A Show of Faith
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A Show of Faith
Episode 179: The Meaning Of Color
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Color isn’t just something we see, it’s something we interpret. We start with a simple question that turns out to be revealing: what’s your favorite color, and what do the words you use to describe it say about you? From “serious” blacks and calming blues to bright yellows and deep purples, we talk through how color carries emotional weight, shapes first impressions, and even changes how we experience a room, a season, or a person. Along the way we touch on colorblindness, mood, and why “I just like it” is rarely the whole story.
Then we zoom out to the public square. If we’re supposedly living in a secular, post-ritual age, why do companies spend millions perfecting the exact shade of a logo, and why do nations and political parties fight over color-coded identity? We debate how symbols get assigned, swapped, and trained into us, from campaign maps to the basic red-yellow-green logic of traffic lights, and we ask whether any of it is universal or mostly cultural conditioning.
Finally, we bring color back into worship and theology. We explore Scripture and Jewish practice, including the tallit and high holy day customs, and we break down the Catholic liturgical color system across the church calendar, plus why some Protestant traditions choose a more minimal aesthetic centered on pulpit and Bible. If you enjoy theology, philosophy, ethics, and the hidden symbolism of everyday life, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave us a review. What color do you trust most, and why?
There's something happening here, but what it is ain't exactly clear. There's a man with a gun over there. Telling me I got to beware. I think it's time we stop. Children, what's that sound? Everybody look what's going down.
SPEAKER_14Welcome to a show of faith on M107 the Answer, where minister, priests, millennial, and rabbi discuss theology, philosophy, morality, and ethics, and anything else of interest to us. If you have any response to our topics or any comments regarding what we say, we would love to hear from you. Email us at a show of faith1070 at gmail.com and show of faith1070 at gmail.com. You can hear our shows again and again by listening pretty much anywhere podcasts are heard. Rudy Cohn is our millennial. He's a systems engineer and has his master's degree in theology from the University of St. Thomas.
SPEAKER_05Howdy, Howdy.
SPEAKER_14Our priest is Father Mario Arroyo, retired pastor of St. Cyril of Alexandria, the 10,000 block of West Timer. Hello. David Capes is our Protestant minister and director of academic programming for the Lanier Theological Library.
SPEAKER_04Why did you put me last is Tom? I don't know.
SPEAKER_14No, no, no. I'm always last. I'm the one who's last. Oh, you're last. Yes, I'm last.
SPEAKER_04The last should be first.
SPEAKER_14Yes. So said a very famous Jew.
SPEAKER_03Excuse me, that's only for Christians. What? That's only for Christians.
SPEAKER_14Oh, okay. I am Stuart Federal, retired rabbi of Congregation Shahara Halum, the Clear Lake area of Houston, Texas. Crystal is our board operator, and she helps us sound fancy. She does fantastic.
SPEAKER_03She doesn't help us. She makes us sound fashion.
SPEAKER_14Yes. And tonight, introduced first is Rudy Kong, our millennial, who is the show director.
SPEAKER_05I am King Kong. I am also known as King Kong.
SPEAKER_14King Kong. King Kong, you know the name.
SPEAKER_05Okay, so there is um there's something particular going on within the Catholic Church, and it got me thinking, um, because at least here in Latin America, we are uh we're getting ready to to go into um well we already are in a particular time, but we're getting ready to to to go into what we call Easter, right? And um and this time, at least here, we don't really see that too much in the United States, but there's a lot of purple everywhere, okay? The churches, the street, um, even the bank that you could go into. There they have these purple drapes, and so it got me thinking, and uh today when I was at mass, uh the the priest came out and and they were wearing the priest was wearing a particular color, a rose color, a pink color. Um so it got me thinking for for today. We've we've talked all a lot about um the importance of art and beauty, but I don't know if we've ever actually I I know we've talked about the different colors before, Father Mario, of what each uh uh of the different vestments means, but I wanted to take a little bit of of the time and actually um talk about this this this thing that we this this thing that we do as human beings and it's attaching meaning to color color.
SPEAKER_03And actually, I'd also like to get into a little bit of what Stuart was talking to me about. Oh, before. Yeah, but we were talking about you know what color you prefer, what's your favorite color and secondary color and stuff, and what that says about you, and it was very enlightening. It is a fascinating, Rudy.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so anyway, uh but let's start the other thing, the other thing too that that I wanted to point out too, going back to that, is that kids, little kids start off by saying, you know, what's your favorite color, you know? And and and so, yeah, what's your favorite number? What's your favorite color? That kind of stuff. So it starts very early. It's not just something that is endemic to mature people, uh, people who are over over the hill, as it were, but uh to to uh to everybody, honestly, at every age.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I also I also I just want to say that uh that sounds weird. Uh I that um sometimes I wonder how it affects people who are totally colorblind.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Interesting how so anyway, that's but but let's take it in col you're the director, Rudy, so you take it in in the order you want.
SPEAKER_05Well, actually, so the first sort of opening question I had for the group was when you got drunk this morning, did you think what color or choices you were going to put on today? So it kind of plays into what you were wondering. So, David, so I think I think it would be interesting for us to maybe take a take a min minute and just talk to each one of us um uh what colors are we actually drawn to? Because it they do say a lot about our personality. So um, I don't know who wants to start first. Rabbi, since it was your idea to be, since you were last.
SPEAKER_14Okay. Why don't you all right? Okay. What what uh let me tell you what Mario and I were talking about beforehand. There are a number of psychological insights a person can learn about someone using color. And I, you know, I've always been fascinated by psychology. And I can't remember all of them, but there were insights into a person's personality you could make based on questions about color. And the one I remember the most is if you ask somebody, what is your favorite color? Whatever they give doesn't matter. But if you ask them, why is that your favorite color, listen to the words they use because for whatever reason they're describing themselves with those words. If you say, My my this tells you something about me, but my favorite color has always been yellow. And when asked about it, well, it's bright, it's cheerful, it's it's easily seen.
SPEAKER_03Okay, and bright, cheerful, I'll take it visible, and I'll take the next one.
SPEAKER_14Okay.
SPEAKER_03Okay. When Stuart asked me what my favorite color was, and I said black. And he asked me why. And I said, because uh I find black as a ser as a very serious color. Uh I find it um I find in it a no-nonsense approach to life. Uh I don't want any BS. And I'm I I'm too impatient with small talk. That's you. Yeah, it is. It is me. Now, periodically, when I want to laugh, um When you want what? I want to laugh because I can't laugh. You can't always be black, you know, in terms of you can't always be black in terms of your color, your mood. So I I go ver after that I go to blue, but a dark blue. I I don't like why?
SPEAKER_14Why a dark blue?
SPEAKER_03Because it's my way of saying, okay, I need to lighten up a little bit. A little bit. And then even like purples or grays or deep grays, but no bright colors. None. I dislike black bright colors. Now, I like them on other people because they brighten me up.
SPEAKER_14Right.
SPEAKER_03Because I am so uh in my normal personality, I am so um morose uh so or so deep that that deep, yes, morose, but not at all. I don't see you as morose. No, no, but I I tend to be um I I always tend to look at the worst side of everything. And and I don't I don't I'm not a happy-go-lucky guy. I have to force myself, but if I have to be, I can be, but it's really not me.
SPEAKER_14So it's not you telling all those stupid uh dad jokes.
SPEAKER_03No, it is actually it actually it's interesting. Good good point. Uh it is me. Uh-huh. It is me. You know what it is? It's me laughing at the absurdity of life.
SPEAKER_14Either way. It's still That's absurd, Mario. I know.
SPEAKER_03I know. But see, to me, that that's how I approach faith. Faith to me is the answer. The uh without faith, life would be absurd. That that I'm very much like uh the philosopher of Jean-Paul Sartre, who talks about uh existential nausea, which which you know, when you look at life the way it is.
SPEAKER_14I love that term.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, existential nausea. And I experienced it one time in my life, one time. And uh it was such an horrible feeling of emptiness that it actually made me nauseous. And there was nothing else I could I could uh uh blame it on. But anyway, that's that's what it is. So yes, black and deep blues and deep purples and deep grays.
SPEAKER_14Interesting.
SPEAKER_03Yep.
SPEAKER_04David, ooh. Okay, uh I would say my favorite color has always been blue. Um I like blue. I mean, I I like it. I just like the color. I mean, it reminds me of the sky, it reminds me of uh a variety of things. I I think too, depending upon the the shade of our skin, we we like certain colors because they look good on this on our against our skin, right? And so people with different skin colors can wear different colors and and everything. But I think I've always kind of gravitated toward blue uh for a variety of reasons. Um, you know, I I don't know. I just dislike it. Uh I can just say that, just like the color blue.
SPEAKER_14Is there a way you would describe the blue?
SPEAKER_04Oh, it's kind of a medium blue. I mean, it's not dark blue, it's not light blue, it's kind of a medium blue, sky blue, cerulean blue, uh that kind of thing, I would I would say. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03How would that describe your personality, David?
SPEAKER_04I don't know that it does. I think it describes the fact that I just like it. Certain things you like, and you don't know why. You can't say, well, I I like it because I like it. I bet you can't say it.
SPEAKER_14Well, I here is also the first thing you said, you said it was sky blue, sky, like what's above.
SPEAKER_03No, but see, I think I think I I think what is interesting is for us to react to the way we experience David as blue. In other words, why would we why would we say he he likes blue? And I think from my experience of David is blue is neither a tremendously dark, you know, passionate color, but neither is it a very happy, like a yellow, okay. David is also uh when he comes across a very level-headed person, he does not have blue like water is very soothing and calming. He does not have any extremes that I in my relationship with him, he's always very level. And the sky and water and all of that are very professorial, yes, academic, that's correct. Ethereal. Yeah, I would but not uh I wouldn't say ethereal, I would say, you know, in thought is very Yes, but I think he he's very he's very level-headed, and that's what I always allow.
SPEAKER_14And I would agree with that.
SPEAKER_03And that's why I think blue is an apt color for us. Yes. How's that always?
SPEAKER_04Rudy, what's your color? What about Rudy?
SPEAKER_05I think I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna jump on the David Bay because wife always kind of harps on me, and uh, she noticed very quickly that I like the color blue. And I like what I call like a brushing blue, like a dark, deep set blue. Um and this was her comment. Right, and this is so she she works with um as an image consultant, she's also uh uh um a psychologist, so she she she studies this all these colors, and she says, you know, it and this doesn't mean that it's for everybody, but normally people who strongly prefer that color have a strong sense of curiosity, like they they have a like a sort of a deep kind of intellectual curiosity per things, and I and so this is and and I guess I kind of I found it clear. I mean to me it was just okay, I guess I am kind of that, you know. I with my engineering, with the degree, how I got into studying theology, you know, um it it was just more, you know. Um there was something more that I that I wanted to know, and so it got me thinking, um, as part of the conversation I was I was having with in our culture and society, color is never just color, right? And it's and it's one of the ways that culturally we teach people what to celebrate, what to fear, what to mourn, what to honor, right? And you don't normally really think about it, right? But I mean if if you really pay attention, we're we're being bombarded with with c with all sorts of of colors all the time on the TV, uh when we shopping in the pathway, uh when we're in the office, you know, mall. You know, it's it's it's a c no we have to go to a break, and this color is turned black here for commercials, but yay.
SPEAKER_03Black for commercial. Okay, let me go and we'll continue this color. This color. We'll continue this can the conversation conversation when we come back. This is 107k and th, and we'll be right back.
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Color Psychology And Daily Conditioning
SPEAKER_11Johnny Johnny You're an angel to shake up Johnny Angel, how I love him, how I tingle when he passes by every time he says hello, my heart begins to fly. Johnny Angel, how I want him. He's got something that I can't resist.
SPEAKER_14Welcome back to a show of faith on AM107 the answer.
SPEAKER_03So, Rudy, where do we go from here?
SPEAKER_05Well, I wanted to ask this question. Um, so we're talking about the the the the the colors, right? The colors that we have, and you know, I never thought about what you mentioned, Father Mario, about somebody who's colorblind. I mean, for what I had a friend in in uh in in high school who was colorblind, and they could still tell different shades of of kind of the spectrum that they could see how they described it. Um and there's different types of colorblindness too, but I you know, I wonder I wonder what type of I didn't kind of research that too much. Maybe maybe I'll leave that for for some kind of after the show research, but this is this is something this is something that we're bombarded all the time, right? And we were talking about um how each color carries an emotional weight, right? Uh Rabbi, you're talking about yellow. Um so normally yellow has a naturally cheerful and warm quality, right? And and and uh blue produces a kind of what what many describe as a as a restful melancholy, right? Red commands attention and can inspire awe. Green, when balanced, gives the eye and the mind a sense of repose.
SPEAKER_03Yes.
SPEAKER_05Um, all these different things.
SPEAKER_03And what does black do?
SPEAKER_05Black black is kind of interesting. Um so it can be indicative of something negative, but but it it's also indicative of intense emotion. So it's not necessarily negative, but it's more of intensity.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, intensity. That's intensity.
SPEAKER_14Well, that makes sense.
SPEAKER_03Well, that's why I said that's why I said no nonsense.
SPEAKER_04You know, uh no nonsense is kind of emo, you know, emo guy, gothic.
SPEAKER_03Actually, that's not a bad description. Not a bad description of me in terms of goth. I understand goth pretty well.
SPEAKER_04You know, because see, because it because black is not a color It's not a color. Yeah, no, but it got is not a color. It's it it is the presence of all colors.
SPEAKER_03Okay, that's interesting. Well that's but see, but but to me, that black is it's just a serious color. And uh and I periodic, I'd go between super serious and totally flippant.
SPEAKER_14But but remember it's black that's like when you really want to dress up, a tuxedo is usually black. And as a Catholic priest every woman has the little black dress.
SPEAKER_03But even as a Catholic priest, though, as a Catholic priest, I wear black. R right.
SPEAKER_05You know, so anyway, that's part of what it is. My wife has also corrected me, and she says that black is also indicative of mystery. Okay, somebody who is mysterious. So there's there's different levels of intensity to this, and and it it's very clear that color affects us psychologically, right? I mean, bread, like I said, could increase yeah, it could increase our heart rate, our alertness. Um, there's a perception of seed, right? So it affects our our mood. So really uh to me is when we say that we live in this secular age that had moved past ritual and symbolism, but if that were true, why are we spending, and we culturally spending millions and millions and millions of dollars on shades for for companies to decide shade of blue, the red of their logo, in some real sense, behaving highly ritualistic when when we say or we put this type of emphasis into the color that they are trying to portray? I mean, are they just not sort of exchanging or or changing search for for a different type of culture? I don't know if if I'm explaining it or or kind of getting my point across, but but my question is why do you guys see this in a such a secular age, such a strong symbolism with the way that these companies have taken to their designs and the creation of logos with these colors?
SPEAKER_03Rudy, here's here's one that I still don't understand. This is gonna be, for me, it's interesting. Why are Republicans red and uh Democrats blue?
SPEAKER_14Do you want to know the reason? No. Because originally because the w whatever this was, okay, not all that long ago, they originally said that Democrats and the left should be red. But then the association with red was communism, and they did not want to be associated with communism, even though communism is clearly on the left. So they made so they they They still are red.
SPEAKER_03No, no, quite no. Republicans, yeah.
SPEAKER_14They said we didn't switch it, and they did, so that the Republicans became red states and the liberal, the the uh uh Democrat became blue states. But originally look it up.
SPEAKER_03But who changed it? And why did the Republicans accept that?
SPEAKER_04I don't think it has anything to do with communism. You know, you know, what's interesting about communism is that if you look at communist countries, they flatten out all color. You know, if you look at uh the way that people, for example, drift in places like North Korea, you don't see a lot of color there. You see olive drab.
SPEAKER_06Right.
SPEAKER_04You know, and things like that. The other thing, too, that I thought was kind of interesting is that I began thinking about going back to World War II, the brown shirts, the people with brown shirts. What does it say about that? What kind of color is brown that it would come to be associated with the Nazi Party, for example?
SPEAKER_03I think brown is associated with military.
SPEAKER_14It's always been. Isn't the uh military army in in in a shade of brown?
SPEAKER_03Yes, can it don't you agree, David, that military color?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it is, it is, and and you know why? Because of camouflage. You want to you want for your unit not to be visible against the earth from a helicopter. Right. You you want to wear camouflage. So so but but when military people dress up, they are red, white, and blue.
SPEAKER_03In the United States.
SPEAKER_04I mean, when they go to a party, when they go to a wedding, when they go to a ball or something, they dress way up. But yeah, in their duties, they will try to hide in with the surroundings. And so they wear different cup shades of of green, I guess, in camouflage and such. But I don't think that has anything to do with the way that people dress in the city of you know, uh cities of North Korea or cities.
SPEAKER_03Interesting. Interesting. But but I mean you have to remember they it's it's called Red China.
SPEAKER_14Right. That's the association with communism.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So anyway, I said it's just very just very interesting.
SPEAKER_14It's fascinating, actually. It's psychological insight.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_14Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Now, Rudy.
SPEAKER_04Let me ask this. Let me ask this real quick, though. Going back to your comment, Red China. Do they call themselves the red?
SPEAKER_03Well, look at their flag.
SPEAKER_04And I don't know that.
SPEAKER_03Their flag is the flag is totally red. And it's interesting because the flag of Japan is a red circle in a white background.
SPEAKER_14Because it's the land of the rising sun.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. It's interesting. So but anyway, this is 107 D. And Rudy, when we get back, let's begin talking about also uh in our religious traditions.
SPEAKER_06Right.
SPEAKER_03Okay. This is 1070 Kn T H, and we will be right back. I am 1070, the answer.
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unknownBring me a dream.
SPEAKER_01Make him the cutest that I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_03Oh, that's cute.
SPEAKER_14Welcome back to a show of faith on Amton Center the Answer.
SPEAKER_03Let me tell you something. I was just telling telling this to Rabbi. My uh my niece and my nephew call me the Lord of Darkness. But they don't mean the devil yet. They don't mean it by the devil. They mean it because, for example, I hate daylight.
SPEAKER_14I really hate You hate daylight? I do. Daylight savings?
SPEAKER_03No, I hate daylight. And I prefer nighttime.
SPEAKER_14Thank the Lord for the nighttime.
SPEAKER_03No, because why? And people say, well, isn't that morose? And I say, no. When can you really tell the beauty of the stars? When can you tell the beauty of the moon and the quietness and the sereness? Right. It's at night. And then there's the song, my favorite song, which is from the one of my favorite songs, which is from the the uh night of the what is it? The uh the Phantom of the Opera.
SPEAKER_06Phantom of the Opera, right.
SPEAKER_03And and there's one verse that goes like this Turn your eyes away from the garish light of day. Turn your eyes from cold, unfeeling light and listen to the music of the night.
SPEAKER_14Right. Love it. Uh can't remember the rest, but yes. Okay, Rudy.
Torah Colors And Worship Architecture
SPEAKER_05Yeah, okay. So I want to talk a little bit about what you were alluding to, Falmar. Is um color is not just aesthetic, it's not just psychological, but it's also theological. Yes. Okay. And Rabbi, you can you can I'm gonna start since you are the oldest, and we can talk a little bit about so in Exodus, right, there is very specific language that God instructs Moses. And the details are actually quite right, the details are extraordinary, right? They talk about specific pieces made of specific colors. Um, you know, it's not just decor decorative whim, if you will, right? It's something that I would call, and correct me if I'm wrong, but there's like a sort of architecture of worship, if you will.
SPEAKER_14I don't know if if you would agree or I I would agree, but I think it's also cultural then and cultural now. So for example, the Ark of the Covenant had gold on it. Okay, the the uh uh uh uh things that were uh in use uh in the in the Mishkan, the uh sanctuary that wandered around with the Jews in the wilderness that would house the ark uh had to pellet, which is a uh a color of blue, which is a shade of blue. Uh you you have uh so but these were indicative of of what you'd expect to be in a sanctuary. Okay, the you know, gold. You know nobody puts together a sanctuary that looks like it's a poverty struck. Okay, so the gold, the the gold, the tatellate, the the the uh blue, uh you know, the the the language uh white. You know, the Book of Ecclesiastes, as you know, my favorite book of the Bible, in the ninth chapter it it says, may you always wear white, because white was a symbol of purity. I mean, when it's white, there's no dirt, there's no it it's pure. It's a symbol of purity, spiritual purity in this instance, I believe. Uh you've got the you've got the blue and white stripes. Um not white stripes, but you've got the blue stripes on a white background that makes up the majority uh image when we think of the tallit, the prayer shawl, is how that's usually explained uh for men. Uh and when women started wearing the Taliit in the more progressive movements within Judaism, their Talies could have pink and any number of colors in it, and many men's Talits now uh do the same because the biblical description in uh in the to in the Bible uh is more interested in when you wear a four-cornered garment than in what color that garment may be. So absolutely colors are are all over the uh uh the uh the Bible and Judaism. You know, uh at the high holidays, when we're trying when we're presenting ourselves, okay, and thinking about sin and atonement and you know, your quotation about Isaiah, your sins, they'll be scarlet, which is a very deep color, will become white as snow. Uh so there's a tradition that for the high holy days, especially Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, you wear white. Uh so absolutely there's there's the use of color, uh first of all, as you said earlier tonight, and in what you wrote to us, color is in every culture as an expression of feelings, uh, of of ritual, of uh of religious import.
SPEAKER_05You know, I wanna I wanna take it it's it's interesting because within the Catholic tradition, color is it's not just decoration, right? And and it it also teaches, right? It conveys it conveys something to the person, for example, the type of vest that the priest is wearing uh during mass, by that uh vestment, you already know where we are in the whole year.
SPEAKER_14Just by walking in the sanctuary.
SPEAKER_05Right, right. And so I before before we talk about pathology, I kind of wanted to take David David within since you have to represent all 33,000 of the protesters churches and all the different denominations, um there's there's some there's some there's some denominations that actually do follow um color schemes and have brought that a problem, but some I'm thinking more like Calvinism, like that, they've really kind of done completely away with this, right?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. I mean, if you go to an Anglican church, for example, Anglicans uh they will follow what has become and what is known sort of and familiar with with Catholic in terms of the color scheme of the year. And you can describe them in just a minute if you want to. But if you go to a Baptist church or maybe a Calvinist church, that kind of thing, they've pretty much done away with any kind of color or any kind of decoration. Um, and so that you have to actually, if somebody comes from a Protestant low church, we call it low church Protestant to a high church Protestant, you have to explain to them what the colors mean because they don't automatically know. Does that make sense? So, yeah, uh if you go to an Anglican or Episcopal Church, a Lutheran church, uh even some Methodist churches that are high church, they will use vestments and colors that are roughly in agreement with what the church has been doing now for a thousand years.
SPEAKER_03David, why would you say that what we will call low Protestant churches, why have they done away with colors?
SPEAKER_04You know, that's a great question. I think in part because they didn't want to be seen as Catholic.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_04Or they didn't want to be seen as the as the other. They wanted the two to be distinctive. And they were distinctive not by the colors that they wore, but by what you what you put in the center. You can walk into a Protestant church, a lot of Protestant churches, and the thing that you'll see in the center is the pulpit and the Bible. You don't see an altar, you don't see the words table, anything like that. What you see is the the pulpit of the church, and in some churches, the pulpit is put off to the side, left or right. But what that's saying is that the most important thing in this church is the preaching of the word and the preaching of the Bible. That's the most important thing.
SPEAKER_03Has almost everything else been thrown out, all kinds of decorations and stuff like that? In some churches, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. If you go back to Puritan churches and you go back to a variety of other churches, some Presbyterian churches and Calvinist churches, they there's not much color in there. You go in there and the walls are white, or they're, you know, maybe light, like tan or something like that. But you don't see statues, you don't see a lot of artwork, you don't see the stations across those kinds of things, because those would be indicative of what you find in a Catholic church, and they wanted to separate themselves out as protesters do. They don't want to be identified. We aren't the we aren't the people that do that, we're the people who do this over here.
SPEAKER_06Okay.
SPEAKER_04And so they want to be be very different in that sense. Okay. I do think that that sometimes we we throw the baby out with the bathwater, right?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. David, I mean, uh, are you were we gonna say something already?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, so within within the Catholic uh tradition, and obviously in the New Testament, there's of course there's some um symbolism of of colors, but we in our in our Bible, if you will, um we don't have a particular uh, you know, this needs to be this color, this needs to be that color, this needs to be right. This is something that came from time. This is this is something that was actually solidified, if I'm not mistaken, the Council of Trent in 1570, when I'm talking about the particular vestments, um in the Roman Missal, right? Things were given their particular colors. So every color stands for something now, and we've kind of added that value, if you will, or would you say that it was just kind of always there and we I don't I don't know actually, baby Rudy, because I I I uh okay.
SPEAKER_03I'm not a liturgist. You know, I I there liturgists are people who are uh experts in the development of how uh of how Catholic worship is is uh taken about. But I'm not a liturgist, so I know like for example the the main colors in Catholic tradition are the the most basic color is green. Uh you wear that with when what's called ordinary time. It's the color of nature, it's the color of the natural.
SPEAKER_14As we said earlier, it's relaxing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's relaxing, but it's the color of the natural. And then for us, then white is the other the the the color of rejoicing. Of what? Rejoicing. Oh you know, right white or gold is the color of rejoicing. And then uh right now, like as we prepare for the rejoicing, there's there's two seasons of rejoicing. One is Christmas and the other one is Easter. And both of them have preparation times. They're called penitential seasons, but they have preparation time so we get ready to rejoice for the right reason. And that that's when we wear purple. And so um then the color red is used for to sort of represent blood and also the fire of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_14Mario, when you say we wear, you mean only the priests, or you mean everybody attending?
SPEAKER_03No, no, no. Only the priest is bound to wear that. Only the priest is bound to wear it. Do the people themselves wear it anyway? A lot of times they do. Yeah, a lot of times they do. But white is the basic garment. If you look underneath it, the priest has uh the outer the outer garment, which is called the the the uh the chazuble. It's it's interesting because the word chazuable means uh chaza means uh little house. And so the chazuable is the your your little house, your but you your the top layer chasm. Chazuable. Right, but you said the word cast. Oh, chaza. Chaza in Spanish, chaza. Right. Yeah, but chaza, and chazuable is little house. And and it's interesting, but the but the white, underneath it all, there is a white garment because the basic um baptismal, everything that starts with us into starts with our baptism. And when you are baptized, you are given a white garment. And that is beyond everybody has the right to wear that. And right now I have the right to go to a commercial because we got to go. So this is 1070K and TH, and we will be right back in a colorful way.
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SPEAKER_07Hey, it's Amy Hooger with the Voice of Reason. You know, your favorite conservative talk radio show, where we cover the latest current events, recap your week, have some deeper discussions, and have some fun, sarcastic, witty, and original perspectives to the issues that matter to you. Yeah, you know the show. Be sure to join me every Saturday right here and enjoy the most energetic, fast-paced, intense couple hours of conservatism on the radio. It's the voice of reason, and it's all right here. Join me Saturdays at 7 p.m. right here on AM 1070 and FM 1033 The Answer.
SPEAKER_14Welcome back to a show of faith on AM 107 the answer. So, Rudy, now what? Okay.
SPEAKER_03I have one thing to bring.
SPEAKER_05I think we go ahead. Go ahead, Paul.
SPEAKER_03No, I was just gonna say what we were talking about is I would really be interesting in just a quick discussion, a quick discussion of why the gay community uses the rainbow. And I Do they know? I don't know. I don't know if they know, but I I think it's uh it's it's it's a philosophical statement. It's a statement that says all colors are acceptable. There's no there's no right way or wrong way. Everything is acceptable. And so you can't. That's why it's called a rainbow coalition. Right. You know, so anyway, that's what I thought. Thank you.
SPEAKER_05There's no uh there are no there's no exclusive.
SPEAKER_03There's none.
SPEAKER_05No, no, no.
SPEAKER_03I think that's kind of which um I don't agree. But it I don't agree with it at all. Mainly because you know if you call colors moral issues and you're saying, oh, there's no morality, everything is fine.
SPEAKER_14Yeah, but I think that's a leap.
SPEAKER_03I don't know if it's a leap. I would say that sexually there's moral issues concerning sexuality.
SPEAKER_14There are, but I don't think there I don't think it's a moral statement. I think it's a everybody's included kind of thing.
SPEAKER_03I would agree with you, but then we will both agree. You're wrong, right.
SPEAKER_14Thank you.
SPEAKER_03Dave, I mean, go ahead, Rie.
SPEAKER_05Thank you, Father Martin. Um I mean to me it's clear that that color right, it's it's we were we were created in a particular way to notice color, right? Some of us, you know, a few a few of us, uh a small percentage of the population can't do it, but that's more of of of of of a very small percentage of the people, right? The money is not a good thing.
SPEAKER_03It's an aberration. It's an aberration. It's an aberration of nature.
SPEAKER_05And so the way that God, and the way I see it, is able to portray his creation in all these miraculously different colors is is incredible. So we've created a way for this to be to be visible, right? So to me, this is part of our part of where we try to find meaning in color is almost something that's hardwired, right? And and even biblically, right, within Judaism and and within the old test the old testament, um, the Hebrew scripture, there's particular covenantal instructions, right, that that are given to us by God to follow. And so within Catholicism, it becomes a sort of a liturgical grammar, if you will, um for living inside the story of Christ in in every sense. You know, as soon as you enter the temple, you understand, or as soon as you enter the church, you understand what's going on. Even other religions, Islam, uh they paint paradise in green. You know, Buddhism, they have their different colors of spiritual life and and how they portray it. So even aspects of of of the different Protestant sects, they have and still hold to to uh to the sense of color. So I guess really the the way I see it is maybe think that we've become less symbolic or less, but I think it's quite the opposite, is that when we've stripped or we've tried to strip religion out of our culture, we've put that emphasis into finding meaning, meaning into all other things. And I think one of these things is color, right? Or the way that we portray things in color. So I wanted to kind of touch that as a last point and see what you guys' thought is on that.
SPEAKER_14Rudy, don't you think that that goes back to what you were saying about well, it's not necessarily a perfect analogy, but businesses when they're trying to create their their logos, their representation. In other words, it's self-identity. It's how they want to express themselves in the world. So they they they they with the design and everything else, they also pick colors. And I think that's also true of the religious community. All religions, all cultures. Yeah.
Traffic Lights And Hardwired Meaning
SPEAKER_04David, anything from you? What do you think, David? Yeah, I I was just wondering, this is a little bit of a thought experiment, but I'm wondering if is it is it, you know, every country I've ever been in, and every country I've ever driven in, red is stop, green is go, yellow is is caution. Would it be possible to to engineer a culture where red means go and green means stop, and yellow means uh just just accelerate as fast as you want. You know what I mean? Yes. So I mean, uh is this culturally determined or is this something that's hardwired into us?
SPEAKER_03That's an interesting question. I don't know. It could be either. I think I think there's some basics, some basics that are that are um ingrained in us psychologically. Like I think the darker the color, whatever it is, the darker the color, the the more profound or oppressive or dark. Because we we always have this interplay between darkness and light.
SPEAKER_06Yes.
SPEAKER_03And and so darkness and light are colors uh between white and black. And so I think there is something built in. Now I don't know how specific it can get.
SPEAKER_14Yeah, but but like like David, when you were what when you were describing make red go, make make you know, green stop, I was thinking uh how weird that would be. Yeah, because but I don't know, but it's uh if it's is it because I'm trained to see it that way, culturally, or because it's something inherent. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03I know that there are different colors. There are different go ahead.
SPEAKER_05There's a lot of studies that show oh, yeah, there's a lot of studies that that and there's very big studies. I'm talking about studies done for over a hundred years, hundreds of thousands of participants, and the emotional patterns that are shown with these different colors. So I think I think I think it's both it's both. So color symbolism is historical, it's inherited, but also there's something about it that is deeper, right? And I think that the if you will, the historical tradition of these colors that we've above of that sort of natural programming, if that makes any sense, right? It's kind of like natural law being written literally in color for us. You know, so it's it's um it's kind of how we've taken taken it to the next level, if you will, is to like literally a stop sign is red, right? Because a stop sign gives a sign of intensity. Um uh, you know, the Rudy, is it possible? Go ahead, Paul Mar, you were gonna say something.
SPEAKER_14Well, uh I was gonna say, is it is it possible that red is blood, and if you don't stop, there will be blood.
SPEAKER_03I was execu I was extincting of it because even in the Catholic Church, whenever we put red vestments on, it's always blood or fire.
SPEAKER_14And fire. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. It's always blood on fire. Or fire. Because, like, for example, when we celebrate the fire of the Holy Spirit, fire, the Holy Spirit is identified with fire. And and fire is red?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I would say Pentecost is red, yeah. Yeah, okay.
Creation, Perception, And Closing Takeaways
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04You know, it you know, it's interesting to me too, it just goes back to what we were talking about earlier, is that there's really not a color that we can imagine or think of that is not already present in creation. Yes. Okay. I mean, we we we may we may parse, you know, we we we may have people who can distinguish little slight uh shades of of this orange from that orange, but but by and large, all the colors that we know are colors that can be found in flowers and trees. And if you go to the if you go to the to to the big gorge, the up in uh you know the Grand Canyon up in up in Arizona, you see thousands of colors that are represented there. And even as the sun goes over and changes its intensity, you see colors change. Uh probably every every color almost in the rainbow could be represented in in the Grand Canyon. So it it strikes me that God is the creator of colors, and and he's the one who's given us these rods and cones that allow us in our eyes to be able to visualize those things. And I know some of us, uh a major minority of us cannot see colors uh completely. Um not sure any of us can uh completely, but uh I still think that by and by and large, they speak to us at a very deep visceral personal level, and that is something that goes beyond culture and goes back to something that is much deeper within us.
SPEAKER_14Great, great topic, Rudy.
SPEAKER_03Excellent topic, brilliant, excellent topic. Excellent topic.
SPEAKER_05I think I think we could probably turn this into like another 10 shows with all the different aspects of it. But I you know, it was something that I don't hear before and I thought very interesting. So appreciate you guys letting me talk about it.
SPEAKER_03Well, yeah, it was it was excellent. It was excellent. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Oh no, I love it. And and we're in that season, you know, we're in the part of the year in the in the church calendar where there'll be several changes of color uh over the next few months, right?
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, it's getting cletting close there, uh people.
SPEAKER_14So by the way, if you want to we didn't have time really to talk about it, but if you want to read about something that's fascinating, read a book called the Luther Color Test. I think it's L-U-S-C-H-E-R or something like that. But it's got like eight or ten colors, and when you put them in order of where you like them to where you don't like it, uh it tells you something about your personality. And and it'll change hour to hour.
SPEAKER_03So what do you get with me asked? Wait 30 seconds, 20 seconds. 20 seconds. Okay, we got this to 1070 KNTH. Uh we were confused there for a few minutes. Thank you for give being with us during this tremendously colorful conversation.
SPEAKER_02Keep us in your prayers because you're gonna be on the 1070 T Top R 24, 4020 70,