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A Colored Man's Perspective

This article will be a bit esoteric. If that is too much for you, here is the same content in rationalist terms.

The rainbow has millions of colors and also broad categories of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Violet and when the three primary colors are combined - the colors become white or black depending on the medium. For as many different subtle shades of color in the rainbow there is an opinion on a given subject. There can be shades of 'red' thinking and shades of 'blue' thinking and some which are combinations and become either white or black. Imagine being the color red and honestly believing that green was incorrect, or vice versa.

Rainbow meets land.jpg

If we combine all of the colors in balance, depending on the medium, it either results in black or white. If the medium is mixing light, then the result is white. If the mix is from paint or dye, then the result is dark. Perhaps, by analogy, this says something about our thoughts and if color is not a suitable analogy, perhaps the gist of the point can be seen in music or even food. Some flavors work well together, and others - not so much.

Consider knowledge and experiences as a type of food for the mind. By analogy, when some kids are exposed to new foods relative to their existing experience, the new experience may be rejected. Children exposed to a vast array of foods during pregnancy may be more receptive to a wider variety of foods later on. Children that haven't had a wide variety may not be able to handle as wide a range as others. Parents and children alike are familiar with the experience of offering a child or even some adults a new type of food. Suddenly and with reckless abandon, the new food is rejected and thrown about as an infant or toddler, or if a bit older perhaps candid arguments with parents are made about why such new food is horrible. Is it not similar when we encounter a religion, political system, cultural, scientific, or other view? Yet this does not negate the reality that some "foods" are down right harmful for some and not so much for others. And, of course, there are some substances that if ingested result in severe injury or even death.

A similar phenomena is present in music. Some sequences when played together make us want to cringe - like the "music" played by fingernails scratching a chalkboard. Some combinations then are harmonious and others discordant.

Maybe I can try to think of my perspective, for now, as one of the colors in the rainbow - recognizing that some of us are able to work with the other proverbial colors in the rainbow, and some are not yet ready for that experience - and forcing the issue would be no better than forcing a sweet little baby to eat brussels sprouts when she wasn't ready. If this concept is carried beyond an individual to a group, we may find that some groups have common shades or threads to their way of thinking and there may begin to form natural barriers, some quite violent, between the different groups and ways of thinking. When groups are allowed to live separately, to have their own rules and ways of thinking, we may find that eventually there becomes a type of stagnation in the mental genes. With insufficient diversity, physically, we may see things like birth defects and impacts on the brain causing people to have mental retardation, yet there can also be so much diversity that uniqueness, and by proxy, value is destroyed. Perhaps there is a mental analogy then with ways of thinking and while it is good to have some diversity, there is also 'bad' diversity as anyone who has ever sampled the combined flavors of Orange soda, Coca-Cola, Sprite, and Mountain Dew can attest (the drink is called a suicide by youngsters in America).

Colors can become muddied with too much mixing, but at the same time they can become boring without placement by other colors. In like manner, perhaps genetic diversity results in certain outcomes that are harmonious or discordant. While it is anecdotal, one veterinarian had reported experiences that dogs of breed being more susceptible to disease than mixed-breeds. In human relationships, it is known that in-breeding can result in various deformities. Perhaps this indicates that nature has built-in mechanisms to halt the progress of a lack of physical diversity. At the university level, it is understood that one should not have incestuous thought - therefore grad students are often sent packing to another university besides their alma mater.

Maybe one goal then is to try and see and reason from perspectives opposite of one's own, growing in perspective and knowledge, from the experience. This involves truly getting into someone's way of thinking - perhaps they are not wrong, but not right either and by walking a mile in their shoes an appreciation of other views can be developed. Perhaps one goal is to identify solutions which allow each color to maintain its frequency while simultaneously allowing for the beautiful rainbow which though whole, is also divided. Perhaps there is a faster way to muddle one's way through numerous perspectives? Perhaps we are even intended to think in a certain way for a specific purpose that eludes us. For those wishing to gain some broader perspective, a perhaps purposefully walking through contradictions in one's mindset may help.

Perhaps individuals can join groups, with each group vetting new comers in its on way, having their own criteria for rejection, in the same way that we may, on an individual basis each of us may reject muddy thoughts or unclear communication.