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anigoHad a bit of a revelation today about life in general. Gonna write it down because a) I want to remember it, and b) it may be relevant to some of the situations going on with some of my friends out there.
I would like to stress though that, even though I say "you" in this post, I'm not talking TO anybody in particular but myself. I am not trying to convince anybody of anything. To force anybody to make any decisions about anything. Today I had a realization and maybe it might help you. Or it might not. If it doesn't, don't be offended. Just move on to the next friend's post.
I think in shades of Black and White. Things either work or they don't. They're either good or they're bad. I either am or I'm not. I think you either are or you're not. I think that comes from being smart. Not that I'm sitting here saying "NEENER NEENER I'M A SMARTY PANTS, NEENER NEENER" but it's more about who I am. I'm a thinker. And I know that a lot of the people who read my journal are thinkers too. Smart. Worriers. Brain people. Thinkers.
And I think that in order, sometimes, to try to put all of those thoughts that rush around in my mind in order, the thing I do is assign it either a black or a white status. Work sucks. Black. Sailing's good. White. Swimming's amazing. White. You get the picture. It's either white or black. It helps me to deal with something. It's good. It's white. Check. File it away. On to the next thing. It's bad. It's Black. Check. File it away. On with the next thing. It helps to put the chaos of my mind into order.
Or so I thought.
But what happens when something that's white has a tint of black in it? Or vice versa? I swim. I'm good at it, but I haven't been doing it for long, and I'm not very good at freestyle yet. Am I a swimmer? Yes! um... No... Um... YES! Um... What happens? You can't file it, that's what. And it starts rattling around.
But worse yet. WAY worse yet.
What happens when something's dark, but not fully black? It needs to be categorized as black! Yes. It's black. It's bad. It's horrible. It has no redeeming features. FILE IT UNDER BLACK AND AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
But is it black? No. It's really not. Sure, it's got some black bits in it, but it's not all black.
And you want to know what the really really cool thing is? People think that the colour between black and white is only shades of grey. But you know what?
It's not.
White is the absence of colour. No colour at all. Black is the sum total of all the colours.
Or, depending on how you look at it,
White is all of the colours of light bouncing back at you and black is the total absorption of all of light's spectrum of colour.
Do you see something here? No mention of grey.
Because it's not there.
What you'll find is that in between black and white aren't shades of grey, what you'll find is:
C O L O U R
And if you insist on using only the black and white categories then you'll miss out on all the beautiful colours in between. Now, granted, it's really darn possible that there's a whole lot of black and only a few little pixels of green. It's your decision on whether or not those few little pixels are worth spending the time and effort looking for or not. But don't file it away under black and never revisit the colour.
Because it's there.
And it's there for you to enjoy.
You don't need to make the black or white decision.
So why do it? Don't file it at all. Just sit back and enjoy the colours.
I would like to stress though that, even though I say "you" in this post, I'm not talking TO anybody in particular but myself. I am not trying to convince anybody of anything. To force anybody to make any decisions about anything. Today I had a realization and maybe it might help you. Or it might not. If it doesn't, don't be offended. Just move on to the next friend's post.
I think in shades of Black and White. Things either work or they don't. They're either good or they're bad. I either am or I'm not. I think you either are or you're not. I think that comes from being smart. Not that I'm sitting here saying "NEENER NEENER I'M A SMARTY PANTS, NEENER NEENER" but it's more about who I am. I'm a thinker. And I know that a lot of the people who read my journal are thinkers too. Smart. Worriers. Brain people. Thinkers.
And I think that in order, sometimes, to try to put all of those thoughts that rush around in my mind in order, the thing I do is assign it either a black or a white status. Work sucks. Black. Sailing's good. White. Swimming's amazing. White. You get the picture. It's either white or black. It helps me to deal with something. It's good. It's white. Check. File it away. On to the next thing. It's bad. It's Black. Check. File it away. On with the next thing. It helps to put the chaos of my mind into order.
Or so I thought.
But what happens when something that's white has a tint of black in it? Or vice versa? I swim. I'm good at it, but I haven't been doing it for long, and I'm not very good at freestyle yet. Am I a swimmer? Yes! um... No... Um... YES! Um... What happens? You can't file it, that's what. And it starts rattling around.
But worse yet. WAY worse yet.
What happens when something's dark, but not fully black? It needs to be categorized as black! Yes. It's black. It's bad. It's horrible. It has no redeeming features. FILE IT UNDER BLACK AND AVOID AT ALL COSTS.
But is it black? No. It's really not. Sure, it's got some black bits in it, but it's not all black.
And you want to know what the really really cool thing is? People think that the colour between black and white is only shades of grey. But you know what?
It's not.
White is the absence of colour. No colour at all. Black is the sum total of all the colours.
Or, depending on how you look at it,
White is all of the colours of light bouncing back at you and black is the total absorption of all of light's spectrum of colour.
Do you see something here? No mention of grey.
Because it's not there.
What you'll find is that in between black and white aren't shades of grey, what you'll find is:
C O L O U R
And if you insist on using only the black and white categories then you'll miss out on all the beautiful colours in between. Now, granted, it's really darn possible that there's a whole lot of black and only a few little pixels of green. It's your decision on whether or not those few little pixels are worth spending the time and effort looking for or not. But don't file it away under black and never revisit the colour.
Because it's there.
And it's there for you to enjoy.
You don't need to make the black or white decision.
So why do it? Don't file it at all. Just sit back and enjoy the colours.
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no subject
Date: 2005-10-13 09:53 pm (UTC)*hugs* Awesome post
no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 01:56 am (UTC)That's if you're talking about paint, or solid objects. If you're talking about light it's the opposite. Black is the absence of all light, while white is all the colors at once.
*grin*
Seriously, though, I know what you mean. Good post.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 10:13 am (UTC)White is all of the colours of light bouncing back at you and black is the total absorption of all of light's spectrum of colour.
Keep reading. I took highschool physics too, yanno. :D
no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 03:17 am (UTC):D
i had a black day. tomorrow will be better, though. i'm 99% sure of that.
no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 10:15 am (UTC)I'm sorry your day was so black. Anything I can do?
no subject
Date: 2005-10-14 12:57 pm (UTC)awwwh, thanks for asking, but besides taking me sailing, i cant think of a single thing!! i better get off my ass and come to nova scotia!
you should patent that colorful inbetween black and white thought. or someone will steal it and sell it in informercials.
:D