SEEING RED AND FEELING BLUE

by Richard Nathan

Lights come up on an ANALYST (who could be either a psychiatrist or a psychologist) and a PATIENT.  This is the Patient’s first visit.

                                                             PATIENT
                                    I'm not sure where to start.

                                                            ANALYST
                                    Why don't you tell me why you
                                    decided to see me?

                                                            PATIENT
                                    I’m not sure I did decide.  I’m
                                    still thinking it over.

                                                            ANALYST
                                    But you’re here.

                                                             PATIENT
                                    Maybe this is a test run.

                                                             ANALYST
                                    Do you by any chance have issues
                                    with decision making?

                                                            PATIENT
                                    Maybe.

                                                            ANALYST
                                    Do you feel you can trust me
                                    enough for you to….

                                                            PATIENT
                                        (interrupting)
                                    No!

                                                            ANALYST
                                    You didn’t seem to have any
                                    problem making that decision!

                                                            PATIENT
                                    How can anyone trust anyone else
                                    when we don’t even know if we’re
                                    seeing the same colors.

                                                            ANALYST
                                    I beg your pardon?

            PATIENT
No one can ever tell if other people are
seeing the same colors they are seeing! 
Look, when it’s a sunny day, we can both
look up at the sky and say it’s blue,
right?   Anyone who isn’t blind or
color blind would agree that the
sky, on a sunny day, is blue.  Unless
they‘re nuts, right?

                                                            ANALYST
                                    We don’t use the term “nuts” in the
                                    mental health profession - but I
                                    think what you’ve said is generally
                                    accurate.

                                                            PATIENT
                                    But when we say it’s blue, how do we
                                    know we both see the same color we call
                                    blue?  “Blue” is just a word we use to
                                    describe the color we see when a type
                                    of light wave hits our eyes.  Whenever
                                    that same light wave hits your eyes,
                                    you always see the color you call blue. 
                                    When that same light wave hits my eyes,
                                    I always see the color I call blue.  But how
                                    do we know it’s the same color?  Maybe
                                    what you see in your head as blue is
                                    not what I see in my head as blue.

                                                            ANALYST
                                    I don’t understand.

                                                            PATIENT
                                    Color is just how our brains register
                                    light waves, but if your brain and my
                                    brain decided to use different colors for
                                    the same light wave, we’d have no way of
                                    knowing we were each seeing a different
                                    color, because we used the same name
                                    to describe it.  We both call the color of 
                                    the sky blue, - but there’s no way to tell
                                    if the colors our brains show us are the
                                    same.  When you were a baby, and first
                                    learning to see, maybe your brain decided
                                    to use the color I call red for the light waves
                                    I call blue.  Maybe you see red skies on
                                    a sunny day.

                                                             ANALYST
                                    But we know there’s an order to colors. 
                                    So the associations can’t be completely
                                    random.  People everywhere agree that
                                    yellow and blue blend into green, red and
                                    blue blend into purple, and red and yellow
                                    blend into orange.  People wouldn’t see
                                    the same patterns if their brains just
                                    randomly attached random colors to
                                    different light waves.

                                                            PATIENT
                                    I never said it was completely random! 
                                    I think maybe there are only two patterns. 
                                    Maybe.

The Patient takes a chart showing the spectrum of colors out of a pocket or purse or briefcase.

                                                            PATIENT
                                    Here’s what everyone agrees are
                                    all the different colors arranged
                                    according to their respective
                                    wavelengths.

                                                            ANALYST
                                    Do you always carry that around?

                                                            PATIENT
                                    Yes.  Multiple copies.  You can
                                    have this one.  I have extras.

The Patient hands the chart to the Analyst.

                                                            PATIENT
                                    Now all the same patterns of color
                                    combinations could still work, or
                                    I should say you could find the same
                                    sorts of combinations, if the chart was
                                    flipped - turned upside down, ...

The Patient reaches over, takes the chart from the Analyst, turns it upside down, and hands it back to the Analyst.

                                                             PATIENT
                                    ... so what I see as red could be what 
                                    you see as blue.  That chart would still 
                                    work for both of us, only for you it would
                                    be upside down.  But that’s just one
                                    possibility.  It’s also possible your
                                    brain sees an entirely different set of
                                    colors that my brain can’t even imagine. 
                                    And vice-versa.

                                                            ANALYST
                                    All right.  Let’s say that’s possible. 
                                    What difference does it really make? 
                                    If we both call the color of the sky
                                    blue, does it really matter if in our
                                    minds we are seeing different colors? 
                                    We both see what we call a blue sky.

                                                            PATIENT
                                    Are you this hypocritical with all
                                    your patients?  Of course it matters!!! 
                                    How can I trust an analyst who can’t
                                    see what I see?

                                                            ANALYST
                                    I think, if you could try to put aside
                                    this one possible difference, that we
                                    don’t even know really is a difference,
                                    I might be able to help you.

                                                            PATIENT
                                    No!  I can’t put it aside!  We’re
                                    talking about the way I see the whole
                                    world!

                                                            ANALYST
                                    So are you telling me you could never
                                    trust a blind person, or someone who
                                    was colorblind?

                                                            PATIENT
                                    I’d trust them more than I would you.  At
                                    least they know they don’t see things the
                                    way I do.  But with you, we just don’t know,
                                    - do we?  So I can’t trust you.

                                                            ANALYST
                                    Are you sure we couldn’t build a trust? 
                                    If we tried?

                                                            PATIENT
                                    Yes.  Yes, I’m sure.  Sorry, but I’ll
                                    have to work this out by myself. 

The Patient exits.  The Analyst sighs, looks at the color chart, then turns it upside down and looks at it again.

BLACKOUT!

MEA CULPA TO SCIENCE MAJORS - I know that there's a major inaccuracy in this piece.  If you flipped a chart of the color spectrum, red would be replaced by violet - not blue.  But I chose to go with blue because I think it works better for this peace - given all the references to the sky being blue.  If you're a stickler for accuracy, you could add a line at the end.  When the Analyst turns the chart upside down, the Analyst could say, "Wait a minute.  The opposite of red isn't blue.  It's violet!  That guy is nuts!"  (Or "lady is nuts" if the Patient is female.