the colors of the rainbow are a curiously paradoxical thing, because they can be thought of in cyclic or constrained terms, confined to a "color wheel" or other self-contained map, or they may be imagined as laid out on a line—one part of a much broader spectrum of electromagnetic radiations. the mapping of EM-spectrum colors to cyclic color models is a fearfully subtle business, I understand, laden with pitfalls; there's no simple wrapping-around of the linear spectrum of colors onto a "color wheel".
though it slightly feels as if there should be, and this paradox lends an unusual quality to purple shades that map onto both the red and the blue-violet ends of the linear spectrum. these are "extra-spectral" colors, which include many favorites, like brown and pink.
where am I going with this? nowhere in particular. I just think it's curious to encounter something that has this duality about it—something that's both linear and cyclic. time is another thing that (in a different way) has that aspect; time can be a line, and it can also be a cycle (and cycles of cycles.)
~Chara
