Ebru, the art of crafting images and pictures with special paints on the surface of water, originated on the continent of Asia, spread to Anatolia, and from there to the rest of the world. Ebru has long been the name given to the original Turkish art of “paper marbling” [1].

Enchanted by their interaction with water, human beings started practicing the art of paper marbling. By practicing Ebru, one may interpret the time on the marbling tray as a sort of time travel in which the wiggles of the water take a journey between the past and the future.

For ages, people have been using long-lasting rock surfaces to transfer information to future generations. These artworks and writings are reminders of past civilizations and they have always gained the attention of mankind around the world.

Some natural ingredients for traditional Ebru art include rose branches, dust paint, bile juice, and gum from a wild licorice plant. This natural combination of each ingredient of Ebru art ensures its uniqueness.

Each careful sprinkle of a color on the surface of the water is the reflection of the emotions that are felt by the artist yet are difficult to express otherwise.

Ebru is a delicate reflection of a civilization in which water is exalted as glorious and precious. It is one of the major elements of our world, that are essential for existence, along with soil, air, and fire. Ebru is the art of enthusiasm presented with sincere feelings.

Ebru gives a new perspective to the world of art and to cultures that are not familiar with it, since the concept of water serving as a base might initially seem impossible.  Throughout history, eastern and western civilizations were established around sources of water. Water in fact attracts human beings to its vibrancy like a magnet. It is the source of life for all the people from different ethnic groups, colors, languages, and religions. The mosaic appearance of Ebru art reflects human diversity in its tank with harmony and coherence [2].

In the past, people used to write thing they didn’t want to remember on water. Anything is doomed to disappear on the surface of water other than Ebru.

Using water as a medium is paradoxical because water signifies change as opposed to permanence. However, embroidery on the surface of the water is not something to be planned beforehand but rather an art form that the Ebru performer comes up with at the moment. A single stroke can be transformed but not reversed.

Once the artist has reflected his or her soul’s shape, and the colors have taken their place, the paper is gently laid on the water.

Ebru is like life itself; even if we think we do the same things every day, every moment differs from the others and is unique in its own way.

Ebru is either in the sky or on the Earth [3];

“O eye, do not sprinkle tears into my heart’s fierce fire, for there will be no way you can put out such a fire.
Is the revolving sky’s color the color of water? Or is it my tears that cover up the sky, I cannot know.”

Those who are interested in the art of Ebru and put their hearts into it will connect with a feeling of spiritual serenity and tranquility. Life in contemporary times is a never-ending wave of turmoil. Those who want to escape the hustle of the routines of life will never be rejected and will be welcomed to the ambiance of serenity by the peaceful waves of Ebru.

It takes people from their own world and brings them to another world of imagination where they can reflect on their feelings and get rid of the negative emotions within them.

For those who are stuck in the modern cycle of never-ending tasks, it is a way for them to reach a peaceful state of mind and relax.

Ebru art might take the artist back to their childhood when they used to play with dirt and mud. Perhaps the lack of preserving their childhood feelings can be remedied.

Ebru craftsmen use the biz, a tool used like a pencil to write on the surface of the water. In Ebru, every move on the water gives color patterns.

The art of Ebru in such a small container can take a human to anywhere that they wish to be or can be a canvas for any image that they wish for, such as a garden of flowers or a limitless sky. It will be anywhere other than any negative emotions inside.

Ebru art eventually makes the performer, as well as those that enjoy it, joyful once it is placed onto the wall of a house or at work and is thus able to begin emanating its bliss.

* This article was based on the speech given by Mualla Yazici in the Fountain Talks meeting at Fishers Public Library, Indiana.

References

1. Saracoğlu M. “Ebru or Water Marbling.” The Fountain 72 / November-December 2009.
2. Refik İ. “Uçsuz Bucaksız Bir Okyanusta Renklerin Dansı: Ebru.” Yağmur 3 Nisan, Mayıs, Haziran.1999.
3. “Su Kasidesi – Altın Nefesler,” Yeni Ümit Ekim, Kasım Aralık 1998.

There is often mixed joy and sorrow when traveling abroad, sometimes discovered in the journeying, sometimes found at the destination. Such a mixture was mine on a recent trip with Hizmet to India, where interfaith dialogue and its wonderful fruits across the many faiths of that subcontinent were very clearly evident, but that alongside increasing communal discord and even serious and extensive street violence in the face of protests against government policies of division and exclusion. Unfortunately, such social upheavals are today not limited to India; they seem to be spreading like fires in drought-stricken forests around the world, engulfing too many developing and developed countries, alike.

Early one morning around 2am, when sleep evaded me, I deeply felt the poignancy of this turbulent travel, while my mind drifted to recollect some stories often told of St Francis of Assisi preaching not only to human beings but to birds, as well as other creatures of creation:

When he drew nigh unto Bevagna he came unto a spot wherein a great multitude of birds of divers species were gathered together. When the holy man of God perceived them, he ran with all speed unto the place and greeted them as if they shared in human understanding. They on their part all awaited him and turned toward him, those that were perched on bushes bending their heads as he drew nigh them, and looking on him in unwonted wise, while he came right among them, and diligently exhorted them all to hear the word of God, saying: “My brothers the birds, much ought ye to praise your Creator, Who hath clothed you with feathers and given you wings to fly, and hath made over unto you the pure air, and careth for you without your taking thought for yourselves.” While he was speaking unto them these and other like words, the little birds—behaving themselves in wondrous wise—began to stretch their necks, to spread their wings, to open their beaks, and to look intently on him. He, with wondrous fervour of spirit, passed in and out among them, touching them with his habit, nor did one of them move from the spot until he had made the sign of the Cross over them and given them leave; then, with the blessing of the man of God, they all flew away together. All these things were witnessed by his companions that stood awaiting him by the way. Returning unto them, the simple and holy man began to blame himself for neglect in that he had not afore then preached unto the birds. [Saint Bonaventura, The Life of Saint Francis, 12.3]

And so I wondered (dreamed?), what might the birds tell us of their lives and struggles in this newly disruptive age?

The Birds: A Parable

Once upon a time, there was a bountiful flock of birds, all with iridescent blue-green plumage and a melodic trilling song of thanks through God for their heritage as a single community: together they preened, together they sang, together they lived and thrived upon the resource-laden land God gifted to their stewardship.

As time passed, other flocks were drawn to this same rich territory, as well, all with their varied distinctive plumage—fiery yellows and reds, subdued grayish-browns, and dazzling whites—and all with their individual God-given songs of praise.

The original flock generously welcomed all these newcomers, judging that sharing was better than selfish hoarding, opening better than closing ranks, and accepting different characteristics better than demanding uniformity in attributes. Together they fashioned a unity in their very diversity, sharing the riches of the land, extolling their variegated colors in songs to their Creator, generating a harmonious chorale that exemplified the Creator’s love for all of His making, as stewards of land and of one another, together…together. Generations passed in peace, colors and songs filled the land, and unity was manifested.

But a season came when a spirit of fearful possessiveness arose among some of the descendants of the blue-green flock, who began looking askance at those whose colors and songs differed. “What place have these foreigners amongst us? Have they not intruded into our way of life, depleted our resources and now threaten our very existence? Let them depart to other lands, apart from us, with their own kind.”

Though few in actual number in the beginning, these dissident voices seeded fear and discord, which took root and grew widely where once unity had thrived. For although the ones they called “foreigners” had passed many generations upon the shared land and even now comprised only a small proportion of the overall population, hardship borne of dissimulation had come to many of the birds across all the flocks. Stewardship of the land had been overshadowed by exploitation of resources for the benefit of a greedy few, and the detriment of many. Now, a scapegoat was needed to divert attention from the real causes of increasing distress and hardship.

Arbitrary hierarchies were manufactured and enforced, purporting to be inherent and according to “purity” of color and song. Only those deemed worthy now had a proper place in society, and their numbers were strictly circumscribed by documented ancestry via sole descent from the first flock. All others were relegated to some separate, ignoble status. And now, uniformity and unison in song, rather than harmony of distinctives, became the priority: “How else could the Creator receive proper praise? So-called harmony was really just cacophony, and no God could be pleased with that!” If the song were different, it had no arena, even when the song was echoing celestial praise; if the bird’s color and song were different, the bird was no longer welcomed, it had no place.

Unity was shattered, harmony disappeared, estrangement normalized. Jealously ostracizing others became the common rule. Harsh words became the norm…violence the ready remedy…destruction, injury and death the ultimate result.

More fully awake, now, I considered, “Can the birds recover themselves? Can they listen anew to St Francis’ call together joyously to offer praise to their Creator and so be content? Or is it too late?”

Perhaps more importantly, is there more than a fanciful story, here? what might these birds tell us of today’s challenges to our societies…to our very humanity? Can we, today, respond to the call of St Francis as did the birds of the field near Bevagna, to live together in peace unto the praise our Creator, seeking only His commendation?

When President Trump recently visited India, banners were emblazoned with the slogan that the world’s oldest democracy was meeting with the world’s largest democracy. Thomas Mann, in 1947 testimony before a U.S. congressional committee, noted a depressing increase in “spiritual intolerance, political inquisitions, and declining legal security,” that typically foreshadows an ultimate breakdown in democracy itself, which can only finally usher in a breakdown in societal peace and prosperity (subsequently realized in the fever of McCarthyism in the US, and the violent partition of India). Where there is no sense of the sacred through acceptance of difference and mutuality in dialogue, there is eventually only polarization: there will be those who agree to think the same way who are called friends; while all the rest are demonized as enemies. And where there are only friends and enemies, insiders and outsiders, “us” and “them,” civil war—metaphoric at least, actual bloodletting at worst—is inevitable.

So, can India recover itself? It was once the standard bearer of secular/multi-faith democracy in the developing world—or is it too late? Can we in the US recover ourselves? We were once the standard bearer of an immigrant-filled country grounded on practicing civil discourse in the developed world—or is it too late?

May the Creator grant that we all together comprehend and affirm His path of acceptance, affirmation, and peacemaking:

The Spirit has never ceased brooding over the waters … ever creating, superintending, re-creating, all that is, according to the counsel of God’s own purposive will. Together with the angels and saints, we rejoice in faith, hope and love, as the Only Holy One continually, eternally renews the face of the heavens and the earth.
Our Only Creator
through His creation
is creating us
is sustaining us
is provisioning us
is re-creating us
unto the restoration
of all His creation.

Have you ever seen a rainbow? Until recently, I had looked at many rainbows, but had never truly seen a rainbow.

In his writings on faith and logic, religious scholar Bediuzzaman Said Nursi maintained that looking and seeing are two different things. In his book, The Words, he says: “The eye is a window through which the spirit looks at this world. If you use it on behalf of your carnal soul, without selling it to God Almighty, by gazing at transient, impermanent beauties and spectacles, it panders to lust and other carnal desires.”

Using Nursi’s reasoning, you might look at a magician who is right in front of you, for example, but never see how a trick is accomplished. The same thing happens when you look at a mathematical equation but don’t see what the x value is – unless you are good at mathematics.

After watching MIT physics professor Walter Lewin’s lecture “The Hidden Beauty of Rainbows,”[1] I am finally able to see the rainbow, instead of just looking at it. To share my fascination about this topic, and reinforce my own knowledge, here are some notes I took during Lewin’s lecture. Walter Lewin is the author of For the Love of Physics. This book is really a perfect book if you love Physics.

Figure 1.0

There are four fundamental facets we need to cover to understand a rainbow (Figure 1.0). The first is the “radius” of a rainbow. Since every rainbow has a radius, this means a rainbow is a circle. And every circle has a center point. A rainbow’s center point is below the horizon. Here, we can ask these follow-up questions:

1.1 How we can find the radius of a rainbow in degrees?

1.2 Do all rainbows have the same radius?

The second question is about the colors of a rainbow, specifically red. If you see a rainbow, there is always a red color. But:

2.1 Is the color red always on the inside or outside of the rainbow?

2.2 Does the position of the red color depend on the time of the day and year?

It’s obvious that light determines a rainbow. If there is a rainbow somewhere, there is an enormous difference in the brightness of the sky above and below a rainbow. We can now ask:

3.1 Where is it bright?

3.2 Where is it dark?

There are some additional questions we need to discuss regarding the second bow in Figure 2, specifically:

4 Have you ever noticed the second bow? If yes, then;

5 Where do you look for the second bow?

6.1 What is the color sequence of the second bow?

6.2 Is it the same as the primary bow, is it brighter, or is it reversed?

Figure 2.0

In order to understand rainbows better, we need to review some basic physics. Let’s start with reflection and refraction.

Mediums, reflection, and refraction

Definition: A medium[2] is the substance that carries a wave from one location to another.

When light goes from one medium to another, like from air to water, one of two things happens:

● Some of that light bounces back, which we call reflection. The light will reflect at the same angle at which it hit the surface.

● Part of the light doesn’t reflect, instead continuing into water at an angle. We call this refraction.

Each medium has an index of refraction, which tells us what the speed of light in that medium is. The index of refraction of air is 1.0003, and the index of refraction of a vacuum is 1.

That means the speed of light in air and in a vacuum is almost the same. That speed is 300,000 kilometers per second, and that’s why the index of refraction for air and a vacuum is 1. But in water, the index of refraction is approximately 1.33. The difference between 1 and 1.33 means that in water the speed of light is 33 percent slower than it is in air.

Snell’s law and an angle of incidence

There is also a connection between angle of reflection, angle of refraction, and the index of refraction. We call it Snell’s law.

Snell’s law illustrated:

Figure 3.0

To understand this formula, you need to know the definition of the sine of an angle.

Definition:The sine[3] is a trigonometric function of an angle. It is found by taking the length of the side opposite the angle and dividing by the length of the longest side of the triangle.

If α is 0°, then sin (α) = 0.

If α is 30°, then sin (α) = 0.5.

If α is 90°, then the sin (α) = 1.

Let’s do an example where we can apply Snell’s law (Figure 4.0).

Light comes from air to water at an angle of 60°. (This is possible, because the angle at which water comes in, the angle β, will be 40.6°.)

Definition: The angle of incidence[4] is the angle between the incoming light and the vertical on the surface.

Figure 4.0

Like professor Lewin said, “very simple, very straightforward.”

Figure 5.0 | Figure 5.0. Example of refraction and reflection. See also [5].[5]

Figure 6.0

Figure 6.0 displays a true wonder of water. Sunlight is coming from the left side, landing everywhere on half the surface of that raindrop. We can choose one very narrow beam of all that sunlight with a 60° angle of incidence. We call the angle of incidence “i” and the angle for the refraction “r.”

Of course, that narrow beam is the only a small fraction of the total.

At point A, two things happen (in accordance with Snell’s law);

● A little bit of light reflects.

● The remaining light refracts.

The light reaches point B inside the water drop. At point B, two things happen:

● Some of the light goes back into the air (signaling refraction).

● Some of the light gets reflected. (Therefore, at point B, the angles are the same, “r.”)

Then the reflected light goes on its way to point C. Here, a little bit of the light is reflected and goes back into the water. Most of it comes out of the water, which results in refraction.

At this point, if we use Snell’s law at point A, the reflection law at point B, and then Snell’s law at point C again, we will see that our angle for the refraction at point C will be, surprisingly, “i.”

Now, if we check the line that comes out from the water at point C, we will have a changing angle. We can call it φ (Phi). And for the angle φ, we have an algebraic formula, as follows:

φ= 4r — 2i

If you check the figure, you will see that we have 4 r and 2 i.

By the way, if we take the narrow beam which passes through the center of the raindrop, we can easily see that the angle of incidence is zero. In accordance to Snell’s law, this narrow beam goes straight through. Then it reflects back and finally it comes out of the water. This is true because:

if i = 0, then r = 0 and therefore φ = 0.

Let’s do something interesting and change the value of “i.” If the light hits the water drop higher up, the angle “i” increases. At some point, the angle φ also increases and reaches a maximum value.

Figure 7.0

If you recall, the index of refraction for water is 1.336. If we take any value of “i” on the table and apply Snell’s law, we can easily calculate values of r. And then, if we use the formula φ=4r — 2i, we can come up with the values of φ. This is illustrated in Figure 7.0.

If this doesn’t seem all that special, there is something else that you wouldn’t expect: φ reaches a maximum value, and when you go to higher values of i, then φ goes down again. This plays a key role in the formation of a rainbow.

The index of refraction depends on the color of the light.

Figure 8.0

As seen in the table, when the angle of incidence for red light is very close to 60°, the value of φ is at its maximum, which is 42.3°. In other words, the value of φ can be smaller than 42.3°, but it cannot be larger. For blue light, the angle of incidence is slightly lower, and the φ maximum is at 40.7°.

Water drop and a cone

A key question arises: Let us say we have one water drop, and the sunlight falling onto that water drop is coming from the left. What is that one water drop going to do with the white light from the sun that covers half of the rainbow?

Let us check first for red light and then for blue light.

Light beams will come out of this drop, and that cone will be filled with red light. But the angle for the light beams cannot be larger than 42°, meaning they can be smaller. Then we will see a cone of lights.

But why is it a cone? Because, if we go back to what was previously discussed, we will remember that one light beam comes in with an angle i, and then comes out with an angle i.

Figure 9.0

Figure 9.0 shows a representation of a water drop. The light that comes in at the angle of incidence is 60°. It refracts and reflects inside the droplet, then goes to point C and comes out of droplet at an angle of 42°. And, surprisingly, if the angle of incidence is 60°, when the light beam comes out, it has to be red light. On the other hand, there is not only one light beam coming in with an angle 60°. The entire surface of this water drop is illuminated by the sun, so there are an enormous number of beams for which the angle of incidence is 60°.

If we go back to Figure 9.0, we see the black line on this water drop. Any light beam that comes in anywhere on that black line will have an angle of incidence of 60°.

Figure 6.1

Now we will do the same for blue light. This time, we will have another cone which is completely filled with blue light, but when the blue light beams come out, the angle will be at a maximum of 40.7°.

Interesting fact: All the colors except for red and blue that are in the sunlight will be in between the red and blue.

Figure 6.2

A journey: refraction, reflection, and refraction

We know that when the light comes in, it goes through a journey. A light beam refracts, then reflects, and then refracts. That’s all. But, how about the light on the right side of the cone? Is there any light? When the sun shines in, does this water drop bring light there?

If the angle φ is larger than 42°, then, yes, it is possible. But we have already proven that the angle φ cannot be larger than 42°. So, it is impossible: There is no light outside the cone.

Another question… What will be the color of the light inside the blue cone? We should remember that the red light is everywhere in this cone, because as long as the angle φ is smaller than 42°, red light can be anywhere. The blue light is also almost everywhere because the blue light is allowed to be smaller than 40°. This means all the colors that we didn’t mention are coming out inside the blue cone and there will be just white light.

Figure 6.3

To summarize, if we have a water drop, and a bright light shining onto this water drop, we will see red, blue, green, white, and other colors inside the cone or circle. In other words, all the colors of a rainbow. And of course, there will be no light outside the cone. There are some experiments on YouTube that you can watch if you want.

Figure 6.4

You may think that at the location where blue comes out, if all the other colors can come out — which they can because the angle is smaller than 40° — the light should be also white, not blue. It is a nice approach, but wrong.

It is wrong, because of the light intensity. If you check the graph for the intensity of the light, you will see that different colors have peak points where φ reaches the maximum value. If all the colors are present and equal intensity, we see white light. That’s why the inside of the cone is white. However, when the color red spikes up, it dominates its location. We don’t even notice the other colors.

Figure 6.5

Looking at the sky

Let’s say you are standing at point A and the sunlight is coming from the left. Since the light comes from infinitely far away, all these lines are parallel to each other. Let’s say you look at the sky in direction B and pick a raindrop at any point. Any point you pick will cast the cone in the direction of the sun with the angle 60°.

When you look at the sky in the direction B, will you see light? You will not, because you are outside the 42°.

Figure 10.0

What if you look in a different direction? We will look at point C (it doesn’t matter where), and take a rain drop on line C. Light beams will do the same thing. Again, they will produce a 42° red cone. However, you will see white light. Yes, you read that right, white light, because you are looking straight in the middle of the cone of white light.

Let’s say we choose another angle and look at point D. If we choose a raindrop anywhere on line D, it will make no difference. It will cast into the sky the famous 42° angle because that’s the angle that was chosen there. If we look in that direction of the sky, what will we see? Yes, only red. No other color!

Figure 10.1

And now, we know where we will see red light, blue light, or white light. And we also know which direction has no light.

A rainbow is a bow in the sky

Let’s suppose the sun is on your left and you are standing at point A (Figure 11.0). Since there is light, you will have a shadow on the ground. As long as you look 42° away from any direction, you will only see red. That is because a cone is a spherical object. And that explains why the rainbow is a bowl in the sky. As long as it is 42° away from a line in any direction, you will always see red light. And if you decrease the angle, you will see the other colors in the sky.

And so now, we can make a picture of a rainbow.

When we look at the horizon, sometimes we see a rainbow. And we will have a center point somewhere below the horizon. The radius with 42° has red light. The blue light is closer to the 40° radius. This tells us that the red bowl is always on the outside and the blue light is always on the inside. That’s what we always see.

Figure 11.0

Double Reflection in the Rainbow

We can also include two reflections in the rainbow. If we do, we get refraction, reflection, another reflection, and then another refraction. So, the light beams reflect twice. And if we do this hocus-pocus again and again, we can come to a conclusion: There is no maximum value for the various colors, but there is a minimum value. In other words, various colors cannot be lower than a certain value, but they can be higher.

And if we do some calculation for the angles, we will see something very similar. We will find out that the second bow is pointing at the sky, and the angle is 10° above the first one (which is 52°). And, surprisingly, the colors of the second bowl reverse. In other words, red is the one on the inside, and blue is on the outside this time.

Figure 11.1

Interesting fact: There is no light between the two bowls. This is because of the φ maximum and minimum. We call that dark part Alexander’s dark band.[6]Additionally, since the second bowl is formed by φ minimum, sunlight can come out at angle φ or larger and there will be sunlight above a rainbow.

Figure 11.2

Some examples…

Image 1: René Descartes’ sketch of how primary and secondary rainbows are formed (probable engraver: Frans van Schooten the younger).

Image 2: This diagram was drawn by the famous physicist Newton who was one of the first to understand the rainbow, from his book Optics.

Image 3: Double rainbow. The primary red bow is on the outside, and blue is on the inside. Alexander’s dark band can be seen in between the two bows. It shows up really dark. For the secondary bow, red is on the inside, and blue is on the outside.

Image 4: Walter Lewis’ backyard and his rainbow. When you water your garden when the sun is high in the sky, you can get a rainbow all the way around you. 42° away from the line is always red. If you turn around and look back, it is red.

Image 5 | A white rainbow. It is very unique and rare. It is also called a fog bow, because fog has small water droplets that create this effect.

Image 8 | Red rainbow. Let us imagine that there is a rainbow at sunset. What would you expect to see? We would only see red light because there is only red light. What would happen to the white light inside the bow? It would be red too.

On holy days, we reflect on the joyous past and the beautiful future yet to come.
When the sun rises over our land,
only then will it be our holy day…
Alvarli Efe

Holy days are days of joy and pleasure, especially for those who perceive their true meaning. On holy days, people seem to be more serene and peaceful. They are aware that they have gained the forgiveness of their Sublime Creator, attained redemption, and once more, have experienced the feelings of both the past and the future.

Every holy day is reflected in people’s hearts, and in the whole land, as a source of delight and rejoicing. These feelings peak when they remind us of the sweet memories of the past. From these memories of previous holy days, joy flows in our souls and sometimes inspires us to reach glorious delights and pleasures that may outshine previous ones.

In every holy day, we bring together and embrace both the past and the future side by side in our imaginations, kiss both the hands of our magnificent ancestors and the foreheads of our bright-eyed, future grandchildren and taste eternal bliss. Although pessimistic and daunted souls cannot comprehend much from the past, with all its glory and dazzling colors, or the future, with all its ebullience and enthusiasm, every holy day becomes just like a rainbow over our heads, and bestows upon us such bright and festive ceremonies.

Certainly, there is no other felicity that can be equal to the happiness we experience when we watch the panorama of our past and the most striking scenes of the future side by side!

In feelings, thoughts, and heart, the human soul is connected with the past and the future just as much as with the present, and can be deeply moved by the delights and pleasures of all times. From such a broad viewpoint, it can surely perceive holy days, with their many different dimensions.

A holy day that is perceived with this meaning is very different from the one that is described by the day laborers who are stuck in the moment. Their dull and colorless holy days, which are completely detached from the past and the future, can only be described as the few days that are allocated for handing out some candies to children, but can never be considered a holy day in the true sense of the word.

To me, every holy day comes with its festive nights full of dazzling colors, shining sweet and impressive images of our history into my heart. In the coming and going of holy days, I watch in my imagination the future’s happy generations, who are both mentally and spiritually enlightened, attaining a pure and delicate heart, and embracing each other as they become one with their souls. These scenes enrapture me. At such moments, individuals at full rest in their hearts, whose minds are full with science and technical knowledge, and whose conscience are full of deep faith in their Exalted Creator and love of their Lord and all beings, appear before my eyes. My heart becomes overwhelmed with the spiritual pleasures that they carry, and I experience unique minutes of blissfulness. In that atmosphere – when I imagine the elderly as individuals who are highly esteemed and humanely honored, the youth as chaste and forbearing of their extreme sensations and refraining from wrongdoings, the children as bright and cheerful as sunflowers in the shower of light from above, and the women as the main constructors of this magical scene – I feel delighted to the bone.

At such times, the whole administration is temperately, moderately, and prudently carried out by the most sensitive, responsive, and professional people, while peace, law, and order appear before my eyes like the finest patterns of a canvas or embroidery. In this scenario of the future, ordinary people are side by side with the highest administrators and intellectuals, all acting in a great harmony. Justice vigorously reaches every little corner of the land, while the enfeebled and daunted evil sulks in its dark pit. In that new world, neither the heedless yells of the atrocious are heard, nor the moaning of the oppressed…

On holy days, I visualize schools, each of which operates like a laboratory that tries to solve and reveal all the mysteries of the universe. And in those schools, I see uplifted teachers who elevate their pupils to mysteries that extend beyond the heavens, outstanding teachers whose faces are shining, whose actions are all conducted with deep sincerity, and who are straightforward in their thinking…

On such days, I sometimes feel as if I am hearing the drums of victory from the borders of our civilization! The clatter of victorious armies comes to my ears; armies of those who forsook all their personal pleasures and desires to confront dangers of all kinds so that they could ensure a balance of power among states, and stability in the world…

Every holy day emerges in my soul with such dazzling colors, prayers, and hymns. With all its inspirations and reminders, they mesmerize my heart. I feel purified and cleansed, completely refreshed and renewed. With all these feelings, I cannot help saying to myself, “I wish everyday would be a holy day!”

For some people, all these feelings are just a fantasy, but for others, they are a sublime ideal where thousands of examples are witnessed in the past, and an explanation of the eternal signs of reality which appear on our horizon…

But our similarities and differences can also be much more significant, as well. On one hand, for instance, the tenth anniversary of 9/11 was a major occasion for the U.S., but for a great majority of the world it was just a single chapter-albeit a long one-in the chronicles of violence in human history. On the other hand, almost every nation today from the Philippines to Nigeria has diverse security issues, and in many countries mass killings, violent attacks, and explosions have become astonishingly unastonishing. Just before the turn of the year, for instance, terrorism showed its monstrous face once again against Christians observing Christmas in Nigeria. Indeed, these attacks were an unprecedented form of violence by so-called Islamic terrorists-where in the history of Islam can one show violence against Christians as they are worshipping, especially when the Qur’an and the Prophet forbade harming worshippers in churches or monasteries? Is there any permission in Islam to attack civilians? Iraq and Syria have their own fashion of violence: sectarian conflicts in the fight for obtaining the right to rule. There are many major concerns that all human beings share, and this calls for developing a common understanding so that we can tackle them together. In all of the events The Fountain organizes, we try to raise awareness of our commonality by cultivating an environment in which we can learn from our differences.

The lead article in this issue underlines one dimension of one of our universal humanness by relating “happiness” to “virtue.” The article on autism tries to open a window of hope for families suffering from this really difficult ordeal. In “The Optimizing Man,” you will read on the many economic irrationalities we commit for the sake of transient fancies. The article on cultural differences shares with us some interesting differences between varying nations of the world with memorable examples. De Villa guides us on an exploration of the fantastic civilization of Al Andalus, an exemplary era of coexistence in human history.

As sleepers floated in their deepest slumbers

In purple and pink, successive dawns were swelling

While in waters swans were elegantly gliding

We felt the shivering breaths of a new spring.

A cerulean serenity had enveloped our dreams

And the sky winked with hope from a distance

In a moment, we were left without defenses

At the point where providence meets resolve

God made our dreams bloom.

The overflowing fountain has come to life again

Breezes high and low promising a bright future

Everywhere embraced by a blessed joy

And the happiest days of life I longed for

Were being lived in the deepest sense, once again.

A pristine spring, with its fresh verdant hues

Like the patterns and colors of the past

The people found the touchstone they had lost

Making up for the great loss they sought

Purple rosebuds on heavenly hills.

With the breeze blowing, now grasses atone

In the lands, once struck lifeless by autumn, are new roses

As if the Trumpet has blown, the dead are resurrected

Along with them in this azure dream

Grieving hearts attain reunion. 

As a child of 11, Rebecca thought she was going blind. There was a Japanese plum tree in her front yard, and its leaves seemed duller than they had the day before. Looking down, the grass didn’t seem quite right either. Neither did the sky. There seemed to be an invisible filter over her eyes, a slightly cloudy lens that made colors less colorful. It wasn’t just colors, either… things that had been painfully shiny, like a baby’s eyes or her swimming pool, suddenly seemed normal and unremarkable. A dullness had descended on her world. It was a subtle change, maybe imperceptible to some, but the shift in her perception bothered her. Maybe she sensed that it was a spiritual rather than physical malady. However, she told no one, and later forgot to worry about it.

Years went by and Rebecca became a romantic teenager. As she walked to classes at university, she looked around at the ivy-covered brick buildings, the oak trees dripping with Spanish moss, the students laughing and talking or hurrying to and fro, and she felt her heart would burst. In those days, her heart could break in under a minute. She felt so much love for the world, such joy at occupying her small corner of it that she couldn’t help but be very, very aware of how fleeting it all was. She remembered then her odd experience as a child. Had that been a rite of passage, the moment that a child’s eyes become an adult’s? She grew into a woman who valued intellectual honesty and emotional generosity. It annoyed her how others blindly accepted conventional wisdom, or how they were too self-centered to be counted on.

More years went by, and Rebecca descended into a deep, desperate unhappiness. Most people she knew seemed so satisfied, which made it worse. Those who were religious did not look too closely at any logical or metaphysical cracks that might appear in their chosen worldview. Those who were irreligious seemed content to look at the world through their own eyes, apart from organized religion. Rebecca took to reinventing herself from time to time. She became a bit of a chameleon, vacillating between ideological extremes, a bright “love-me” smile under sad eyes. But there was something incomplete about each philosophy she tried on, something fractured within that intensified the eternal hole in her own heart.

Rebecca felt she owed it to herself to find the most perfect perspective; obviously, it must adapt to new information. People often ridiculed her for her wanderings from libertarian to Marxism, from church to yoga. She, too, couldn’t understand herself. She couldn’t recapture her earlier mindset: she had changed, her perception had shifted, and no memory, photo, or diary could take her back to the way she’d felt. It was as if those memories were of someone else entirely. She was evolving because she hadn’t found “it” yet: her place in the world, the meaning of life. It seemed to her that, just out of her reach, was an absolute truth, an ultimate reality.

As the search for God devolved into a search for significance, her personal troubles began to overshadow the metaphysical ones. She struggled to sleep, and had vivid, disturbing dreams. She no longer felt comfortable, even with family or friends. She was uneasy even in her own skin, and felt she did not belong anywhere. Academia appeared to dismiss the spiritual dimension of the human experience, while religion appeared to dismiss intellect. But to her it was too arrogant to forge her own path, to create her own philosophy: how was it possible that in thousands of years, billions of human souls had not yet hit upon something more absolute and eternal about the meaning of life? As she wrestled with the answers, she nearly drowned a thousand times in her own despair – why was there starvation, genocide and war? Why had her father left? Why could no one love her as she needed to be loved?

Could belief in God and worshiping Him be an option? Reading the holy scriptures

was at first a foray into the unconventional, a little excursion into something foreign. Later it made Rebecca uneasy: their warnings to the followers of other faiths, their recurring admonitions to unbelievers-“will they not see?” They claimed to be a direct communique from the Lord, God. It scared her to keep reading, and yet it scared her more not to know what it said.

Sometimes it feels like our personal, unstable world is constant, like the general world, and we imagine ourselves to be immortal; we embrace that world with intense emotions; then we drown in it and depart. Such love is boundless torment and trial for us, because an orphan-like compassion, a despairing softness of heart is born of that love. We pity all living things, we feel sympathy for all beautiful creatures which suffer decline and the pain of separation, but unable to do anything, we suffer in absolute despair.

Thinking over these, Rebecca would file them away, unaware that little seeds were growing and piercing the soil of her heart. She thought of praying to God. She felt each of the prayers was related to a season and stage in human life. Praying at dawn reminds us of spring, the freshness of youth. Prayer at noon reminds us of summertime, the vitality of adulthood. The afternoon prayer reminds us of autumn, and the weakening of old age. The sunset prayer reminds us of winter and death. The night prayer reminds us of the grave.

Rebecca’s heart was touched by words, but even so, to Rebecca they might have remained mere ideas, words in a book. It was the day-to-day examples of a number of observant believers that breathed life into faith and made it viable. They were kind, thoughtful people who spoke of God with both familiarity and reverence. Their eyes would light up at the sight of a lovely child, and they would breathe, “It is God’s will.” Their smiles were so warm, their hugs so tight, their hearts so giving; she felt she had found the community she had searched for. Muslims believe God’s mercy is limitless: like the waxing and waning of the moon, God forgives His people over and over and over again, and again and again. All people will stand before God and be held accountable for the good and bad they brought forth in this life. Life, therefore, is a test-for the human to overcome their evil-commanding soul and submit to the will of the Eternal and Absolute.

Beauty came suddenly, a few months after Rebecca have experienced these transformations in her soul. It was a hot summer day. She was sitting in a comfortable silence with her husband in the shade of their back porch, and she realized that the world was violently bright- almost Technicolor. The grainy contacts she’d been wearing since she was 11 were gone. The sky was so shockingly blue; the trees were so startlingly green. Her eyes filled with tears suddenly. She knew. She had been born completely surrendered to God, and had lived that way for almost a dozen years. She wondered if the day when the colors grew dull was the day she had left that perfect state of human nature. Perhaps now she had returned to her innate knowledge of God’s unity, and submitted herself to His Sole Divinity. It seemed God had called her back to Himself, and filled overflowing the hole in her heart, returning to her the colors of the world. Praise be to God, she could see again.

Jennifer Knight-Ari is an MA student in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) program at the University of Central Florida.

In order to answer these questions, let’s first take a closer look at the nature of leaves and how they function. Simply put, leaves are nature’s food factories. During spring and summer the leaves serve as factories where most of the food necessary for tree growth is manufactured. The process of transforming water and carbon dioxide into sugar is called photosynthesis, which means literally “putting together with light” (Figure 1). This food-making process is performed by the chlorophyll molecules that are present in the leaf cells. Chlorophyll absorbs energy from sunlight. While the water is sucked in from the soil by the roots and carbon dioxide is inhaled through the pores of the leaves, chlorophyll synthesizes carbohydrates, such as sugars and starch. During winter, when this process cannot continue due to lack of light or water, the trees rest and live off the food they stored during the summer.

What is most astonishing is that it is again chlorophyll that gives the leaves their green color. Along with the chlorophylls (green pigment), spectrums of pigments, such as carotenoid, anthocyanin, and xanthophyll, give different colors to the leaves (Figure 2). When chlorophyll is abundant in the leaf cells, as it is during the growing season, the green color of chlorophyll dominates and masks the colors of any other coloring pigments that may be present in the leaf. Thus, the leaves of summer are characteristically green. When for some reason the number of chlorophylls decreases significantly, the color of other pigments paint the leaves, such as in the fall. For example, maple and acer leaves turn to bright red because of the carotenoid and anthocyanin pigments while sugar maple leaves turn yellow due to xanthophyll pigments.

Time to change colors

At the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, the length of days and the average temperature begin to decrease. Then the trees “know” that it is time to get ready for winter, their sleep-time, and the leaves stop making food. Since there is no longer a need for them, the chlorophyll molecules break down, and so the green color begins to fade. As we, the grieving viewers of this process, say farewell to the color of life, we are surprised by the splendor demonstrated by vibrant colors ranging from yellow to orange.

All these colors are due to the mixing of varying amounts of the chlorophyll residue and other pigments in the leaf becoming visible during the fall season. For the realization of this beauty, mixtures of pigments give rise to the reddish and purplish fall colors of trees such as dogwoods and sumacs, while others offer the sugar maple its brilliant orange or yellow. In some trees, like the maple, a red pigment will be formed in the fall if the days are warm and the nights cold. These trees produce sugar in the leaves during the day, but this sugar cannot move out when the nights are cold, and the leaf’s connections to the tree begin to break down. After that the high sugar concentration favors the formation of a class of pigments called anthocyanin, which is red. Thus, the leaves left out in the sunlight turn red through this process. The brown color of trees (like oaks) that appears after chlorophyll breaks down comes from plant wastes left in the leaves. The autumn foliage of some trees is only yellow, so it is the combination of all these things that makes the beautiful colors we enjoy in the fall.

Thanks to scientific research, today we know the details of leaf color change. The approximate size of these pigments is so small that hundreds of millions of them, put edge to edge, could measure only 1 meter. Isn’t it amazing how the beauty of autumn is exhibited through the hands of such small and blind painters?

Abdullah Akpinar is a graduate student in Planning and Landscape Architecture at Clemson University, Southern Carolina.

Light reveals a world of colors by painting everything it touches. Our plain and soulless furniture gains meaning. Our brown bookshelf, gray study table, green mug carpets, rugs, curtains the yellow wheat fields in the harvest picture, the blue china vase, our favorite brown sweater the striking green of a tree surrounded by concrete buildings, the blue sky, and the carousel of life that becomes worth living by being embellished with colors.

Let’s travel through the wonderful world of colors. Each color conceals a story. Some virtuous and sensitive eyes see the truth through them, while others see rage, anger, and all the evils dictated by the alter ego. Colors carry such feelings as anger and hope, and symbolize such concepts as sinfulness and innocence. They are abused or sacrificed, and widely preferred or despised.

Literally, color is a phenomenon of light or visual perception that enables people to differentiate otherwise identical objects. Being one of matter’s distinguishing characteristics, in a sense its meanings are the meanings of life. As truth is interwoven with life, truth might be viewed through colors.

Their Influence on People

The most important aspect of color in daily life is probably the aesthetic and psychological responses that they evoke”our psychological perception”and the resulting influences on art, fashion, commerce, and even physical and emotional sensations. For example, reds, oranges, yellows, and browns are warm, whereas blues, greens, and grays are cold. Reds, oranges, and yellows are said to induce excitement, cheerfulness, stimulation, and aggression; blues and greens to induce security, calm, and peace; and browns, grays, and blacks to bring sadness, depression, and melancholy. However, we can only generalize about such subjective perceptions.

Age, mood, mental health, and other factors affect color perception. People sharing distinct personal traits often share color perceptions and preferences. For example, schizophrenics are said to have abnormal color perception, and very young children learning to distinguish colors usually prefer red or orange. Many psychologists believe that analyzing one’s use of and response to color reveals relevant physiological and psychological information. Some even suggest that specific colors have a therapeutic effect on physical and mental disabilities.

In China, India, and Japan, colors are used in alternative medicine. Orange is considered good for depression, yellow for diabetes, green for ulcers and spiritual fatigue, and blue-violet for epilepsy. What is important here is the body’s receptor of color, such as eyes or skin. Each color’s wavelength carries and transmits energy to the bodily part having that color. This energy removes physical and emotional disorders, and colorful rays directly influence the neural system. Thus, different illnesses are treated with different rays of colors having different tones and impacts.

Although these medical benefits are still in question, color does cause definite physical and emotional reactions. Rooms and objects that are white or have light shades of cool colors may seem larger than those with intense dark or warm colors. As designers and decorators know, black or very dark colors have a slimming or shrinking effect. A cool room decorated in pale blue requires a higher thermostat setting than a warm room painted pale orange to achieve the same sensation of warmth.

People viewing unusual colors produced by special illumination may experience headaches and nervous disorders. Tasty wholesome food served under such conditions appears repulsive and may induce illness. Other colors induce pleasure. When an affectively positive or pleasurably perceived color is viewed after a less pleasant color, it produces more pleasure than when viewed by itself. This effect is known as affective contrast enhancement.

What Colors Have Experienced

Colors are not universal. Some languages do not have separate words for green and blue or yellow and orange, whereas Eskimos use 17 different words for white to describe different snow conditions. Comparing color terminology reveals certain consistent patterns. All languages have designations for black and white.

If a third hue is distinguished, it is red; next comes yellow or green, and then other colors.

Consider soccer fanatics who so love their team’s colors that they tear and burn the other team’s flag. They dye their hair and faces yellow-red, blue-white, or red-white to match their team’s colors, but cannot stand the opponent’s colors. They taunt the opposing team with clothes in their own team’s colors, even to the extent of injury or death. Most important, they gain identity, send a message, and enjoy the confidence that comes with belonging to a peer group.

Colors are gifts, not a cause of separatism. As sociologist Orhan Kologlu points out, people of different religions and nations chose different colors. In the Balkans, blue and white are considered to be Greece’s colors (its flag is blue and white). During conflicts, people do not use the colors of other nation’s flags. But this is emotional and irrational, for no nation owns a color. During a time of Turkish“Greek tension, red-white clothes were despised in Greece, and blue-white clothes in Turkey. Bulent Ecevit (current prime minister of Turkey) broke a taboo with his poem Blue Magic, which contains the lines: Like a blue magic, lies a warm sea between us / We are two nations, as beautiful as the other, at its shores. He also chose blue and white as his political party’s colors. Ironically, this party whose emblem is in Greek (!) colors now is now in power Turkey.

A nation’s color choices change over time. Ancient Turks considered blue as sacred, for it was the color of the sky. Some Turkic nations still use it as their national color. In medieval Europe, blue stood for nobility and aristocracy, and the latter were believed to have blue blood. But in America, blue is associated with low spirits, melancholy, and depression (a blue funk). For women it means learned and intellectual, while in morality it means puritanical. It also means profane or indecent (blue movies), off-color or risqué (blue jokes), and a kind of music (the Blues) dominated by sad and melancholic themes.

Red and black are most commonly associated with sociopolitical conflict. For years red symbolized violence, pillage, murder, oppression, anti-democracy, and terrorism. In emotional terms, it means a face flushed with anger or embarrassment (red in the face), or bloody (red eyes).

In politics, it means inciting or endorsing radical sociopolitical change, especially by force, as in red uprising or anything associated with communism (the former USSR’s Red Square). There are even two Red armies: the Soviet army established after the 1917 Revolution, and the Japanese Red Army formed in 1969. The first was renowned for its strict penal codes and discipline, such as punishing battalions by sending them on suicide missions. New regulations in 1960 considerably lightened the Soviet Army’s redness. The second army, a small-structured Japanese terrorist organization, remained active until 1990.

Italy’s Red Brigades, an extreme left-wing terrorist organization, chose red and violence as it sought to prepare 1970s Italy for a Marxist uprising. Chinese revolutionaries seeking to end China’s traditional culture chose red and violence, as did Cambodia’s radical Khmer Rouge (Red Khmers). This latter group massacred an entire generation, an estimated 1.5 million people out of an estimated population of 5.7 million, during their 3.5-year reign. 

It is used for heavy or serious (black intrigue); dirty and soiled (black hands); thoroughly sinister, evil, or wicked (black deed); negative (a black mark in one’s record); the supernatural or Satan (black magic); very sad, gloomy, or calamitous (black despair); a disaster (black Saturday); hostility, angry discontent, sullenness (black resentment); grim, distorted, grotesque satire (black humor); or covert intelligence operations (black government missions).

Although we associate black with negative meanings, we cannot deny that it also symbolizes seriousness, respectability, and nobility. There are occasions when white, the symbol of purity and innocence, is inappropriate says social psychiatrist Ibrahim Ballioglu. Colors should be used with the proper tones and combinations. He claims that it is logical to associate white with positive and black with negative concepts. Black and white are like night and day. The dark of night scares people, whereas the light of day relieves them. The colors hidden at night come forward in daytime. People are inclined to like light and bright colors. We apply white light in our depression patients’ therapy. One’s interest in dark colors gives clues about one’s mood. A patient’s wearing white signals that he or she is getting well.

In history, such groups as the Black Hand,1 Black Faces, and Black Shirts favored violence and vandalism. Mussolini’s fascist Black Shirts group is the most interesting. After his overthrow 1943 and the Black Shirts’ dismissal, people avoided wearing black shirts.

White means free of color; light or pallid (white hair, lips white with fear); without spot, blemish, or moral impurity; innocent or chaste (white wedding); harmless (white lie, white magic); and favorable or fortunate (white days of life). It also means politically conservative or reactionary people who undertake counter-revolutionary measures (white terror). In music, it is associated with a musical tone quality characterized by a controlled pure sound and a lack of warmth, color, and resonance.

Green means mild and clement (green winter); pleasantly alluring; youthful and vigorous; not ripened or matured (green apples, tender green grasses); fresh and new; marked by a pale, sickly, or nauseated appearance; envious (green with envy); somehow deficient or unsophisticated; and an environmentalist political movement (Green Peace) or individual working to preserve environmental quality.

Yellow is associated with sensationalized scandal items or distorted ordinary news (yellow journalism), and cowardice (a yellow streak up one’s back). Pink signifies moderately radical and usually socialistic political or economic views, as well as emotional excitement (tickled pink).

Do Nations or Religions Have Their Own Color?

Color harmony, preferences, symbolism, and other psychological aspects are culturally conditioned and vary with time and place. For instance, American and Japanese concepts of warm and cold colors are essentially the same. However, Japanese consider blues and greens good and the red-purple range bad, while Americans consider the red-yellow-green range good and oranges and red-purples bad. In the West, black signifies mourning; other cultures use white, purple, or gold.

Orhan Kural says that societies tend to use colors that comply with their culture and belief: In Indonesia’s Banggai Islands, people believe that their ancestors arrived in brown canoes. Their houses look like brown-painted canoes. They sacrifice a water buffalo and hang its head at their doors to make funerals more elaborate. During these rituals they wear red. Since the streets are filled with blood, red is dominant in their culture. In Mongolia, green is dominant. Mongolians has five times as many animals as people. I think they paint their tents and furniture green due to their love of animals and nature. In Guatemala, the Spanish invaders forced each clan to wear a different color in order to differentiate them. This seems to be welcomed and accepted by the people, for it remains in force. All women I saw in the bazaars wore the same color. The city of Varanasi in India and the sacred Ganj river reminds me of orange, and the Taj Mahal reminds me of white.

Nevval Sevindi, who lived in Iran for some time, says that Iranians consider black to be holy and noble. According to her, Iranians and Westerners both see black as a symbol of mourning. Iranians use black to commemorate their Imams, and Westerners wear it at funerals and to commemorate their saints.

It seems that they are always mourning, since they keep Karbala’ alive in their memories.2 Red is a color of disgrace in Iran. However in Turkey, China, and India, red is the color of weddings. In Turkey, the bride wears a red veil over her head on the eve of the wedding day and a red belt on the wedding day. Women wear a red ribbon after giving birth. Red means a new future and abundance. Turks do not consider black the color of mourning. They attend funerals in ordinary clothes, for death is an ordinary part of life. Africans and Asians like to wear many colors. I associate this with their living in bright and sunny countries and within nature. Sunlight affects their clothes and moods. Violet is the Byzantine Empire’s color, for only the emperor wore it. This tradition continued after the emperor’s death, for his grave was built with violet porphyry stones, says Sevindi.

Tumulus-hillock excavations in Tekirdag, Turkey, reveal that Alexander the Great’s father wore mostly purplish colors, like that of a judas-tree. Maybe this is why Byzantine emperors valued purple tones so much. Other researchers give different reasons. For instance, historian Haluk Dursun states: There is a belief in Christianity: Judas Iscariot, one of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ, betrayed him at the Last Supper. Romans arrested and crucified Jesus. Judas, full of regret, hung himself from a tree full of white flowers. This tree felt so ashamed that it reddened. Hence it is called judas-tree. It also is said that the Byzantines recaptured Constantinople from Latin invaders when the judas-trees were blossoming, and so value this color.

Do religions have colors? Yes and no. Muslims favor green, as the covers of tombs and sarcophagus are green, and green is common in mosque decorations. Otherwise, Islam does not have its own color. Perhaps people associate green with Islam because Prophet Muhammad liked green, as it relaxes the eyes and connotes nature. In fact, he advised people to dress in plain and clean color-compliant clothes that would please the eyes.

Eastern Orthodox priests dress totally in black and wear a black cap. But this is probably not a religious color, for black is favored by Catholic priests and nuns as well, maybe for its simplicity and sobriety. Some Protestant (e.g., Lutheran) priests wear white or gray, which might be a reaction to the Catholic Church. Also, many Orthodox Jewish sect members wear long black coats and hats, usually during religious or important events to signify the occasion.

Conclusion

Colors are used for many purposes, ranging from medicine to art, politics to anthropology. They are an indispensable ingredient of our lives. But no matter how they are used, the best use of colors is observed in the works of the Great Artist.

Footnotes

1. The Black Hand is associated with two groups: immigrant Sicilian and Italian extortion rackets in America’s Italian communities (roughly between 1890 to 1920), and a secret Serbian terrorist society that promoted the liberation of Serbs outside Serbia from Habsburg or Ottoman rule.
2. Karbala’: A place in southern Iraq where Imam Husayn’s forces were defeated and killed by the Umayyad caliph Yazid I in 680.

References

• Akagunduz, Ulku Ozel. Freedom to Colors.
• Zaman North America 267 (8 Nov. 1999).
• Soylemez, Hasim. Diseases Are Treated by Colors. Aksiyon 242 (24-30 June 1999).
• Sahin, M. A. Truth through Colors (Izmir: 1992).
• www.britannica.com/bcom/eb/.
• www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary (especially the shades of meaning for different colors).