A Protean Notion of Absolute Nihilism

Darkness can symbolize a protean notion of absolute nihilism, floating endlessly in a void without any smattering of perception or purpose. Bogard embraces this absence and sees darkness as a lofty pursuit necessary for absolute harmony within our fractured postmodern existence. For when we lose the dark, we become absorbed by the light and the nocturnal chimeras of our subconscious cannot take flight. Using alliterative juxtapositions, carcinogenic conceits, and allusions to fiscal collapse, Borgard persuades the audience that we need to embrace the abyss in order to keep balance in an increasingly fractured and oppressive world.

Bogard begins his journey in the primitive shire of bucolic Minnesota. There reason can sleep can take hold and the third eye can take flight, for when your hand disappears before your very eyes, a truer perception can begin. Minnesota, wherever it may actually be, is a symbolic Eden of nothingness: a notion that appeals to Bogard's refutation of "today’s crowded, louder, more fast-paced world."

Furthermore, symbolic alliteration is a key component in the runes that Bogard casts. "Sugary spreads of stars" emphasizes that confectionery delight in seeing the stark contrast between the ever present absence in the universal and the bleak specks of hope peering through. Later, he expands his scope stating that most of the world "depends on darkness," further elucidating on the paradoxical need darkness to create hope, and joy, and peace.

Additionally, Bogard is not content to merely persuade in the metaphysical realm, as he quotes the World Health Organization, which proves that exposure to light during normal resting hours is a potential malignant causation. We have traded in our darkest void for eternal ocular stimulation, but by doing show, we have thrown the natural order within us asunder and the very hormones that drive our desires can now corrode our very essence.

Perhaps Bogard's strongest argument comes from his varied allusions to our ensuing darkness thanks to the economic burden created by society's obsession with light. The light amount increases 6% a year which means in a few hundred years, night will actually be a blinding blizzard, an absolute "white out" that throw the entire world into chaos. Undoubtedly, the economic burden of providing this light will use up all of our natural resources, leading Bogard to allude to a world completely imploded due to its sickening addiction to light.

Though this dystopia is likely inevitable, Bogard does not suggest that we try to avoid the descent into a white-hot madness. Rather, the madness will always take us, but Bogard concedes that we need to accept the darkness rather than the light. For what is death, but the absence of light, warm, and perception? As a society as a whole, we should heed Bogard's warning about the fading darkness and collectively bunker down in our own symbolic Minnesotas, remove our hands before our eyes, and accept the crisp, black embrace of the void.