Synesthesia (redux)

 

 

I’ve written about this a couple of times, but I’m still fascinated by it. My perceptions are different from Sarah’s and I’ve never come across anyone else who experiences this. I wish I could talk to someone else who does. And for this blog, I am talking about the naturally occurring perceptions, not drug induced.

 

Synesthesia is a perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

 

Awareness of synesthetic perceptions varies from person to person. One theory is that it starts in childhood when children are engaged with abstract concepts for the first time. I have no idea where mine started, but I can remember in first grade when learning to write, my letters all had personalities and would talk to each other. I would often include these conversations, usually in the first line or title on my papers in little conversation bubbles. And of course I was marked down for it. I learned not to do that anymore.

 

Later on, I realized that my perceptions were mainly gender-based, and this pertained to numbers and colors as well as letters. Sometimes emotions were assigned to them as well. Here’s what I perceive:

 

Numbers:

0 – female, large, passive   1 – female   2 – male, quiet   3 – female, loud and bossy   4 – male and VERY meek   5 – male, somewhat belligerent   6 – male   7 – male, smart aleck   8 – female, loud and bossy   9 – male, patriarchal   10 – female, elderly and wise

 

Colors: These are basic tones as there are so many variations with their own properties.

Red – female, angry   Orange – female, depending on the intensity and tone of the color it can inspire hatred and thirst. Once when Marvin asked me why I didn’t like the color of a certain car that we passed in traffic, I said “It’s a thirsty color!”   Yellow – female   Green – male   Blue – male, my favorite color   Purple – basically male, but some of the variations are female   Black – male, neutral   Brown – male, mostly neutral

Even though I pretty much despise orange on its own, I love it when it’s in the company of brown, red, olive green…basic earth-toned works of art. And for flowers, orange is great.

 

Letters: I’m just listing their gender. Their attitudes vary greatly. Sometimes gender as well. Lower or upper case can make a difference, too.

Male: A, E, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, R, T, V, W, Z

Female: B, C, D, I, O, P, Q, S, U, X, Y

 

I promise this will be the last post on this subject.