Anything can happen in the dark

The tagline for the cinemas in Copenhagen when I was growing up was, loosely translated: “Watch a movie: anything can happen in the dark!”

I thought of that yesterday when I learned that the German composer Richard Wagner was the originator of darkness in theaters. Before his insistence on focus, the audience area in theaters had been lit, turning the stage into a kind of side-show, something people watched out of the corners of their eyes while chatting with friends.

Most things improve with focus: enjoyment of art, music, and theater, for sure, but also food, connection to our emotions, the ability to sleep. Our minds are built to wander, but only when our attention is held in the present, even just for a second, are we truly ourselves. This, of course, is the purpose of yoga and meditation, or even more simply, of breathing with attention and care.

There is an added layer of insight in the insistence on darkness. There is something about removing a key source of stimuli — in this case, sight — that sharpens other senses. Wagner wanted the audience to pay attention to his shows, much like we close our eyes in meditation to turn our gaze towards the “show” inside.

It is not a coincidence that when I am distracted and stressed, and therefore need the centering that comes with meditation, I find it hard to actually close my eyes. On some mornings, when my being most resists stillness, I have to physically move my eyelids with my fingers to make it happen. That’s when I think of this quote, often attributed to Thich Nhat Hanh: “You should sit in meditation for twenty minutes every day - unless you're too busy; then you should sit for an hour.”

I am too busy. I still only sit for twenty minutes. But, oh boy: anything can happen in the dark.