The Hidden Meaning of Colors in Nature and Kabbalah: How Light Reflects Spiritual Reality

One of nature’s great wonders is the world of color. This incredible system fills every part of creation with a rich variety of hues and shades, enhancing both outer appearance and inner structure.

Scientists have long studied the purpose behind nature’s colors. Some are intended for camouflage, others to warn and intimidate, and others still to attract attention- often in the service of reproduction. The bright colors of fruit entice us to eat them, and their shades often hint at the nutrients they contain. Every natural color serves a purpose. According to Jewish mystical thought (Kabbalah), there’s much more going on beneath the surface.

How We Perceive Color

Today, we understand that what the eye sees as color is the result of light being reflected off an object. When light hits a surface, some of it is absorbed and some is reflected back, depending on the material’s makeup. Our eyes detect only the portion that reflects back, and our brains interpret it as color. In fact, the differences between colors stem from differences in how materials interact with light, specifically, which wavelengths they absorb and which they reflect.

Since all visible wavelengths together create white light, an object that reflects all light appears white. An object that absorbs all light appears black. Other colors arise when only certain wavelengths are reflected. Red has the longest visible wavelength and violet has the shortest. Any wavelength outside this visible range- such as ultraviolet (UV) or infrared (IR)- is invisible to the human eye.

In nature, the full spectrum of a rainbow appears when sunlight is refracted and reflected through raindrops. The colors unfold in order of wavelength, starting with red on the outside, followed by orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet, with subtle in-between hues in the transitions.

Color and the Ten Sefirot in Kabbalah

Kabbalah teaches that every color in nature corresponds to a spiritual source, a root energy or divine trait from which that color flows. The color of any given natural object can reflect its inner spiritual essence.

The ten sefirot (divine attributes or channels through which G-d’s energy flows into the world) are also represented by ten colors, each aligned with the unique quality of that sefirah. Just as a rainbow contains seven visible colors and three hidden ones, so too the ten sefirot are divided: seven revealed (the “lower” sefirot) and three concealed, lofty ones (the “upper” sefirot).

Furthermore, each sefirah contains all ten within it, though one will dominate- just like each beam of colored light contains all other colors, but only one is visibly dominant.

For example:

• The sefirah of Chochmah (Wisdom) is represented by a radiant sky-blue, like a sapphire.

• Above it is Keter (Crown), the highest sefirah, whose color is white- pure and all-encompassing.

• The lowest sefirah, Malchut (Kingship), is red. However, the verse says of it: "Her feet go down to death." Though Malchut is holy like the other sefirot, what lies beneath it is not. Below it reside the forces of impurity- the "Other Side"- which seek to draw energy from holiness. These are the destructive spiritual forces, associated with the evil inclination and even the angel of death. Symbolically, they’re represented by the color black, which is found below red.

The Spiritual Meaning of White and Black

In the spiritual system of the sefirot, white is the highest of colors. It represents pure giving and boundless kindness. In the natural world, white reflects all light and gives everything back. In contrast, black absorbs all light and gives nothing in return. Spiritually, black symbolizes total self-interest and withholding, which aligns it with forces of destruction and death.

We see this principle in nature too. Consider the Dead Sea, for example which contains no life, hence its name. While other bodies of water receive water and pass it on, the Dead Sea, the lowest place on Earth, only receives and never gives. A being that only takes, and gives nothing in return, is symbolically dead.

Frequency and Spiritual Polarity

There’s a fascinating pattern in the physical frequencies of color:

• The colors associated with kindness and giving (like violet, blue, and green) are formed from higher-frequency light waves.

• The colors linked with strictness and judgment (like red, orange, and yellow) come from lower-frequency waves.

This alignment between physical properties and spiritual meaning underscores the belief in a deep, harmonious connection between the physical and the spiritual worlds- a connection that can be seen, quite literally, in the light around us.