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English idioms using light and darkness as metaphors for secrecy or lack of awareness include “left in the dark,” “kept in the dark,” “shedding light,” and “operating in the shadows.” These phrases can also refer to deliberate deception or discreet action. “Playing the blind man’s bluff” is another idiom that implies a lack of knowledge affecting a group’s decision-making.
The English idiom, “left in the dark,” refers to someone who is unaware of a certain situation or ignorant of some factor. This is one of many similar phrases that use the metaphor of visual obscurity for secrecy or lack of awareness. If someone is left in the dark, they don’t get notified of something when they should.
English has many different phrases that use the same metaphor and another common one is the use of the phrase “kept in the dark”. While the meaning of this phrase is similar, when an English speaker says someone is being kept in the dark, it implies a deliberate effort to withhold information or deceive the party, where being left in the dark is a condition of simply being passively misinformed. English speakers may use other phrases to cover other aspects of the same metaphor; for example, if no one with inside information “sheds light” on a topic, then everyone is “left in the dark” about it.
In general, the concept of shedding light on an issue refers to bringing out the truth in a certain matter. Similarly, English speakers also speak of “operating in the shadows” which, again, refers to secrecy or discreet action. English speakers might also say someone acted “like a thief in the night” to indicate that someone did something with the intention of keeping it secret.
Other highly idiomatic phrases also concern the use of light and darkness, or loss of vision as a lack of knowledge. For example, when a group of people are “left in the dark” about something, there is the idea of a whole group lacking knowledge and making ill-informed decisions. Another way to say it is to refer to the group of people who “play the blind man’s bluff”. In this classic game, one of the participants is blindfolded and cannot see. In the idiom, the speaker is comparing that blindfolded person to the whole room full of people, saying that everyone is “blind” to certain information, and therefore operating “blindly”. These types of colorful expressions help speakers speak more passionately and vividly about how a lack of knowledge can affect a group of people.
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