingly hard to come by in a culture that treats certainty as a lifestyle accessory.
Context matters: Beston wrote in the early 20th century, as electrification, urban growth, and industrial time were rewriting daily life. Read now, his line anticipates today’s light-pollution debates and the always-on glow of screens. The “adventure of humanity” isn’t just external exploration; it’s inner depth. Remove night, and you flatten the soul’s topography.
Quote Details
| Topic | Deep |
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