The phenomenology of colors is a vast topic that transcends mere philosophical and scientific discourse, and enters into the realm of the spiritual and the metaphysical through the mystery of qualia, or, subjective experience. It has been explored by all spiritual-religious traditions because of its centrality in experiential knowledge of the Divine in relation to the development of the soul.
The mystical branch of Islam provides an elucidating description of the phenomenology of color through its combining of philosophical and everyday experience of color in order to ascertain the spiritual component of it. Dr. Samir Mahmoud, in his talk at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, references Cobane and Ibn ‘Arabi to introduce us to this topic.
Eventually, I will explore the various colors within the spectrum of human experience as they have been catalogued by the various world religious-spiritual traditions. There is a practicality to understanding this too, an understanding that can help one to cultivate one’s own soul, intellect, and physiology in relation to each other and bringing them into harmony. Humans are so diverse physically, genetically, psychologically, and even spiritually. Perhaps this is why different sciences that attempt to address and understand the more fundamental dimensions of Being have arisen throughout the history of the world, from astrological signs to meditative practices that are relevant to one’s own particular psycho-spiritual makeup. There seems to be a great deal of investment and interest in really understanding who and what we are. We all carry particular manifestations of a universal trauma, where each perspective as the premise of individual Being provides a unique insight into that universal trauma. Each unique insight represents the manifestation of the universal on the level of the particular, and thus also represents an aspect of Wisdom. The spiritual science of color provides one mode of understanding and ascending into that Wisdom.
Two Perspectives – The Quantitative and The Qualitative
We tend to approach colors from two perspectives, one based on quantitative analysis and one based on qualitative analysis. The first perspective, quantitative analysis, is the scientific approach, which is concerned with the material world.
Phenomenal objects are understood according to primary and secondary qualities. The primary qualities are mathematical properties while secondary qualities, or non-essential or accidental qualities, are color, taste, sound, and so on. Through the scientific approach, different colors are understood fundamentally as vibrations of light.
And so when we talk about colors we tend to talk about them in terms of primary phenomenon, that is, colors are ultimately reduced to primary qualities, the mathematical equation that describes the light wave vibrations. Our understanding of what color is does not go beyond this.
However, from a spiritual perspective, it is the one who has spiritual knowledge, the artists, the poets, the mystics, who have true understanding of what color really is. These people are more concerned with color as experience, such as “emotional responses, existential moods, and inner movements of the soul.” To these people, the secondary qualities are not accidental but instead essential; it is the primary qualities that are accidental. To illustrate this, to the scientist, there exists a mathematical formula for a color, and the color that we see and the way that we experience are all just accidental and subjective qualities. On the other hand, to the mystic, there exists first and foremost experience on a higher level of reality within consciousness. That experience is expressed mathematically, which then manifests to us as color. Color, as we experience it, is fundamentally a manifestation of higher realities, which is the essence of color, or, the true color. The colors of this world are more like similes of true color.
Everything hinges on how we perceive and approach phenomenon. The act of perception is not neutral or passive. The act of perception constitutes what we perceive of the world. The Arabic word for perceive is adraka, which means “to reach out to touch”. What one sees of the world depends on how one approaches it. An approach that twists and narrows and reduces, in order to make explicable a phenomenon, does violence to it. But an approach that is premised on having an open heart, mindfulness, and true knowing, derives wisdom from perception and ascertains its deeper reality.
An Introduction To The Mystical Understanding of Color
In all religious-spiritual traditions, there is an outward and an inward; the outward is what appears to us in the phenomenal appearance of reality, which we call the material world, whereas the inward pertains to the concealed dimensions behind phenomenal appearances. According to Islamic cosmology where God is the outward and the inward, there is a “dignity and an ontological value to the very appearance of things.” The things of this world are understood as signs, as ciphers of the Divine. The world of the multiplicity of colors, when properly perceived and conceived, ultimately leads to the realization of the Unity of reality, or God. And it is through Realization that we awaken to the proximity of God to us.
In the writings of the Sufis, the science of phenomenology has been understood as Kashf-ul-Mahjub, or “the unveiling of that which is hidden and concealed beneath the appearance.” There are two concepts that define it, the first is ta’wil, which means “the process of tracing something back to its original.” The second is ta’bir, which pertains to “the crossing over from the outward to the inward.” As Dr. Samir says, while both appreciate the appearance of things, there is also a focus on the movement into its depths through the appearance itself. Although the outward conceals the inward, there is no intrinsic distinction between intrinsic reality and external appearance. Rather, the outward is merely the form by which the inward appears to us and makes itself known. In other words, there is a hidden reality that is trying to be known through its expression of itself.
While color is an intrinsic and primary quality of the world, in its mode of appearing to us and in the mode in which we experience it, it is an essential quality of the metaphysical reality that is hidden behind the phenomenal appearance by which it is making itself visible. That is, it is necessary as an experience for it to be what it is.
The phenomenology of colors of the mystics is thus based on the immediate data of sense perception, and thus provides a deeper theory of colors that takes into account the experiential quality of colors; that is, the experience that we have of colors tells us something about colors that primary qualities cannot account for.
Nazim ad-Din provides a meditation on the greenness of plants to demonstrate this:
“The effect of gazing at greenery is such that one’s senses an easing erasing of the heart, an expansion of the breast, a pleasing sensation in the soul, a sweet taste for the spirit, and a refreshing sensation for the inner eye.”
Of course, he takes his cue from the Prophetic hadith, where the Prophet ﷺ said he enjoyed gazing at greenery. And so the mystics, Dr. Samir observes, paradoxically then possess a greater fidelity to the appearance of things than scientists do. It is as Ibn Arabi says, that “the senses do not deceive but it is the judging faculties that err.”
The question then is, how is the judging faculty projecting and imposing abstract categories of meaning onto the phenomenal perceptions? Are our unconscious beliefs, prejudices, biases, and preconceived notions about the nature of reality limiting our potential ability to experience color, or, are they facilitating it?
The Qur’an speaks of two worlds, the seen and the unseen, the physical and the spiritual, the visible and the invisible. The visible world is described as the outward world, and the invisible world is described as the inward world. According to Imam al-Ghazali, everything of the visible world is a symbol or similitude of something in the unseen world, and the unseen worlds rise above the physical world and forms a hierarchy. There is a hierarchy of reality which the soul ascends to, and thus also a hierarchy of the soul. This has been referred to as the spiritual hierarchy, and it is the true source of human value in this world as opposed to, say, whatever trinkets one may gather and fawn around. The spiritual hierarchy is associated with consciousness, with those who have achieved full Awakening standing atop the mountain of ascent. One may wear the outward garb of the beggar, but in fact they are wearing the crown of kings.
For a cosmology that posits a hierarchy of worlds, Dr. Samir asks, “is color merely a quality of the physical world around us? Or is it a quality of phenomena that extends into the supersensory worlds? Is it a quality of physical objects or of actual existent things?” These are essential questions that Dr. Samir poses to us.
He explains that the spiritual world view understands colors as objectively real that exist on all levels of existence. However, the colors of the lower realms of reality are merely correlates or manifestations, shadows even, of their true essence that exists on the highest dimensions of reality. The higher we ascend through the dimensions of reality, the more real color becomes, but also unified in its transcendent Divine essence which it is merely a reflection of.
This is echoed in Socrate’s breakdown of Principles and particulars, essences and accidents, in his quest for The Chief Good. In his discussion with Protarchas, he points out that color is a single category, and that the different colors are merely manifestations of that. Although we observe many different colors on a spectrum, they are united in that they all belong to the category of color. So the category of color is singular and unitary, and thus has a single essence. It is this essence of color that is of particular interest to the mystic in terms of its centrality in accessing the depths of the soul, and thus, the Divine. Perhaps it is pure white radiant light referred to in various traditions that their traditions of color are means towards accessing, for it, according to the Tibetan Book of the Dead, is the means of salvation in the Bardos realm, or what the Muslims call Barzakh.
The Energy Body System and Color – Chakras
In the Yogic tradition, we see this interest in the use of colors in explaining the energy body through the pathway that is created through the connection of the various energy centers or nadis. Different spiritual-religious traditions use different energy systems insofar as much as terminology and color associations are concerned, but at bottom, they all attempt to describe that dimension of the human being using language and concepts that can be readily grasped and accessed. That by grasping the concept we may gain access to the concept, and by accessing the concept we may pass through it in the form of experience, which gives us direct knowledge of the deeper dimensions of Being. Experience is the portal by which we travel through the realms of the soul.
In the Yogic tradition, which today is most familiar to people, the चक्र (chakra) energy system or pathway located in the physical body makes up the energy body.
The concept is found in the early traditions of Hinduism and early Sanskrit texts. Beliefs differ between the Indian religions, with many Buddhist texts consistently mentioning five chakras, while Hindu sources offer six or even seven. In the Islamic tradition, they are referred to latifa (singular), which means “subtlety.” All of the lataif (plural) together are understood to make up the human “subtle body”, which corresponds to the energy body in Indian spirituality.
A chakra is that which “takes you across”. It parallels the Islamic concept of Kashf-ul-Mahjub and its two characteristics of ta’wil and ta’bir, which ultimately pertain to tracing something back to its original essence thereby crossing over from the outward to the inward. The concept of the chakra or lataif system is thus that which is meant to help us cross over from the physical body to the energy body, from the visible body to the hidden body, from the overt to the subtle.
The circular pattern observed in chakra system diagrams represents the radiating nature of energy from these particular points, much like ripples in a lake after a pebble has been dropped into it. The emanation of energy, as an experience, is what we trace back through the portal of the chakra point itself to the essence beyond it. Chakras thus represent movement from one dimension to another.
There are 114 major chakras in the system, and out of this 114, 2 of them are outside of the physical body just above the head. The remaining 112 are within the physical body. Out of this 112, there are 4 that may be ignored, and so focus may be on the other 108 chakra points. All of these chakra points, however, travel through the six or seven primary chakra points that are typically shown in diagrams.
The Use of Color in the Immediate Environment
The human being is like a fruit tree. In the wrong environment, it will wither and die. But in the right environment, it will flourish to its fullest potential. The environment is both internal and external, but it is largely and fortunately internal because we often do not have control over our external environment and condition.
In the Yogic tradition, there is the concept of Kshetra Sanyasa, which pertains to fixing a radius of spiritual energy through focus, intention, and physical arrangement, particularly through the deliberate use of colors. Based on how a defined radius or territory is designed externally with colors and with buildings and scenery, and internally by intention and types of prayers and meditations, of focused will, a place can have a certain type of energy that facilitates Liberation through the activation of our chakra system and connection to the subtle or energy body. And so, the environment has become a means by which one enters into the energy realm of Being through focused will on particular energy points and pathways.
Ultimately, in doing so, through the external environment with focused will one enters into the internal environment as a manifested experience. This is the experience of the energy body, which occurs fully when the primary chakras are activated. It is an experience that is deeper and transcendent to the experience of the physical body. Here, as awareness of each chakra is cultivated, and we dwell in its emotional energy, we learn that one is neither the body nor the mind, as in, the contents of consciousness. Entering into this dimension of Being is typically easier when the physical environment matches and is conducive to deeper spiritual experience. However, humans are mobile creatures that enter into various environments and social dynamics, and so maintaining this internal environment is ultimately what is important here.
This is called a Kavacha in the Yogic tradition, which is like a protective cocoon. As Sadhguru explains, wherever you go, you remain within your own spiritual environment or cocoon of energy, which emanates from the activated chakra system within. This state of realization of the Sannyasin is expressed in through the behavioral state of a person in Sannyasa, which is described in the Bhagavad Gita, verse 34, for instance:
He is known as a permanent Sannyasin who does not hate, does not desire, is without dualities (opposites). Truly, Mahabaho (Arjuna), he is liberated from bondage.
— Bhagavad Gita, Hymn 5.3[34]
The activation of the chakra system is fundamentally about receptivity. That is, by becoming receptive to the energy body, we become aware of our true nature. We become aware of ourselves beyond materiality, which is reflected in a metaphysical view of life and existence. To rely on thought for well being, for self-knowledge, is like putting up a wall and blocking this receptivity. Thought, as in the contents of consciousness, are ultimately projections of the mind. Thought must cease for activation of our energy channels to occur, for receptivity to become enabled, and for the energetic transmission to be received. Transmission and reception is the removal of walls, and this is natural to us as evidenced in our childhood.
Color and Experience – Cultivation Meditation
By observing color in the awareness of the mind through the faculty of sight there is born within the mind an experience. Each color has its own particular experience. This brings to mind the importance of Marcus Aurelius’s saying, that “The soul is dyed in the color of its thoughts.” In this context, “thought” as a category of consciousness arises from awareness prior to articulation. From this category of unarticulated thought, there arises experience. Then from experience, we have articulated particular thoughts about that experience.
Experience on a conscious level reflects experience on a deeply unconscious level, and it is this category or level of experience that ultimately characterizes the condition of the soul. The idea here then is that by observing color, it enters the awareness, and then from this awareness of color there is unconscious and unarticulated thought about color. Unarticulated thought, in terms of subtle narrative, then determines our experience of color. The meditative approach here, then, is to silence the mind so that there is no thought about color. Rather, there must only be observation. As Krishnamurti says, all of our energy must go into focused observation rather than into analysis and thinking about color and about what color is. We must observe color fully, without hindrance of thought. Unless we do this, the it is not color that we are observing but our ideas about color. Then we will only be experiencing projections that we have fabricated.
The pure experience of color, that is, to see color for what color really is rather than our projections about what color is, is to color the soul in the experience of the energetic dimensions of ourselves that precede and are expressed through color. We trace ourselves back through experience into the subtle energy body which is expressed through color.
Conscious thought in relation to experience of color is typically communicated through words that describe emotion. Our experience of color is fundamentally about emotional energy, which means that this emotional energy is like a bridge through the individual chakra point into our subtle energy body.
By focusing the awareness of the mind on the very experience of each color, on the very emotion and feeling itself, free of thought, we can cultivate the particular energy that is associated with that particular chakra. We can cultivate that emotional aspect of ourselves more deeply that, perhaps, we have become disconnected from. And when the energy of that chakra point is sufficiently developed through the cultivation of its emotional energy, it becomes increasingly activated. We may notice a shift in our mood, and we may find that we are more present in the world. We may then experience ourselves on a deeper energetic dimension, which then gives us some insight into the energy body.
However, each chakra is its own dimension, which means that to limit oneself to one chakra is to limit one’s experience and understanding of one’s own nature. There is a risk to this, that because understanding and experience and perception is limited, we may identify with it, we may reduce ourselves to it. Rather, we must take an informed and systematic approach to cultivating ourselves in this way.
In my next post about the spiritual dimension of color, I will go over the various energy centers within us from the perspective of various spiritual traditions.
References