And the truth shall set you free.

There’s no other meaning but that attached by men to the stories they had spun themselves. For their own use.

Children are afraid of the dark. Not of ‘darkness’ but of ‘the dark’.
Children, not babies!
All babies let us know when they wake up. For the simple reason that they wake up to eat. Or to have their diapers changed.
With small children – babies who had developed a certain level of self awareness – things are a little more complicated. They need more than simple sustenance. They need to learn. Their budding consciences needs to fit themselves into the world. Play being the first step.
But play is impossible ‘in the dark’. Specially when previous experiences, hastened by ‘well meant warnings from well wishing adults’, suggest that ‘the dark’ is full of ‘hidden’ dangers.

In fact, it’s actually fascinating to observe how self awareness transforms darkness into the dark.
Sheep – who are hunted during the night by various predators – don’t go into depression at sunset. OK, sheep are never alone and their senses – other than vision – are far sharper than ours. But I’m sure you understand what I’m driving at. While the rest of the animals do not have problems related to darkness, we – humans – are not comfortable in ‘the dark’. To the tune of developing various forms of phobia. From claustrophobia to agoraphobia.
Simply because conscience – our ability to observe ourselves experiencing life – realizes it can observe/control less when in ‘the dark’. When its ability to see/influence what’s going on is reduced.

The point being that it’s our consciousness which makes the difference between darkness – lack of light – and ‘the dark’. That place/situation in which the conscious agents who cannot see/intervene experience their impotence.
And call it for what it is.
‘The dark’.