“Somewhere over the…”
This one’s about rainbows.
This one has absolutely nothing to do with rainbows.
Facts About Rainbows (or “Did you know…:”):
Not necessarily in order of importance:
For a rainbow to exist, the sun has to be behind the observer AND very specific sizes (diameters) of water mist must be in front of, or before, the observer.
If the water droplets in front are too large or small, a rainbow will not form.
Clouds can form that “cover” the sun thus preventing rainbows from forming.
Clouds can form in front of the mist thus preventing rainbows from forming.
Clouds in the form of fog can envelope the observer thus preventing rainbows from forming.
White light, of the kind emanating from our sun through our atmosphere, is composed of a multitude of different wavelengths of energy—energy that we also call light.
Some of that energy we can perceive with our eyes.
We call THAT energy: color.
We can “break” white light into its color components using a special glass apparatus.
That apparatus is called a prism.
We call the light that passes through a prism “the visible spectrum” which, by definition, means that all of the colors we see belong to this visible spectrum of energy.
The visible spectrum, the colors of the rainbow, has been given a mnemonic, an anthropomorphic name: ROY G BIV.
The pattern of the spectrum “NEVER” changes.
Considering the characteristic and telltale arc of all rainbows, the color red is always the color closest to the open sky; the color violet is always the color closest to the earth. This is a function of their respective wavelengths.
The “visible spectrum” makes up only a small part of all the energy, or wavelengths, emitted from the sun and stars. All the rest, combined, is known as the invisible spectrum—because we, humans, cannot see them...unaided. We CAN and do perceive them in different ways though. Combine the visible spectrum and the invisible spectrum and you get the entire “electromagnetic radiation spectrum” which includes energies and wavelengths we call radio, micro, infra-red, ultraviolet, x-ray, and gamma rays.
ALL objects of our perceived world, everything you can see, has a specific color ONLY because one little part of the white light that approaches the object, from the sun or other light source, bounces off of it and enters our eyes.
All the rest of that energy/color, from the light source to the object, gets absorbed by the object.
When that object is us, we perceive THAT absorbed energy as heat.
For example: when we see something red, a stop sign for example, or a red shirt you wear, red energy (aka light, aka color) is reflected out to observer eyes; all the rest of the light energy, OY G BIV, gets absorbed. When you are wearing the red shirt, OY G BIV, plus the invisible components of the spectrum of energy (e.g. infrared, ultraviolet, etc), comprises the heat from the sun you feel behind the shirt. There’s a bit of irony in this fact of electromagnetic physics—“red” objects are composed of all the other colors except for red—truly, they are NOT red, they reflect red; rather, they are “all the other colors!”
Objects we perceive as white reflect all of the white light coming to it. Therefore, you “feel” cooler in the sun when you wear white (less of the spectrum gets absorbed).
Objects we perceive as black absorb all of the white light coming to it. Therefore, you “feel” warmer in the sun when you wear black.
White is not a color; white is “all colors.”
Black is not a color; black is “lack of all colors.”
Get rid of all light, and all objects fade to black. No matter how “bright” or vivid their color, ALL things fade to black sans light.
Some organisms (insects, other animals, plants, etc) don’t perceive the reflected light energy as humans do—they perceive, or see, their own unique “visible spectra.”
Some of those organisms can “see” heat—aka “infra-red” light energy (a longer red wavelength), aka color.
Humans can see infra-red too but we need a special apparatus called “night vision goggles.”
Even some humans perceive a unique “visible spectra;” with their own eyes (sans night vision goggles); a condition we term “color blindness.”
Back to rainbows:
The rainbow I see is different from the rainbow you see when we appear to be looking at the same rainbow.
Because no two observers can inhabit the exact same place, they have an ever-so-slightly different angle of perception to an object that both observers might be looking at.
That different angle, by definition, means you see different light, a different rainbow, different color coming from the object.
So the fun phrase is true: “we each enjoy our own unique rainbows in life!”
When you, the observer, moves, your rainbow moves with you. Which is why you can never “catch” a rainbow. It is actually more accurate to say when you move, you create different rainbows, each remaining a consistent distance from you.
Light that leads to rainbows takes an interesting path through water drops. White light enters the front surface of the drop (billions of them for one rainbow), refracts some as it travels through the drop to the inside of the back surface where it gets reflected back toward the front surface, and exits there where it gets refracted once again, not as white light, but as the ROY G BIV that enters our eyes—if, that is, we are in the right place at the right time. FUN FACT: The sum total, btw, of the angles of the two refractions and the one reflection always equals 42 degrees.
The angle of light perception (sun to object—i.e. water droplets—to eye) has to stay constant (at 42 degrees) in order for you to see your rainbow. This means that, to sustain the angle, when you move, different water droplets get involved. When that angle deviates, or you run out of water droplets, your rainbow disappears.
A person can create their own rainbow with nothing more or less than a clear sunny day and a garden hose.
We don’t see things, anything, with our eyes. Incoming light to and through the corneas, irises, lenses, retina, rods, and cones of our eyes, is just information. Nothing more, nothing less. Just meaningless bits of data (light photons and waves) that have entered into a tiny hole in our corneas called the pupil. Interestingly enough, our lenses distort the incoming rays such that the image that enters our pupils gets turned upside down as it lands on our retinas.
We “see” things, everything, with our brains where the incoming information gets processed via the optic nerve. Our brains “flip” the distorted image back to its original orientation.
We don’t “perceive” anything with our brains. Our brains just “capture” the incoming data and organizes it in various brain regions that specialize in that kind of data (of all our senses btw: sight, sound, taste, touch, etc).
We perceive everything with our minds. Our minds give meaning to the incoming data. We “see” color with our minds.
“When you change the way you look at things—all things—the things you look at change.” Even rainbows.
You can always change your mind. You cannot (at least not yet) change out your brain.
Rainbows do not exist.
There are no “pots of gold” at ends of rainbows because there are no “ends of rainbows.”
Rainbows are NOT real objects. They are mind creations.
All Rainbows are optical illusions.
The phrase “optical illusion” is redundant.
All Rainbows are illusions.
There is only “illusion.”
There is only illusion.
Illusion is all there is.
But read the first sentence at the top of the post again.
“This one has absolutely nothing to do with rainbows.”
Instead, this entire post, as hinted at in the definition of “metaphor,” has everything to do with something else of not minor importance—in fact, it has everything to do with nothing short of what could legitimately be termed THE most important way of Being; of being human.
So… if all that preceded is true about light and rainbows, and of course it is based upon hard scientific facts, evidence, and study, but this post had absolutely nothing to do with rainbows…
…what was this one about then?
I’m going to trust now in the intelligence of all who are reading this…
… and end here.
Enjoy the Alchemy in finding your own unique answer.
Kinda just like a rainbow!
Always and Ubuntu,
~ kert
🙏🏼
Somewhere over the rainbow Way up high There's a land that I heard of Once in a lullaby Somewhere over the rainbow Skies are blue And the dreams that you dare to dream Really do come true Someday I'll wish upon a star And wake up where the clouds are far behind me Where troubles melt like lemon drops Away above the chimney tops That's where you'll find me Somewhere over the rainbow Bluebirds fly Birds fly over the rainbow Why then, oh, why can't I? Somewhere over the rainbow Bluebirds fly Birds fly over the rainbow Why then, oh, why can't I? If happy little bluebirds fly Beyond the rainbow Why, oh why can't I?
