Hi, I'm new here, so just came across this thread, but it's totally fascinating. Am I allowed to reply? Sorry if I'm way out of date.
I have synesthesia very strongly. I only discovered it when my psychology professor covered it. I sat in the back of the class thinking: Doesn't EVERYONE do this? What IS she talking about?! I called my mother and mentioned it, and she immediately said: "Doesn't EVERYONE do that?" (Apparently it runs in families!)
I've always seen numbers as colours, as sounds, as shapes. Days of the week, months of the year, people... everything is sound and colour and motion, shapes and texture. Everything is linked in my head. Now I'm older and a teacher, I spend a lot of time in the music department, since the music teacher has discovered notes, chords and music have taste and colour and emotion to me. I often discuss this with the music students: a few of them are also synesthesiac, and we spend hours discussing the shape of a certain piece of music, or the images and emotions it evokes. As an English and Drama teacher I frequently ask students to describe the sound of a cloud, the taste of boredom, the movement of blue; they love doing it and it inspires fantastic creative writing and engagement in the topic.
I was interested in what you said about setting things out in zig zags; emotion has always been shapes and movement to me. So much so, that even though the emotion may not have a name, I identify it to myself in that way. Um, that wasn't clear. Let me try to explain. A certain type of happiness will be round and gold and glowing. Another type may be sharp and cold and glassy smooth. Another type is rumbling gray and burgundy (like Bach's Toccata and Fuga).
Bother. It's so hard to put into words! My only surety is that if you took it away, I'd die! I can't imagine what it must be like for those who aren't synesthesiac; I've always thought it would be like living in a cardboard world...
I have synesthesia very strongly. I only discovered it when my psychology professor covered it. I sat in the back of the class thinking: Doesn't EVERYONE do this? What IS she talking about?! I called my mother and mentioned it, and she immediately said: "Doesn't EVERYONE do that?" (Apparently it runs in families!)
I've always seen numbers as colours, as sounds, as shapes. Days of the week, months of the year, people... everything is sound and colour and motion, shapes and texture. Everything is linked in my head. Now I'm older and a teacher, I spend a lot of time in the music department, since the music teacher has discovered notes, chords and music have taste and colour and emotion to me. I often discuss this with the music students: a few of them are also synesthesiac, and we spend hours discussing the shape of a certain piece of music, or the images and emotions it evokes. As an English and Drama teacher I frequently ask students to describe the sound of a cloud, the taste of boredom, the movement of blue; they love doing it and it inspires fantastic creative writing and engagement in the topic.
I was interested in what you said about setting things out in zig zags; emotion has always been shapes and movement to me. So much so, that even though the emotion may not have a name, I identify it to myself in that way. Um, that wasn't clear. Let me try to explain. A certain type of happiness will be round and gold and glowing. Another type may be sharp and cold and glassy smooth. Another type is rumbling gray and burgundy (like Bach's Toccata and Fuga).
Bother. It's so hard to put into words! My only surety is that if you took it away, I'd die! I can't imagine what it must be like for those who aren't synesthesiac; I've always thought it would be like living in a cardboard world...
