The Semiotics of the Day-Night "Binary Opposition"

Night as a Time and Space for Spirituality

Abstract

In human experience, day and night are usually taken as a binary opposition, as mutually exclusive. Day is commonly represented as supremely positive—as light, a time of optimal activity, pragmatism of the highest order, etc.—while night, on the other hand, is understood as a time of passivity, even dullness, of being uncreative, etc. However, a careful semiotic analysis of this ”pair” indicates, first and foremost, that they are not mutually exclusive in the sense of a ”complete binary opposition” but are instead governed by the principle of differentiation whereby one is understood based on the characteristics of the other. The focus of this research paper is to show—using notable historical events and exemplary cultural products—how night is not hierarchically ”in­ferior” to day; on the contrary, it is semiotically promoted as a time and place for the highest reaches of spirituality and imagination. In other words, the mind and the spirit strive to overcome the stark dichotomy and opposition; they seek to overcome the real astronomic obstacle by considering the time and place of night as meant for exceptional activity, spirituality and a surge of emotion that ”transforms” night into the very zenith of excitement, knowledge, ascent in general. Oriental Islamic culture is characterised by these feats of successfully overcoming the hierarchical superiority in the day-night opposition, and this is demonstrated, among others, by notable works of that culture—the Qur’an, Thousand and One Nights, etc.