True Colors

For several years now I have had a number of odd, ruminative thoughts about colors.

How did we get the names of the colors we use each and every day?

Was it a single person that named all the colors?  Was it Adam and Eve? Was it a committee?

Was it put to a vote? Consensus? Majority rule?

Was it something fancy like The Council of Colour held in 4300 BC in what would become France?

Did they disagree about some of the colors?

Were there changes?  Was the sky originally called green and then everyone said you know what, we got the sky wrong, it’s obviously blue?

How is Cyndi Lauper responsible for both the annoyingly bad Girls Just Wanna Have Fun but also the hauntingly beautiful True Colors?

Is the color orange named after the fruit or the fruit orange named after the color?  Seems like someone dropped the ball on this or just got lazy.

Do we all see colors the same way? Is what I see as Red the same as what you see as Red?

If you were only a little bit color blind, would you even know?  How or when do you figure out that you are color blind?

I understand there are colors or wavelengths that we as humans just cannot see.  Are there people with genetic mutations that can see some of those colors or wavelengths that others of us cannot, see?  Can our pets see some of these other colors and wavelengths and think we are crazy when we cannot see them?

What is chartreuse anyway?  I think we broke down the gradients of color a little too much with chartreuse, vermillion, and Celadon.  I think someone was just trying to show off.

When someone says “flesh” color, whose flesh are we talking about?

There are people who make their living making colors, choosing colors, and consulting about colors.

I read a book a few years ago called Drunk Tank Pink that was about colors being chosen for their psychological effects.  Might want to check out this book the next time you repaint your house.

Growing up watching paint be mixed for auto body painting, I was always amazed at all the color that went into making white paint.  White paint often has black paint mixed into it.

I told you I had a lot of odd, ruminative thoughts about colors.

So given all these thoughts about color, I decided to do some creative writing around colors with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence.

I have played around with the thought that Adam and Eve originally named all the colors in the Garden of Eden with God the Creator and The Serpent trying to influence them on the naming of the colors.

The results are a poem called The Colors of Eden which gives a poetic take on this and a longer short story approach that goes into more detail called True Colors.

I am including the poem with this essay and will share the short story chapter by chapter over the next few weeks on my blog https://certifiable.blog Both the poem and the short story tell the tale of the colors being named in the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve. Their efforts are influenced by the Creator who tries to focus on positive aspects or emotions that colors evoke while the Serpent tries to get them to focus on the negative emotions each color evokes.

The Colors of Eden

In Eden’s dawn, where all was new,

Adam and Eve, with wonder-filled eyes,

Gazed upon a world of nameless hues,

Tasked to christen each shade ‘neath the skies.

The Creator’s voice, warm and wise,

Guided their hands, their hearts, their minds,

While serpent’s whispers, clever disguise,

Sought to taint the colors they’d find.

Green, said the snake, is envy’s shade,

The hue of jealousy’s poisoned thought.

But God showed life in every blade,

Growth and hope in each leaf unfraught.

Blue, hissed the serpent, is sadness deep,

The color of melancholy’s embrace.

God revealed skies where dreams could leap,

And tranquil waters of soothing grace.

Red, the tempter claimed, burns with rage,

A fiery hue of wrath unchained.

God unveiled love on nature’s stage,

Passion and warmth and life’s blood contained.

Yellow, sneered the snake, marks the coward,

A pallid shade of spineless fear.

God showed sun’s joy, wisdom empowered,

Golden light that holds life dear.

Black, the serpent jeered, is terror’s cloak,

The absence of all, a void untamed.

God revealed night’s restful yoke,

Where dreams are born and stars proclaimed.

Through every hue, through light and shade,

Adam and Eve discerned the truth:

In every color God hath made,

Lay beauty, balance, eternal youth.

White gleamed pure, and gray stood wise,

Orange burst forth, with pink a soft spark.

Each pigment a gift, a sweet surprise,

A spectrum stretching from light to dark.

And so they named each vibrant tone,

With wisdom earned and insight gained.

In Eden’s garden, colors shone,

Their true essence forever remained.

For in this task, they came to see,

The depth of all creation’s art:

How light and shadow both must be,

To paint the world and the human heart.