The Phenomenon of Color

Note should be taken of two things. First, the Light Course (LC) is presented here by paraphrasing and condensing Steiner's lectures in the same manner used for the Warmth Course (WC) in the "Fire" essay as set out there in footnote 10.

Second, pages 134-138 in the "Fire" essay present a discussion expressly taken from the first part of the Light Course which had been given before the Warmth Course. The discussion deals with the difference between the ideal and the empirical and is graphically demonstrated by two parallelograms, one of movements (kinematics; the "ideal") and one of forces (mechanics; the "empirical"). The Light Course actually opened with that discussion, which is equally applicable to both "Fire" and "Light." The reader must have what was said there freshly in mind before going on.

The final thought there borrowed from LC dealt with how the human brain is immersed in cerebral fluid so that, under Archimedes' principle over ninety-eight percent of its weight is displaced, leaving it weighing only about seven-tenths of an ounce (19.6 grams). Only the brain (and spinal cord) is so buoyed in the body; consequently it is largely relieved of the pressure, the downward pull, of matter. Our intelligence lives in this buoyed condition, but our Will has to unite with body matter that deprives it of consciousness, puts it to sleep—the essential phenomenon of Will.

This buoyancy permits our brain, to a very high degree, to bring our etheric body into play, whereas in the rest of the body it is overwhelmed by matter. Our forces of consciousness unite with what comes to meet us in the light. Because of the light we also perceive color. Like the positive and negative of electricity and magnetism, color has polar qualities. At one pole are yellow and its kindred colors, orange and red. At the other pole is blue and its kindred colors, indigo and violet and some of the lesser shades of green (i.e., where only six colors are listed, green is kindred to blue, and indigo is omitted; this tends to classify green with the blue end of the spectrum, whereas if a full seven are listed it is the middle one).

Steiner agreed with Goethe that color is among the most significant phenomena of all nature and should be studied accordingly. He demonstrates what Goethe called the ur-phenomenon of color by an experiment.

First he establishes a light projection through a small circular opening in an otherwise opaque object so that a cylinder of light is projected on the opposite wall (Figure 1):

FIGURE 1

Then he places a water prism in the path of light with the wider portion of the prism on top (Figure 2):

FIGURE 2

The patch of light is deflected upward and at its upper edge is a bluish-greenish light while on the lower edge is reddish-yellow. This is the phenomenon. Then Steiner does the experiment again with a far narrower cylinder of light. This time the circle of light is completely filled with colors, all those of the rainbow in their proper order. We are told to hold to the simple phenomenon, the pure and simple fact. Then once more he inserts the larger aperture (Figure 2) and asks that we observe. The cylinder of light goes through the prism of water and there is thus an interpenetration of the light with the water. The light somehow has the power to make its way through to the other side, but in the process is deflected upward. Something deflects our cylinder of light upward.

When you see the light through clear unclouded water, you see it in a greater brightness than when the water is cloudy, for then the light is weakened. This is stated simply as a fact. In some respect, every material medium is dim, even the prism of clear water. It always dims the light to some extent. Inside the prism, we have a working-together of matter and light; a dimming of the light arises here. What is it that comes about by a dimming of the light? Not only is it dimmed but it is also deflected, both brought about by matter.

But if what is deflected upward is light, then what is dim is deflected upward too. Their joint product is beamed upward. Here we are dealing with the interaction of two things: the brightly shining light, itself deflected, and the sending into it of the darkening effect deflected in the same direction as the light is. Here in the upward region the bright light is infused and irradiated with dimness, and by this means the dark or bluish colors are produced, while further down they are light or yellowish.

On top the dimming or darkening tends to go into the light; down below, the working of the light is such that the deflection of it works in an opposite direction to the deflection of the dimming, darkening effect. What is the result? Above, the dimming and light are deflected so as to work together, while below the dimming works back into the light but is overwhelmed as it were by the light so that the latter predominates.

We may thus say: upward the darkening runs into the light and there the blue shades of color arise; downward the light outdoes and overwhelms the darkness and there the yellow shades of color arise. In Figure 2, the working of the darkness or dimming is shown by arrows going out of the stream of light on both sides so that the arrows on the upper side exit upward while those on the downward side exit downward. This helps to see where, in terms of direction of the deflected beam, they work together on the upper side and in opposition on the lower side.

While Steiner stated it as above, it might be simpler to think of it in the traditional way that the light is simply slowed down more in having to pass through the wider upper portion of the prism. But that is not the way he presents it, and would appear to be contrary to the spiritual way of seeing it. Lest we scoff at this, let it be said that Steiner's (and Goethe's) version is at least as much in keeping with the observable phenomena as is the traditional scientific view, and when followed further can be seen to be the correct one.

Thus by adhering to the plain facts and simply taking what is given, purely from what is seen we have the possibility of understanding why yellowish colors on the one hand and bluish colors on the other make their appearance. Downward, the darkness and the light are interacting in a different way than upward.