Lynn Cox
Which would you rather be blind or deaf?
Lynn Cox is part of Sync Intensives 2011/12, and an artist, trainer and coach.
She has written about the power of darkness.
I’ve always found it interesting how non-disabled people are worried by the question “Which would you rather be blind or deaf?”.
I think there are good things about being blind or deaf. Blind and deaf people have their own ways of being in the world around them.
Being visually impaired has been a good thing for me.
I can tell the size of a room by the echo, I learnt not to worry about missing the bus I can't see and I can smell out any food from 3 metres away!
So why do people who can see hate the idea of blindness - or as they think - darkness?
Dark means without light. We have also added on a load of other meanings - gloomy, secretive, evil, hard to understand.
None of these other meanings are good ones. They are all about fear, evil and death.
The dark, the dark
These meanings come from history.
They go back years and years - to when cave men were living. Anything people didn't know was scary - and often came from out of the dark. This is when religions started - and the idea of good and evil.
Lots of writers have used the idea of darkness and made it seem linked to the idea of the devil and evil. Writers like Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, Conrad, Tolkein and Golding have all done this.
Films have done this too - have you heard of gothic films? My personal favourites include ‘Frankenstein’ (1818) and ‘Dracula’ (1897) and more modern films like ‘Halloween’, ‘Friday 13’ and ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’. They all make darkness scary.
Its not really a surprise that so many of us are scared of the dark!
Using the dark
I have found out darkness can be used positively.
It can help people feel new things - find new things inside themselves. It can help them get to know themselves better.
For the last 18 months, I’ve been working for a group called Dialogue in the Dark, from Germany,
They set up shows and workshops in the dark.
I have now worked on over 20 of these workshops with approximately 250 people - and they all have to work in the dark,
I’ve only had 2 people have to leave the completely dark room.
I was surprised so many people could overcome their fear - just shows what we can do when we have to!
Feel the wobble - and do it any way
One third of the people going into the dark really like it. The other two thirds are nervous but manage to cope. Some people go quiet.
Most people wobble - I mean that they find it hard at first, and have to get over this wobble before they can cope. Going through this wobble is a good thing. It shows us we can cope when things change.
My own idea for the Power of Darkness is to start doing coaching and training in totally dark rooms in the UK - for people in the arts and business sectors.
If you know of any rooms that can be easily made very dark then please let me know!
I think that when we go into the dark it makes us face our fears. We can do this and it makes us stronger. It makes us better when things change around us.
So why not take a plunge into darkness?
To contact Lynn Cox
Phone: 07818 437 651
Email: [email protected]
