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Color Meditation

Kees Veenman
Foreword by Christine Gruwez
Translated by Laura Liska
Paperback
April 2024
9781584208730
More details
  • Publisher
    Lindisfarne Books
  • Published
    23rd April
  • ISBN 9781584208730
  • Language English
  • Pages 180 pp.
  • Size 6" x 9"
  • Images 35
$22.95

“Is there also such a thing as ‘the essence of color’? For me, the essence is the spiritual aspect that lives in color. Making this spiritual aspect accessible is the purpose of this book.” — Kees Veenman

We are all familiar with the world of color, but can we learn to experience color more intensely? Can we learn to penetrate colors in a more profound way? This book takes the reader into the activity of the colors of the spectrum by investigating them meditatively. The author explains aspects of color phenomenology and prepares the reader for color meditations, including some that he has incorporated into his own personal practices.

Kees Veenman, a phenomenologist who specializes in colors, begins by observing the spring gold and the autumn gold of trees before introducing the phenomenological method whereby his research connects with Goethe’s theory of color and that of Rudolf Steiner. Using numerous examples and experiments, Veenman guides the reader toward the dynamics and essence of colors, describing his research into the nature of colors along with fresh questions that help us penetrate the world of colors ever more deeply.

The author also considers light therapy and the relationship of colors to the seasons, as well as to fairytales. The reader is encouraged to meditate with and in colors to discover and experience, among other things, consciousness of Christ. All of this is presented with clear descriptions supplemented with color images.

Color Meditation is for those who want to appreciate the phenomena and wonders—the being—of color more deeply and fully understand how color can enrich one’s soul and spiritual activity.

“The correspondence between the emergence and effect of a color outside us and the appearance within us is found in the polarity between light and darkness. Light is a symbol of clear day consciousness, whereas darkness represents the impenetrability of the will. Here we come to the intimate relationship between the world of colors and that of human consciousness with its active and passive side.” — Christine Gruwez (foreword)

Translated by Laura Liska from Kleurmeditatie (Uitgeverij Pentagon, Amsterdam, 2015). Cover image by Beppe Assenza (1905–1985): Eklipse, watercolor, 23.5 x 20.5 in.

C O N T E N T S:

Preface by Christine Gruwez
Introduction

1. Prelude
Spring-gold
Autumn-gold

2. Color Phenomenology
The imaginational nature of the colors
The polarity of light and darkness
Prismatic colors
The colors of the sky
Polarity and intensification
Overview of the color gestures

3. Complementary Color and Totality
Afterimages
The color circle
Colored shadows
The pursuit of totality

4. Preparation for Color Meditation
Basic preparatory exercises
The way inward and the way outward
The way inward
Symbolizing
Sensory images
Artistic processing
Organology
The way outward
The interaction between both paths
The philosophy of freedom

5. Color Meditation
Color and the human organism
Red
Yellow
Cyan
Violet
Green
Magenta
The colors of Mary
The moods that live in the colors
Red
Yellow
Orange
Cyan
Violet
Green
Magenta
Overview of color meditation results

6. The Rainbow
The process of creating the rainbow
The rainbow as a meditative path

7. The Activity of Christ in Colors
Christ experiences
The activity of Christ in the dark colors
The activity of Christ in the light colors
Love as the octave of totality

8. Colored Light Therapy
Color bath therapy
The color bath in Gouda
Depression and chronic fatigue
The connection between afterimages and vitality
Sound color therapy
Wayang—A play with colored shadows
Sound color therapy at Huize Thomas

9. Colors in the Seasons and in Fairytales
Experiencing the cycle of the year
The monthly virtues
October
December
February
April
June
Color meditation and the cycle of the year

Appendix A: The Mathematical Derivation of a Rainbow
Appendix B: Experiment with Yellow

Endnotes
Related Reading
Acknowledgments

Kees Veenman

Kees Veenman was born in 1953 in the Netherlands. He studied physics in Utrecht before becoming a physics teacher at the Waldorf school of Haarlem. Veenman has researched the theme of color for thirty years. He was the regional coordinator in the Netherlands for the Natural Science Section of the Goetheanum School for Spiritual Science from 1998 to 2020.