The White Teddy Bear and Color Through the Ages

With the range of colors teddy bears are now made in, settling for a 'plain' old brown bear is no longer the only option. From the white teddy bear to the pink one, there is a colored teddy bear for every taste.

Sir Isaac Newton, the English scientist, made a remarkable discovery in 1666: when pure white light passed through a prism, it separated into all the visible colors. Following more experiments, it was discovered that light could be combined so as to make other colors. For instance, red light mixed with yellow light makes the color orange. Some other colors also cancel each other out when mixed with each other - yellow and purple for example - with the result being white light.

While color perceptions are subject to individual interpretation, there are some colors which are universally known to mean the same thing. Warm colors are made up of red, orange, and yellow and are known to bring on feelings of both warmth and comfort as well as anger and hostility. Cool colors, on the other hand, are found on the blue side of the color scale and are made up of blue, purple, and green. These are known are calming colors but can also be associated with feelings of disinterest or sadness.

There are several ancient cultures around the world which have used color for healing - the Chinese and the Egyptians both have practiced chromotherapy or light therapy as a means of offering alternative or holistic treatment. In this regard red was used as a stimulation for the mind and body so as to increase circulation; yellow was a stimulate affecting the nerves and purifying the body; orange was used as a way of healing the lungs; to get rid of skin problems, shades of indigo were used.

Many psychologists are skeptical when it comes to the use of color therapy and believe that the effects of color have been blown out of proportion. In addition, despite the mood altering affects of color, research has shown that those feelings may only last temporarily.

If you choose to have a white teddy bear, you don't have to get caught up in what the color white means to enjoy the bear. While it's true that white is typically associated with cleanliness, purity, peace, and innocence, in some cultures it has the complete opposite meaning (eastern cultures see it as a symbol of death). Just enjoy your white teddy bear for what it is: a treasured member of your family that is your greatest comforter and friend; you don't need a color to have any of that - you just need the teddy bear.

Copyright Shelley Vassall, 2010.

East Meets West With Van Der Sloot

I had to stop and think for a moment about the ancient Shaman healers in Peru. Their methods basic, some might say primitive. The style identified the problem, and the solution quickly. The act was as good as words spoken in silence. The shamans took a cloth doll of Joran Van Der Sloot, and stabbed it, one needle at a time, all in an attempt to remove the evil spirits.

As I heard about that ancient attempt to heal pain, I had to wonder about the current modern method using teddy bears, and showing these bears as a sculpture of the MeBear Family.

What if Van Der Sloot had been sculpted in the MeBear Family? What if his Dad MeBear, a affluent lawyer in training to be a judge stood for justice, and the teenager learned about lies, and manipulation, in the name of justice? Would he be viewed as a rebellious adolescent, or a socio-pathic killer who views the world as owing him something simply due to his birth-right?

What if the sudden death of his father, was graphed in a Dad MeBear, carried away in a wagon, and the story of Joran Van Der Sloot told?

Could we project our thoughts onto an object as appealing as a teddy bear when discussing Van Der Sloot, or would we throw any teddy representing somebody who had shown such disregard for human life across the room?

Can we engage in hypnotism of a sort, reaching into truths, behind the cloth of a teddy bear?

What would we learn if we just projected all of our questions onto a family of teddy bears?

What would we learn about how a rich, affluent, good-looking kid could have eyes of steel, and a heart of stone, through the eyes of a teddy bear?

Some say its premeditated, that there should be two murders five years apart on the same day. I don't think so. That's the way the universe works. It's dated and timed. Natalie's energy was probably helping Van Der Sloot to be caught. Energy doesn't die. It changes form.

Remember OJ? 13 years to the day. We learn what we need to learn, when we need to learn it. Otherwise we keep repeating it, until we reach acceptance of that which we do not understand.

Five years to the day of Natalie's murder, Stephanie is murdered. The police say its premeditated due to the same date. I say it's just the way the universe works, when there are lessons to be learned. It's in sync. It was time for Van Der Sloot to be caught.

Matching dates? No problem. These are the magical predictable things that tell us, it's all in the cards. It's all scripted. Vandersloot didn't plan it that way. It's the energy of evil. It can also be the energy of good. The cosmic forces in the universe will take care of Vandersloot.

Joran may travel out of Peru to face trial, or spend his days living in a hell hole in Peru. He may end up in Aruba facing sentence. He may spend his time in the worst prisons in the world, or even dead.

In the end it won't matter. Regardless of the sentence, nothing to life, Van Der Sloot will face the consequences of his debt in this life, because that is the way the universal cosmic energy works. There really is no way around that. Whether Van Der Sloot is viewed from the prism of a doll, or of a teddy bear, evil is the same in the East or West, as are the tools of healing.