![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/311\/2014\/06\/Sarah-Sadie-at-Tree2-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Sarah")
<\/a>Author\u2019s note: This is what happens when you dive back into your old \u00a0college major after twenty years more or less away. It\u2019s a bit heady, some weeks, the learning curve. Some weeks it\u2019s all \u00a0I can do to stare out into the trees.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
Recently I\u2019ve been thinking again about Greens.<\/p>\n
I experience Green\u2014or maybe it\u2019s more accurate to say I\u2019ve experienced multiple greens. I think we all do\u2014though we don\u2019t all talk about it, I guess. Some people don\u2019t like to discuss greens. Others find it beside the point. Myself, I\u2019m fascinated. Recently I was lucky enough to listen in on an assemblage of very smart people who were discussing the nature of greens. Since I haven\u2019t really thought hard about Green in a long time\u2014although I have had some more or less direct experiences\u2014I listened eagerly to learn what I could.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt think we can all agree Green is Green,\u201d began the first. \u201cIt is essentially one color, with many variations.\u201d He displayed paint sample cards from the hardware store to prove his point.<\/p>\n
Another person waved her hands in the air, objecting, \u201cWait a minute. You simply cannot lump Lime, Seafoam, Pine, Kelly, Teal, and Olive\u2014and those are only a few of the possibilities, remember\u2014 into one big amorphous Green. They may all be Greens, but they are distinct and separate shades. I do not experience them as unified\u2014and I would never mix and match,\u201d she added, as she sat down.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mix and match all the time,\u201d said a man dressed in loosely flowing garments swirled with various shades. The other shrugged and thought to herself, perhaps he just doesn\u2019t know better. <\/em>\u00a0But she decided to keep that opinion to herself.<\/p>\nA couple came to the front at this point, and said that that Green is really a combination of blue and yellow, not one color at all but a blend, an eternal combination of two. \u201cThink of it as a dance,\u201d they said. \u201cYou can\u2019t have one without the other.\u201d And they explained that in all their thinking about Green, they focus on the blueness and yellowness, to different degrees at different times.<\/p>\n
They were regarded doubtfully by some. \u201cAll right\u2026\u201d was the reply, \u201cBut I haven\u2019t experienced this blue-and-yellow dance you speak of. Green doesn\u2019t look like blue and yellow to me. It looks like Green. Green is\u2014for me at least\u2014one color.\u201d \u201cOr a multitude,\u201d reminded the man in swirls. His friends nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cGreen is found in trees,\u201d replied someone. \u201cIf you want to understand Green, look at leaves.\u201d Someone else shook their head. \u201cGreen is more than trees. Walking in a forest doesn\u2019t necessarily help us define Green.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI first encountered Green through Spock,\u201d countered another. \u201cI used to apologize for that, but I don\u2019t any more. And, though<\/p>\n
I no longer identify as a Trekkie\u2026I\u2019m still sort of fond of Leonard Nimoy.\u201d \u201cWho isn\u2019t,\u201d a voice answered.<\/p>\n
A new person stood up. \u201cI have looked closely, and there\u2019s no difference between green and red. You all are discussing something that doesn\u2019t exist.\u201d The person next to them said, \u201cWell, maybe you\u2019re colorblind.\u201d They turned and smiled down. \u201cMaybe I\u2019m Clear Sighted\u2013I see more clearly than you do, who believe in Green.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another added, after a moment\u2019s pause, \u201cI think we need to break down our ideas about blue and yellow anyway\u2014it\u2019s a lot more complicated than our language allows for at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd don\u2019t forget,\u201d a high voice in the back chimed in, \u201cPainters through history have proved sometimes Green may have a bit of red or brown mixed in. It\u2019s not as clear cut as blue<\/em> and yellow<\/em>.\u201d Now an argument broke out as to whether shades of red and brown would really affect Green, whether Green could be diluted to the point of being non-Green. What if the paintings were really old, faded or damaged? Could they be trusted as sources? And not everyone was comfortable with blue any longer. Chairs were toppled in the fray but fortunately someone grabbed the mike and it made one of those awful electronic howls which hurt everyone\u2019s ears and reminded them to find their seats once more.<\/p>\n\u201cThis is silly. There is an obvious answer. Green is defined by science. There is a range in the light spectrum commonly agreed on. That\u2019s what we can and must rely on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another woman from the front tiredly shook her head as though she had heard this line before. \u201cNo one is discounting science in this group. But in questions like this, that\u2019s just another human construct. Who decides how to measure and where to draw the lines on that spectrum human scientists provide?\u201d<\/p>\n
A younger man stood up. \u201cAnd that spectrum doesn\u2019t explain my feelings when I see Green,\u201d he argued. \u201cI can\u2019t and won\u2019t try to separate how Green affects me from the nature of some abstract Green. Green is an interaction, for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t even taken synesthesia into account yet,\u201d another said. \u201cGreen for me is the number 5 and a high soprano.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile back in a far corner a few people were whispering that teal was not really a Green at all and shouldn\u2019t be counted. At which point, others jumped up shouting that teal is a Green, very definitely a Green, and they who love teal need to be respected. They had tattoos to prove it.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we talk about capitalization?\u201d someone asked.<\/p>\n
At this point, I felt the need to escape the hall for a few moments and went to find a drink of water. The voices continued, but all I could hear now was the rise and fall of the general murmur through the doors. I stared out the window into the trees, wondering what I was missing.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/311\/2014\/06\/pantone-greens.jpg\" "\\"pantone")
<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Recently I\u2019ve been thinking again about Greens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1856,"featured_media":1961,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13,18,6],"class_list":["post-1936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-theology","tag-pagan","tag-pagan-theology","tag-theology-2"],"yoast_head":"\n
On the Nature of Green(s)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Recently I\u2019ve been thinking again about Greens.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/2014\/06\/on-the-nature-of-greens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"On the Nature of Green(s)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Recently I\u2019ve been thinking again about Greens.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/2014\/06\/on-the-nature-of-greens\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Dowsing for Divinity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-18T14:30:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-02-19T21:06:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/311\/2014\/06\/pantone-greens.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sarah Sadie\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sarah Sadie\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/2014\/06\/on-the-nature-of-greens\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/2014\/06\/on-the-nature-of-greens\/\",\"name\":\"On the Nature of Green(s)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-18T14:30:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-02-19T21:06:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/#\/schema\/person\/27655e6b032f2abdc75245113f9ae4dd\"},\"description\":\"Recently I\u2019ve been thinking again about Greens.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/2014\/06\/on-the-nature-of-greens\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/2014\/06\/on-the-nature-of-greens\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/2014\/06\/on-the-nature-of-greens\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"On the Nature of Green(s)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/\",\"name\":\"Dowsing for Divinity\",\"description\":\"Pagan Theology, Poetry, and Praxis\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/#\/schema\/person\/27655e6b032f2abdc75245113f9ae4dd\",\"name\":\"Sarah Sadie\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/sermonsfromthemound\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8925eb40205478e58bc8d8822a34e35?s=96&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b8925eb40205478e58bc8d8822a34e35?s=96&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Sarah Sadie\"},\"description\":\"Sarah Sadie's newest poetry collection, \\\"We Are Traveling Through Dark at Tremendous Speeds\\\" was published in spring 2016 by Lit Fest Press. 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![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/311\/2014\/06\/Sarah-Sadie-at-Tree2.jpg\" "\\"Sarah")
<\/a>Author\u2019s note: This is what happens when you dive back into your old \u00a0college major after twenty years more or less away. It\u2019s a bit heady, some weeks, the learning curve. Some weeks it\u2019s all \u00a0I can do to stare out into the trees.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n