Tag Archives: Spiritual Optics

What it is to be a Substance? and What it is to Exist? We need to establish knowledge about the man and the world on a firm basis and the information it provides must be tested for its accuracy and consistency with an external reality. We have to make the fundamental distinction between the living and the non-living matter. The scientific advances of the 19th and 20th centuries reinforced the materialistic position concerning the basic similarity of organic living and inorganic physical matter. The man is viewed as a product of natural evolution and is thought to be subject to the same laws of Physics and Chemistry or mechanistic principles.

We need a methodology to study philosophy and to understand philosophical statements. Logical Positivism, also known as Scientific Empiricism aims to clarify concepts in both everyday and scientific language. It describes analysis of language as the function of philosophy. This analysis of language and of concepts is important to understand questions of belief and ideology which affect what we think we ought to do individually and socially. I would use this method of ‘Applied Philosophy’ to analyze the concept of Spiritual Optics, the Spiritual dimension of biological coloration.

WHAT IS COLOR AND WHAT IS COLORATION?

The term ‘color’ refers to the spectral qualities of emitted or reflected light. The term ‘coloration’ is a dynamic and complex characteristic that has captured human interest and attention for a long time. The human interest to coloration ranges from purely aesthetic to the rigidly pragmatic.

BIOLOGICAL COLORATION:

Biological Coloration refers to the general appearance of an organism as determined by the quality and quantity of light that is reflected or emitted from its surface. This Coloration depends upon several factors:

1. The integrity and deployment of the structural units and features involved in the generation of color,

2. The color and distribution of the organism’s pigments, and the relative location of differently colored areas,

3. The shape, posture, position, and movement of the organism,

4. The quality and quantity of light striking the organism, including the seasonal light and temperature variations,

5. The psychological, behavioral, hormonal, and other physiological conditions associated with the use of color,

6. The visual capacity of the viewer.

The Tristimulus Theory of Color

The comprehensive understanding of biological coloration demands a study of Physics, Chemistry, Physiology, Biology, Psychology and other subjects. It is equally important to pay tribute to people who have contributed to a better understanding of the principles involved in color production. I am happy to introduce Herbert Eugene Ives (1882-1953), son of Frederic Eugene Ives (1856-1937) to my readers.

Herbert Eugene Ives is recognized for his study of the spectral absorption characteristics of all readily available pigments and he concluded that an artist’s palette containing only three properly chosen colors is entirely adequate under most circumstances for color production.

Ives introduced modern Tristimulus Colorimetry, the three-components theory of chromatic adaptation. Through his devotion to the science of Optics and the art of Photography, he proved that three colors are adequate to handle the vast majority of colors needed for naturalistic painting. In nature, the beauty of colorful objects is in the imagination of the viewer. I would like to share some photo images of Glory-bower which belongs to Family Verbenaceae, Order Lamiales, tropical plants and shrubs that are grown for their attractive flowers, and foliage.

The Tristimulus Theory of Color is important as it has several useful, practical applications and it helps the man to reproduce natural colors. At a fundamental level, color provides the sensory stimulus and the man perceives color as the evidence of a work done by a Designer who is intentionally providing a sense of psychological satisfaction in the mind of the viewer.

WHO IS THE ARTIST?

No single function can explain the coloration of living things. We need a comprehensive theory that predicts the lines and patterns of coloration of plants and animals. An artist’s palette containing only three properly chosen colors is entirely adequate under most circumstances to produce the various visual effects of color that is observed. The optical mechanisms involved in the production of color are complex. Coloration is a dynamic and complex characteristic and the term must be clearly distinguished from the term ‘color’ which only refers to the spectral qualities of emitted or reflected light. It is apparent that plants, and animals have no cognitive abilities to produce the coloration by which they are recognized. However, the coloration displayed gives us a clue about the nature of the “Whole Artist” who could be using imagination, has feelings for the forms created and seeks satisfaction from the visual effects that he produced. If man has the ability called visual perception, he must use the ability to visualize the “Whole Artist” who is at work. I ask my readers to give attention to the three dimensions of Color Perception. These are, 1. The Designer or the Artist, 2. The Object of Perception, and 3. The Subject who has the visual capacity of Color Perception.

Simon Cyrene

What it is to be a Substance? and What it is to Exist? We need to establish knowledge about the man and the world on a firm basis and the information it provides must be tested for its accuracy and consistency with an external reality. We have to make the fundamental distinction between the living and the non-living matter. The scientific advances of the 19th and 20th centuries reinforced the materialistic position concerning the basic similarity of organic living and inorganic physical matter. The man is viewed as a product of natural evolution and is thought to be subject to the same laws of Physics and Chemistry or mechanistic principles.

We need a methodology to study philosophy and to understand philosophical statements. Logical Positivism, also known as Scientific Empiricism aims to clarify concepts in both everyday and scientific language. It describes analysis of language as the function of philosophy. This analysis of language and of concepts is important to understand questions of belief and ideology which affect what we think we ought to do individually and socially. I would use this method of ‘Applied Philosophy’ to analyze the concept of Spiritual Optics, the Spiritual dimension of biological coloration.

WHAT IS COLOR AND WHAT IS COLORATION?

Sir Isaac Newton (1642 – 1727), English mathematician, natural philosopher, physicist, is the greatest scientist of all time. He was the Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. He was the President of Royal Society 1703-1727. He was the first to explain what he called “the permanent colors of natural bodies.”

Apart from his theory of Light-Optics, Newton discovered the universal law of gravitation, laws of motion, fluid mechanics, the phenomenon of tides, and the motion of heavenly bodies. His discovery helps us to understand the magic of creation that gives us the visual, sensory experience called color.

The term ‘color’ refers to the spectral qualities of emitted or reflected light. The term ‘coloration’ is a dynamic and complex characteristic that has captured human interest and attention for a long time. The human interest to coloration ranges from purely aesthetic to the rigidly pragmatic.

BIOLOGICAL COLORATION:

Biological Coloration refers to the general appearance of an organism as determined by the quality and quantity of light that is reflected or emitted from its surface. This Coloration depends upon several factors:

1. The integrity and deployment of the structural units and features involved in the generation of color,

2. The color and distribution of the organism’s pigments, and the relative location of differently colored areas,

3. The shape, posture, position, and movement of the organism,

4. The quality and quantity of light striking the organism, including the seasonal light and temperature variations,

5. The psychological, behavioral, hormonal, and other physiological conditions associated with the use of color,

6. The visual capacity of the viewer. The Laws of Physics constitute and regulate the visual capacity of the man, the viewer and the visual capacity of other living organisms which have the ability called photo reception.

I am intentionally combining the words whole+dude, and whole+designer to speak about the complex, dynamic forms of man and the Creator. Man has the ability to study the plan, the pattern, the outline, and the scheme used in the execution of an artistic work called creation.

THE CONSTITUTIVE AND THE REGULATIVE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN EXISTENCE

The man is the Subject and is the Object of his experience called Human Existence. Such experience requires operation of two principles; 1. Mass or Substance that constitutes what is present in the Object itself without which there can be no understanding, and 2. Gravitation Force or Power that regulates the Subject’s experience of the Object’s Mass or Substance. The experience of human existence will be incomplete without the operation of the Regulative Principle or Power. The Regulative Concept and Principle helps in complete understanding of the constitution and connection of the Subject with the Object of experience. The man knows that he exists for he has the experience of his own body weight. Gravitation is a Regulative Force or Power that organizes or regulates the man’s experience without reference to the constitution of the Object. All things that have Mass experience the same Regulative Force or Power but the Regulative Principles play no part in determining the objective character of the world of appearance. The man has the Subjective experience of the Objective reality of his body Mass for he is constituted of a principle that has awareness or consciousness of such a Subjective experience. Gravitation does not determine the constitution of a man or a man’s ability called understanding.

The man has experience of Body Weight for he thinks he is a stationary object. In realty, every point on the surface of Earth partakes in the motions of Earth. The man exists on the surface of a fast, spinning object. If a man has direct, sensory experience of the speed of Earth, the man will not have the opportunity to have the sensory experience of his Body Weight. The Regulative Concept and Principle is of fundamental value in understanding of the constitution of a man as a living object with sensory experiences.

What is Aesthetics?

Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art and the criteria of artistic judgment. Aesthetics involves the study or theory of beauty and of the psychological responses to it. Aesthetics has developed into a broad field of knowledge and inquiry. The term was coined by Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten to denote a realm of concrete knowledge in which content is communicated in sensory form. Now the term is applied to the study of all the works of the fine arts, the useful arts (crafts) and natural phenomena (eg., landscapes, the human face and body) that have aesthetic value and generate an experience called aesthetic experience. Plato and Aristotle formulated the conception of art as an imitation of nature. Beauty inheres in the object itself and may be judged objectively. Hume identified beauty with that which pleases the observer. Baumgarten emphasized on the importance of feeling. If art imitates nature, the artist must deliberately alter nature by adding elements of feeling to perceive reality. The artistic process involves the use of illusion to mirror the creative process of the world.

I use the term ‘Whole Aesthetics’ to describe the integration of the human body with the principles of soul and spirit to bring ‘Whole Unity’ and ‘Whole Harmony’ between the conflicting elements of Dependence and Freedom by using an artistic process of combining Reality with Illusion. I use the term ‘Whole Aesthetics’ to describe the ‘Wholeness’ of Human Existence that requires the ‘Whole Harmony’ between Dependence and Freedom, the Whole Harmony between Illusion and Reality, the ‘Whole Unity’ between the human body, spirit and soul. I find the application of this artistic process in the works of Whole Artist or Whole Designer who makes the man to live on the surface of a fast spinning object called planet Earth where the Power of Time churns every future instant into a past instant without ever giving man the chance to recognize the experience of a present instant. Whole Aesthetics captures the beauty of the reality of human existence derived from the experience of illusion imposed by the fundamental force of gravitation. There is no aesthetic experience without the regulative principle which governs the human existence.

The Concept of Whole Artist:

The term artist is used to describe a person who works in, or is skilled in the technique of any of the fine arts, especially in painting, drawing, and sculpture. The term artistry describes the artistic ability which includes the use of imagination, a feeling for form, and a feeling for effect. I am using the term ‘Whole Artist’ to discover the person who may have used imagination to create forms to produce desired effects while the form itself lacks the cognitive abilities to generate its own form. Plants may produce flowers of different colors while they essentially lack cognitive abilities to recognize the visual effect of the color they produce. The study, the theory of beauty, or Aesthetics helps us to know the nature of the artist.

WHO IS THE ARTIST?

No single function can explain the coloration of living things. We need a comprehensive theory that predicts the lines and patterns of coloration of plants and animals. An artist’s palette containing only three properly chosen colors is entirely adequate under most circumstances to produce the various visual effects of color that is observed. The optical mechanisms involved in the production of color are complex. Coloration is a dynamic and complex characteristic and the term must be clearly distinguished from the term ‘color’ which only refers to the spectral qualities of emitted or reflected light. It is apparent that plants, and animals have no cognitive abilities to produce the coloration by which they are recognized.

However, the coloration displayed gives us a clue about the nature of the “Whole Artist” who could be using imagination, has feelings for the forms created and seeks satisfaction from the visual effects that he produced. If man has the ability called visual perception, he must use the ability to visualize the “Whole Artist” who is at work. The Whole Artist provides the visual capacity to the man using the regulative principle of gravitation which causes the illusion of the man experiencing the world around him as if he is a stationary object.

What it is to be a Substance? and What it is to Exist? We need to establish knowledge about the man and the world on a firm basis and the information it provides must be tested for its accuracy and consistency with an external reality. We have to make the fundamental distinction between the living and the non-living matter. The scientific advances of the 19th and 20th centuries reinforced the materialistic position concerning the basic similarity of organic living and inorganic physical matter. The man is viewed as a product of natural evolution and is thought to be subject to the same laws of Physics and Chemistry or mechanistic principles.

We need a methodology to study philosophy and to understand philosophical statements. Logical Positivism, also known as Scientific Empiricism aims to clarify concepts in both everyday and scientific language. It describes analysis of language as the function of philosophy. This analysis of language and of concepts is important to understand questions of belief and ideology which affect what we think we ought to do individually and socially. I would use this method of ‘Applied Philosophy’ to analyze the concept of Spiritual Optics, the Spiritual dimension of biological coloration.

WHAT IS COLOR AND WHAT IS COLORATION?

The term ‘color’ refers to the spectral qualities of emitted or reflected light. The term ‘coloration’ is a dynamic and complex characteristic that has captured human interest and attention for a long time. The human interest to coloration ranges from purely aesthetic to the rigidly pragmatic.

BIOLOGICAL COLORATION:

Biological Coloration refers to the general appearance of an organism as determined by the quality and quantity of light that is reflected or emitted from its surface. This Coloration depends upon several factors:

1. The integrity and deployment of the structural units and features involved in the generation of color,

2. The color and distribution of the organism’s pigments, and the relative location of differently colored areas,

3. The shape, posture, position, and movement of the organism,

4. The quality and quantity of light striking the organism, including the seasonal light and temperature variations,

5. The psychological, behavioral, hormonal, and other physiological conditions associated with the use of color,

6. The visual capacity of the viewer.

The role of pigments in biological coloration

The biological coloration generated by the pigments of biological tissues that reflect or transmit light are known as biochromes. The organic compounds, biochromes, are classified according to the presence or absence of Nitrogen. Pigments produce color by selective absorption of light. The molecules of pigment absorb a limited range of wavelengths; the light that is not absorbed is reflected and its dominant wavelength determines the pigment’s color. However, it must be noted that biochromes are involved in the performance of various, pivotal, metabolic functions apart from imparting color. The natural coloration of living things is more complex than the visual sensory experience of the color associated with living things.

Pigments are substances that impart color to other materials. Most paint pigments are metallic compounds. Some metallic pigments occur naturally. Plants and animals contain pigments. Most opaque substances owe their color to a combination of scattering and absorption within the body of the material. The production of color depends upon the wavelength of incident light, the diameter of the pigment particle, and the relationship between the refractive index of the pigment and that of the vehicle in which the pigment particles are suspended. The color of a chemical compound depends on the selective absorption of light by molecules whose size or vibrational wavelengths or both lie between 3000 and 7000 angstrom. Selective absorption of visible light results from retardation in the relative speed or vibrational frequency of the many rapidly vibrating electron pairs found in the chemical compound. The chemical molecule is imparted a special motion or chemical resonance. If this molecular resonance involves short, rapid waves, the shorter, visible light waves (Violet and Blue) are absorbed, and the chemical compound appears Yellow or Orange. The Red-appearing pigments have slightly longer resonance values, absorb light from the Blue and Green regions of the light spectrum. Blue, and Green compounds result from cancellation of light in the Red, or Orange realms. Black substances absorb all light equally and completely; White compounds absorb no light in the visible spectrum. The color reflected by a pigment usually includes all the wavelengths of visible light except the absorbed fraction; the observed color of a compound thus depends upon the dominant wavelength reflected or transmitted. In most cases, the color observed by the viewer depends upon the optical absorption characteristics of the pigment, and the scattering effect caused by the medium in which the pigment molecules are suspended.

The role of pigments in biological coloration displays the role of an artist who chooses the pigments to generate a desired visual effect in organisms that have the visual capacity to recognize the color.

Simon Cyrene