Meditations on a rainbow

It is an overcast day here, and now that I have called the university and found I have no major outstanding obligations, it is suddenly filled with dreams.
In recent days, I have tried to resume my dissertation reading, which can be like falling down a rabbit hole. But I embarked, and my mind is filled with facts of late 19th and early 20th century intrigue that shrouded (what some refer to as) the Balkans, and the difficulties beset upon those few figures intelligent enough to chart a course through other people's projections onto a land.
It is so complicated that I am now astonished that people with little knowledge of these facts could dare to cast judgement. There is so much hatred - but it seems to come from the unexpected sources, not where we are taught to see it. These problems are so far away from the rain that is now falling, and the shrill swallow cries.
Or are they. Today, we look back at the ancient civilizations that rested heavily on prophecies and oracles as being drunkenly misguided. We pride ourselves on our rational approach and scientific advancements, which we claim can test everything. But those oracles (such as the fascinating bimbo books) took everything into consideration - a leader's reign was connected to the weather, which was seen as a sign of his success or failure. While I am not sure that I would invariably connect the two, at least the people were looking at outward signs - signs that we have today.
What I am trying to say is that everything is connected in ways we do not always understand, and won't always understand, but I think that it is noble to make the effort to gain comprehension. This week, I learned of the documentary producers Moxie Firecracker Films who have shown the proximity of subjects that we might ordinarily reject: "It's by bringing [the characters] closer to [viewers] that we all become a little bit more human. We realize that there is not so much that separates us from them."
Some call this process empathy, others call it the ability to build a metaphor. But I think that it is the defining trait of a true creative mind - which I think we are all called on to cultivate.
When we are children, we are taught to admire the rainbow, both for its transient, delicate appearance and for sometimes representing a full spectrum of colours (which, interestingly, not all human eyes are sensitive enough to perceive). In the photo below, I captured a double rainbow, known as Alexander's band, after Alexander of Aphrodisias.
Yet for all this praise of the rainbow, we forget its lesson: to try to be receptive of all colours, and to know that they are all connected.And this is today's contribution to Poppytalk Summer Colours Week.

Elements: shipping tag and cabochon: pugly pixel;

green label: minitoko.