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The "color" Black
Chiisai_Pholcidae68
Explorer
in Meditation
Is black considered a meditative "color" in any culture? I ask this because I feel serene when wearing an all-black outfit. Perhaps this idea of mine comes from seeing Catholic nuns in black and white habits.
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Comments
As a lay person attending a zen meditation group, I was asked to wear all black.
I like wearing black too, almost all my clothes were black a few years ago. Now I have to wear all white! Ick, much less practical.
The difference between feeling serene and being serene is the difference between being controlled by external circumstances(like black colored clothing) and not.
Of course I've been twisted by a very white shedding cat who thinks fur is an artists paint and anything black is the canvas to work with. She especially likes challenging the serenity of black robed zen monks.
White is formed by combining all the primary colours so is therefore a colour, but a white object reflects everything, but is a very poor radiator.
Its a bit like like number theory. When there is the absence of number - i.e. 0 - nothing, then the only thing that you can really first experience is the whole which equates to the number 1.
These are just thoughts by the way.
btw @Federica - you need to insert a big U in the title word color here, otherwise you are going against your Precedent, It will wind some people up, but thats what a moderator must be. Rules are rules, unless you are a flexible ruler!
Btw i also love wearing all black.. I think its because so many of my childhood heroes from the 80s wore black like luke skywalker and Mad Martigan from Willow.
Then in my teen years i played heavy metal so i continued to love black. I still love all black to this day. It will be weird when i become an anigarika and have to wear all white.
In Tibetan culture some great ascetics went naked even in the snows, except for a black cloak to avoid scaring the yaks.
From experience I find people in a realized state of mindfulness have a dark 'aura'. I say aura because this is a term people are familiar with, it might be more correct to say they have a 'darkness' about them. It is not the same as the darkeness that the depressed or some alcoholics have.
New meditators are quite shiney and the more absorbed are darker or more self contained . . .
My teacher wore a lot of white. I am wearing unfashionable colours at the moment for my own reasons. Black is the 'norm' at the moment around here. In SecondLife I am wearing black with dragon motifs, some wear mythical 'clothing' of animals and other fantastical cloaks.
If a colour calms you wear it but ultimately we become independent of colour, form, perfume wearing, funny hats, sari based uniforms and other costume dharmas.
. . . oh look I am wearing nothin' but a smile . . .
It goes on to say "... their cloths should be a lackluster color to distinguish them from the general public."
or a colour.
I'm one of those bendy flexible rulers used by architects..... !
Black objects are highly absorbent of light which is also why black clothing is way more warm in summer and white is not.
So, when thinking of colour as light, black actually isn't a colour, the black object is absorbing everything so you don't see any reflection.
White is the reflection of red, blue and green combined. Try putting a red, blue and green spotlight in one place and it will turn white. Combine those colours with paint (which will absorb) and you get black.
So if we can agree that colour is a combination of light then we can conclude that black (the kind we see in deep space for example) is the absence of colour.
That's my scientific take on it
Or in plain English Nothing is restless
Not me, and I'm not as far underweight, but apparently for my height and frame, I could be 6lbs heavier, and still be well within my weight range.
(*I say 'tragic' because this model starved herself so much to be acceptable on the catwalk, she provoked anorexia and died weighing just 60lbs. )
Sorry, going O/T here. I guess our comments belong in the 'Diet and Habits' forum, really.
Another shade of black, or just becoming empty?:
Have you found a way?
What will you become, my friend?
Mettha