A Dialog on Senesthesia

geeklore #

August 22, 2012

Dear Zach,

Thanks for liking my post on my blog Geeklore. I first heard of synesthesia only from your blog. I feel something of the sort myself, though I am not sure it can be called that. A color pops into my head when I remember a voice. A strange association, you might say, but is it synesthesia? But I don't see any utility value in it. It is just one of those things which are just there and defy explanation. I find your blog interesting, not only for things of this kind but also because I have turned to writing fiction now and have written about a dozen short stories and a couple of unfinished novels- all yet to be published. Some short ones are available on fiction magazines online.

Anand

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Zack Hunter #

August 22, 2012

Synesthesia is a double edged sword that when dull resembles a kayak paddle used by a phantom limb passing through the water of our possibilities long-ways sliding through unnoticed by the flow just waiting to be twisted.

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geeklore #

August 23, 2012

Is it possible to sharpen it? Or is it best left alone? A double edged sword implies the possibility of an unintended effect. Sometimes I hear things in my head clearly spoken. I see things in a half wakeful state. Is this the beginning of synesthesia? Or it is not connected at all? Thanks.

Zack Hunter #

August 23, 2012

Yes- metaphorically speaking sharpening of the proverbial phantom paddle sword would imply it being an exercise, which it most certainly can be, but that isn't always the case.

What you are describing sounds like "normal" byproducts of consciousness. Consciousness itself knows no senses until it passes through them to create all the things we think we know. I don't think it's technically synesthesia until the links start growing and you start experiencing sensations through the lens of other sensors.

When you start visualizing the fence you see walking down the street looks and sounds like a vibrato or slicer effect synthesizer that's linked to everything that ever was, is and will be numerological, geometrically, and acoustically- or symbols start taking on vivid personalities, or you see auras of colors emanating off of people and certain things, or you start tasting and feeling the rise and fall of civilizations on your solar plexus, fingers, and tongue- you know you have synesthesia.

geeklore #

August 23, 2012

Sounds like Don Juan of Carlos Castaneda. Or Fritjof Capra's web of life. Some tantriks in Asia feel it too, I believe. Is it born of silence or is the brain fertile enough to breed associations of phantasmagoric nature? It's awesome! And senesthetes (for want of a better word) must see the world in unique ways. The world of man – bereft of nature – is too drab and insensitive. Is it a gift, what you have, or can it be nurtured? Thanks.

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Zack Hunter #

August 23, 2012

For the sake of accuracy I will say Castaneda's claims that his stories were true have been proven to be fiction, but I still know what you mean. As far as I know people are both born with it, and it can be cultivated and exercised. To what extent, I do not know. Those who are born with it definitely have a heads up so-to-speak on those who aren't if they wished to experience it for themselves. There is a reason synesthesia is a phenomena, as much of it (and everything) is still quite mysterious at this time.

Could someone who does not have it drink san pedro tea every week while singing songs, playing music and meditating and eventually wind up having it permanently? Do my readers experience synesthesia when reading my novel? Are we just labeling things with obscure terms that are otherwise perfectly natural instances of depersonalization and conscious integration? For example, what about aboriginal or native tribes, how would they respond to a study on synesthesia versus "westerners?" What about Tibetan monks? It would be interesting to know.

I don't know the exact causes that lead to people having this. I am sure there are many factors. I do know my own version of the story, though. I have some theories but nothing concrete. Like I said, consciousness knows no senses. There is only it in it's ever expanding forms. Once you realize this, the walls that were put up by human nature dissolve.

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geeklore #

August 23, 2012

Consciousness, says J Krishnamurti, is neither yours nor mine; it is impersonal. I imagine it like the light from a thousand candles. By looking at the light, you couldn't tell which candle it came from, unless you impose an obstruction which casts a shadow – the obstruction in our case being our personal identity. Eckhart Tolle says you are not your mind or the body. Through the senses, the consciousness assumes an identity which they would have us believe is patently false. ESP certainly points to perceptions beyond the so-called normal. Your own experiences seem to confirm the necessity to go beyond the sensory perception.

Zack Hunter #

August 23, 2012

Well said, geeklore! On that note, sensory deprivation is a really critical tool on the path to exploring consciousness. There are many, and we all find the ones that work best for us in phases.

geeklore #

August 23, 2012

I would never want to be deprived of my senses; rather, I'd try to go beyond them. I want to perceive more than the senses are capable of. Why close the doors of perception when I want to paddle out and beyond? To go to Mars I have to leave the Earth. But to leave the Earth I must know what is holding me to Earth. When I understand that I will find out how to overcome it. Doesn't it work the same way? Sorry to be importunate, but you need not continue if you don't feel like it. Or you may answer some other time.

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Sent from my iPad

Racist Language :)

The English language may acquire the dubious distinction of being racist. Why? When you use the words White or Black, the words raise the hackles of specialists and purists who would rather not use those words, especially not in an academic setting. 

In the days before the advent of the electronic gizmos, even before the West figured out how to use the Africans as slaves, learners were imbibing nuggets of wisdom from a blackboard. And then came the whiteboards, first those that needed marker pens to write on, and then their electronic counterparts which took the place of giant white screens that served to project the same wisdom of yore in bits and bytes. 

Now the academics are all equivocal in their condemnation of the use of colors such as WHITE and BLACK in the context of a board. They argue that these colors incited the majority, victimized the minority, and segregated the groups into believing that humanity's worst moments are not only not over, but right round the corner. They have therefore banned the association of these colors to the board whose primary objective, they opine, is to dissolve these differences and elevate humanity from the pit of segregation. 

With the colors removed from their vocabulary, the academics still needed to call their boards by some means and they came up with the innovative expression: dry erase board. While this serves the purpose, it still does not bring to mind the color of the board which learners the world over have come to identify with. Even the online guru Salman Khan of the Khan Academy uses a black, ouch! Sorry. He uses a dark screen to write on, if that expression is allowed. A tutor who uses a board commented rather piquantly that whiteboards are racist and blackboards aren't black! It is not the board, obviously, that is at issue here; it is the color of the board. Nah, it is not the color either; what is at stake here is the name of the color. 

It is no good changing the color of the board to say yellow. That color too has been in some murky use. Even the word color could be regarded as racist and the academics would do well to remove the color spectrum from the subjects. They may not ban the rainbow from the sky, but at least they can ban the use of a prism in the laboratory. Color, that faculty of the eye that few animals in the world share with humans, has now become a dangerous thing to handle. Perhaps we should all use the word pigment. And think up new words for the pigments in the rainbow. After all, the world of humans still need the pigments even if we manage to ban the colors of Nature.