Secrets and synchronicities -- Ava Lindberg's blog

About a month ago, I started to experience the color orange in a numinous, emphatic way that caused me to write about orange experiences, visuals, and to photograph examples of orange from New York City in several posts throughout June and May 2011.  These were “The Synchronicity of Orange I” and “II.”   The subject of orange touched several readers who discussed their own attraction to orange at key points in their lives.

I am now beginning to gain more understanding about why orange had this pull, made an impression on me.   I am now writing this post from India during a month-long global research trip.  Three days ago on a free day, I visited the Taj Mahal.

Inside the tomb where the queen is buried are walls covered with Arabic designs of inlaid precious stones of lapis blue, malachite green, jasper gold, mother of pearl silver, and carnelian orange, all placed with magnificent care into the Indian white marble by craftsman of the Emperor during the 16th century who created the Taj to commemorate his love for his deceased wife.  A guide shows me with his flashlight, inside the darkened central tomb area, one of the inlaid pieces of carnelian, which glow under the flashlight’s focus.  He explains that it is the only precious stone that glows orange in the dark and is found originally within this inlay inside the Taj Mahal.  The Taj Mahal’s architectural and design elements represent a variety of spiritual, artistic, and religious symbols and metaphors.  In the case of the glowing-orange carnelian, orange is said to represent the clarity of the Soul.  It is used throughout the great tomb, subtly.

As I realize the meaning of this synchronicity, I notice around me women in dramatic orange saris.

Leaving the Taj Mahal, there is another orange moment; while viewing the halls where servants of the Emperor once lived, this portico is said to be constructed in perfect symmetry, all with orange masonry.

A new insight…my interest in orange starting two months ago–which seemed mysterious to me at the time–evolves into a synchronistic precedent to the orange carnelian inlay and the depth of spiritual exploration I experienced at the Taj Mahal just three days ago.  Essentially, numinous orange in New York City presaged spiritual symbols of orange in India at the Taj Mahal, which built in meaning as the color unfolded to my vision over time.

Posted in Synchronicities from readers writing in, Synchronicity | No Comments »

When archetypes as a theoretical foundation of meaning are part of a qualitative research effort internationally, it is critical to align each country’s researcher with the theory, understanding, and use of these legendary, metaphorical themes.  Also, archetypal material such as visual or mood boards, when used for qualitative research internationally–from U.S. through Europe into Asia–must be individually localized for regional symbols, metaphors, personas, and meaning.   European symbols are different from Asian, which are different from American.  Yet, the archetypes themselves hold throughout the world.

Archetypes are highly productive to gain deeper emotional resonance with a category or brand; however, the regional researcher who is coming upon the subject of archetypes for the first time must understand the foundation of what archetypes are, not treat them as ads, and needs to use them skillfully in focus groups or quads to elicit greater motivation and personal attraction from the panelists.

On this global trip for a major brand repositioning, spanning Paris, Warsaw, Hamburg, Shanghai, and now Shenzhen in China, I am feeing happy and encouraged with the use of archetypes to gain deeper meaning and understanding of local issues.  Important caveat:   The lead researcher who is handling the overall qualitative project must spend a significant amount of time and effort in training each new regional researcher who is working in her own language with that city’s respondents.

Posted in Ethnography, cultural anthropology, Qualitative market research | No Comments »

On a global trip, I am picking up evidence of a theme about Verdi.  Verdi seems to be an odd synchronicity since I am not in Italy nor involved in opera at the moment.   I’m not sure what the connection to Verdi means in terms of this international trip during the month of July and August, nor the nature of my qualitative research, or my personal evolution.  Yet, I am seeing traces of Verdi periodically.

True, I am in Europe, but the references to Verdi seem to have a numinous quality.

First I hear the Verdi Requiem in a beautiful Paris church, l’Eglise de la Madeline.   That evening, my colleague J comments as we get back to our business hotel on Rue de Montmartre that the “world is very wide.”   At that moment, on the radio is heard an aria from Verdi’s La Traviata, relating to Traviata Act 1′s philosophical musings on the nature of pleasure and reality.  I say to J, “Perhaps the world is connected…not so big after all.”

The following afternoon, on a walk near Notre Dame, I am spontaneously  asked to go to a concert in which Verdi’s Traviata is featured….at L’Eglise Julian de Pauvre.

A day later, Tuesday, in Warsaw outside the research facility Millward Brown where I am working, I notice a dramatic sign for Verdi’s La Traviata.

I happen to have a book on classical music called The Stream of Music with me on this trip, so I turn to the section on Verdi.  (Normally, I do not have such immediate references to the great composers of music, but had decided to take it on this trip…).    On page 311, I read:  ”Verdi was first of all a practical man of the theater who enjoyed creating popular successes as much as he relished the practice and improvement of his craftsmanship.  He had no philosophical axes to grind; no grandiose, world-sharking art projects to construct.  He simply composed the finest of all Italian operas…since Verdi, operatic decline is a phenomenon to be observed…a world-wide condition in the present century.”

The meaning of this continuing synchronicity relating to Verdi–Rome next year at the AQR-QRCA to report on our present research?–is unclear to me although hints of a meaning are emerging; yet not solid enough to write about it.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

K posted recently about personal color preferences in response to my Synchronicity of Orange post.

K says that….”Orange is my # 1 color…my second-favorite is green. I hope you find your emerald, or that it finds you”

Another reader, P, writes about orange and its symbolism to her.  P says that since our correspondences on the semiotics of orange, she’s been thinking about orange.

“When I provide respondents with a 14-color paint chip deck, they usually choose orange to signal danger or a warning that is less severe than red.  Maybe that’s because they’re usually talking about their disease state. If they’re thinking happy, they typically choose sunny yellow, rosy rose, or sky blue.

“I don’t feel that way about orange personally, since for me… it’s thoughtful happiness

“I was on your blog late last night and, strangely, I have been feeling orange (as in thoughtfully happy) for a long time.  Renovating a condo, having my last daughter marry last week in a very different but wonderful three-day wedding event, looking forward to the change in my life once we move in, suddenly getting a rush of business.  These make me orange.   Strangely of the 20 tee-shirts I have from Chicos, more than 5 of them are orange and I’ve been wearing them constantly for weeks.

“Did you find your emerald? I felt your loss so keenly.”

To describe more about orange and its symbolism, orange is said to be energy one step removed from its primal source red. Orange gives an impression of warmth and gladness, the color of the harvest moon, autumn leaves, and pumpkins.   Goethe in 1840 said orange is the hue of the intense glow of fire and of the milder radiance of the setting sun.   Orange is fire within rightful boundaries.  It is associated with deepening one’s spiritual understanding through misfortune and alienation.  It is sometimes a symbol for the outcast.  The Buddha and Buddhist monks wear orange robes to signify renunciation.  Orange chosen for a painting or in sketches may imply energetic striving, gaining one’s identity, and assertiveness.  Orange symbolizes power.   Lack of orange may indicate discomfort with personal power.

And, in line with the comment from K who loves green as her #2 color…there has been a shift from orange to green.  This change from orange to green has occurred, for me, in close association with the recovery-purchase of my lost green emerald.   The green of a jewel like emerald is returning.  A new day of dawning is being experienced, periodically, with this glowing feeling of green that I see everywhere.

Green…ahhh, green.   Green is nature.  Concrete reality.   The direction of the South.  Trust.  Knowing one’s heart.  A seeker who has embraced the path toward enlightenment.   Jung sees green in artwork as sensation.  Love of beauty and love.  The goddess Venus.   Capricious forces of nature like fairies and elves.  A new capacity for nurturing.  The presence of the divine in one’s career.   The helping profession.  A longing for greater space.   Healing.  The power of life to create and renew.

Posted in Qualitative market research, Synchronicities from readers writing in, Synchronicity | No Comments »

A week ago, there was a day of intensely experiencing the numinosity of green.  Green was everywhere, glowing.  It leaped out at me from every direction.

Yes, I know it’s summer and green is technically everywhere.  But I had not experienced green–ever–as I did on this day, particularly because orange had been the color of intensity for days.

Two days later, I have an emerald back..not because I actually find the lost post lost two weeks ago Sunday in this mad and busy City, but because I purchased a new one in the diamond district.  This new emerald is under highly favorable circumstances that redeemed the loss of the original.

My emerald–which is green–has been recovered.  I reflect that the appearance of intense green a few days before are a kind of synchronous association that preceded the new emerald.  At this moment, I am wearing two emerald posts, one in each ear.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »