Large Fierce Mammal

“Night Watchman” by Jason Engle

The eye is the primary sensory tool of the Human animal. Coupled to a brain predisposed to seek out patterns and sift them through a sieve of instincts and memories, the sense of sight is and always has been instrumental in keeping us alive. But it has weaknesses that become most evident when darkness falls, whether due to time of day, physical location, or both.

An excellent treatment of this is found in Night Movements, a Japanese military text used in the training of snipers, scouts, and saboteurs active in the late unpleasantness called World War II, translated into English in 1913 by one “C. Burnett”.

“Having seen a thing with my own eyes, I can form my judgment concerning it; by knowing that there is no danger to my own body, I will be calm. On account of my being calm, there will be no uncertainty; on account of there being no uncertainty, all things, necessarily, will be clear. In order that there may be that clearness, a broad field of view and a clear understanding of facts are necessary. However, at nighttime, a person is not able to see his surroundings; accordingly it is only natural that there should be uncertainty. One cannot know when there will be danger in the darkness just a little ways ahead. In such cases there is a feeling of apprehension, of doubt and uncertainty, and finally there is extremely cautious watchfulness and fear. In short, at nighttime, the mind is agitated and excited.

“Night and Morbid Watchfulness. Attention is the term applied to a condition of affairs when the consciousness is concentrated on certain substances or certain ideas. At night, as the field of view is very limited, great attention must be paid to the multitude of surrounding objects; if this is not done, one will quickly fall into danger. In the presence of the enemy, how much more must the amount of watchfulness, on account of its relation to life and death, give rise to the greatest of care-and one becomes unable to distinguish between fact and fancy. As a result of too much care and concentration, what has hitherto been imagination almost ceases to be such, and approaches reality. The imagination is so vivid that unreal things seem real.”

It goes on to observe something I learned as a child —

“Night Brings out the Weak Points of the individual. A state of uncertainty at night gives rise to the idea of danger; from this there develops a state of fear. Mankind, in crowds, has an excessive mental action. That is, a crowd is conscious of vast power; hence, certain movements, though difficult for the individual, will be bravely carried out by several men together. While one man is fearful and uncertain, a number of men together, will enter into the movement almost without consideration. Therefore, at night, although one man, alone, will be afraid, several together will show no indecision whatever. This fact should be borne in mind in all night movements.”

The natural predisposition to fear not only what hides and hunts in the dark, but the darkness itself, is trainable in some individuals to degrees from simply managed to becoming the darkness itself. I qualify this statement with “some” because any population will contain a hopeless subset that is, and always will be, worse than useless with the lights out. Trainable or not, deep down at the bottom of our kind, some of us still squat by the watch fire holding the night at spearpoint while others either sleep soundly behind us, or cower nervously at the back of the cave.

The nights grow longer as we speak.

Until tomorrow night Goode Reader.