CHAPTER VII
The advanced occultist also finds much satisfaction in the interest, on the part of physicians and jurists, in the matter of the influence of color upon the mental, moral and physical welfare of the public. The effect of color upon morality is being noticed by workers for human welfare, occupying important offices.
The American journals report the case of a judge in a large Western city in that country, who insisted upon his courtroom being decorated in light, cheerful tints, instead of in the old, gloomy, depressing shades formerly employed. This judge wisely remarked that brightness led to right thinking, and darkness to crooked thinking; also that his court, being an uplift court, must have walls to correspond, and that it was enough to turn any man into a criminal to be compelled to sit in a dark, dismal courtroom, day after day.
This good judge, who must have had some acquaintance with the occult teachings, is quoted as concluding as follows: “White, cream, light yellow, and orange are the colors which are the sanest. I might add light green, for that is the predominant color in Nature; black, brown and deep red are incentives to crime—a man in anger sees red.” Surely a remarkable utterance from the bench!
The effect of color schemes upon the moral and mental welfare of persons is being recognized in the direction of providing brighter color schemes in schools, hospitals, reformatories, prisons, etc. The reports naturally show the correctness of the underlying theory. The color of a tiny flower has its effect upon even the most hardened prisoner; while the minds of children in school are quickened by a touch of brightness here and there in the room. It needs no argument to prove the beneficial effect of the right kind of colors in the sickroom, or hospital ward.
The prevailing theories, and practice, regarding the employment of color in therapeutics and human welfare work, are in the main correct. But, I urge the study of the occult significance of color, as mentioned in this book in connection with the human aura and its astral colors, as a sound basis for an intelligent, thorough understanding of the real psychic principles underlying the physical application of the methods referred to. Go to the center of the subject, and then work outward—that is the true rule of the occultist, which might well be followed by the non-occult general public.