Black!

"Light pierces the darkness and the darkness comprehends it not."- John 1.5

Black is a so called color. It is a color with no color. True black would reflect no light, absorbing all colors. Someone has invented a very very black material, the very blackest thing ever made. I'd put a link to a photograph of this stuff, but of course, if you saw anything in the picture at all, it would by definition not be black.

Black symbolizes darkness, mystery, the unknown, negation, nothingness. Complete denial, nonexistence. A void. Language fails here as well. There is nothing to a void. Does nothing...exist? I say that black, at least, does not exist. There is no such a thing. If you can see it, it is not black, but dark, or blackish. It is no thing, nothing. Black, like zero, is merely a concept.

You could say a completely dark room is black, but there is nothing there to call black. A single photon dispels that illusion. One can say there is no such thing as black. Truly there is no darkness anywhere in the universe, at least not in anything but a relative or comparative way. Everywhere there are things, there is light, at least in the form of vibration.

Having established this much, black is a really handy color to have in your crayon box. It brings out colors by means of contrast. It is overused often with the resulting heaviness we associate with dark lines. But it sure provides contrast and makes things pop out. A white frame makes the picture expand, a black frame confines, defines, encloses the picture. The brightest colors are perceived next to black. Counter intuitively, black is only seen as really black looking close up and in good light, else we think of it as dark grey.

Worn as a color of clothing, black imbues the wearer with dignity and power. But it can also be a bit of a downer, associated with death and depression, such as a black mood. Creatives are often drawn to black for the same reason nuns might wear it: black moves the ego to the side, negating the sense of self, permitting transcendent moods.

(Fun facts about black:)