Dr. Vijai S Shankar MD.PhD.
Published on www.academy-advaita.com
The Netherlands
22th April 2016
Colourful life
“Colourless light”
Colour is a fundamental quality present in nature and in the surroundings in which we are. But do colours exist in nature or in our surroundings is the question that needs to be understood.
It is taken for granted that colours do exist in our surroundings, because we are able to distinguish one from another due to colours. If colours were not in our surroundings, neither would we be able to distinguish one from another nor would we be able to distinguish the surroundings as well.
Nature and our surroundings are filled with electromagnetic radiation, because sunlight, with which we are surrounded, is made up of different wave-lengths of radiation. Also, everything that exists in the surroundings, including us, is made up of atoms and atoms are nothing but electromagnetic radiations. Therefore, all are exposed to different wave-lengths of light
This implies that sunlight-radiation enters the eyes, both directly and indirectly, when sunlight-radiations are reflected from everything that exists in the surroundings. It is important to understand that these electromagnetic radiations of sunlight are just light and not coloured lights.
The receptors in the retina and the optic nerve, which conduct the electromagnetic radiations from the eye to the brain, are all made up of atoms, which are once again nothing but electromagnetic radiations.
The different wave-lengths of electromagnetic radiations are mysteriously transformed by the brain as thoughts of colours. Therefore, colours are thoughts in the mind and neither an external actuality nor an internal reality.
"We think of colour as a fundamental quality of the world around us. But in the outside world, colour doesn’t actually exist. When electromagnetic radiation hits an object, some of it bounces off and is captured by our eyes. We can distinguish between millions of combinations of wavelengths – but it is only inside our heads that any of this becomes colour. Colour is an interpretation of wavelengths, one that only exists internally."- David Eagleman, Ph.D. in Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.
The colourful life in the mind as thoughts is because of colourless light, a wonderful gift of life. The understanding of this wonderful gift from life to man brings him closer to the intelligence of life and real love, which is colourless light.
Author: Dr. Vijai S. Shankar
© Copyright V. S. Shankar 2016
Editor’s Note:
Life, as we know it, is full of colour. The amazing thing is that every person, young and old, seems to identify colours in exactly the same way as each other. So, when we say ‘blue’, for example, we would give the name blue to the same things.
This shared experience is remarkable given that both those knowledgeable in Science and those wise in understanding, as shown in this article, agree that there is no colour in existence; colour does not exist in creation: it is a product of our minds. The colourless nature of light allows man to enjoy a world full of exotic colours, albeit illusory. Let us also hail the evolving understanding of Science.