The Number Seven is Blue: Exploring the Experience of Synethesia

I get truth chills. And a probable no is somewhat metalic tasting.

 

And, I might also remark that your name is red or smells like cinnamon. That the piano music might be full of shimmering yellow and pink spirals. Some books feel like sunny, summer wind off the lake even before I read them, and I purchase them. The rocks the mason used to build the fireplace in my living room sound like children singing.

To a growing number of us, senses are becoming become unusually associated with each other  in a little-understood condition called synethesia. This is an experience of a sensation involving one sense that is perceived in terms of another, so that, most commonly, visions take on characteristic smells or sounds are associated with particular colors. 

Although synethetic people are unlikely to share the same associations, they do share some aspects of their talents in that their particular quirks are involuntary, remain constant over their lifetimes (a certain name or song is always a certain color), and they are absolutely convinced that what they perceive is reality, not something in their mind's eye. This additional perception is usually outside the body, and observed "out there," instead of received in the mind's eye as psychic visions usually are.

I have experienced these sensations for some time now, but until recently I didn't know there was a specific term for the experiences nor did I know there are multitudes of books and  websites exploring these mixed-up senses in depth. I was never frightened by the experiences, in fact they are normally accompanied by a feeling of pleasure and incredible well-being. (It is interesting to note that my parents recall that I watched television in color as a child even though we had a black and white TV, remarking about the green car or the pretty blue dress...)

In my adult years I  have been fascinated by the experiences, but I never gave too much credibility to the connections. I suppose I thought they might be frequencies which were actually on multiple channels, or multiple channels on one frequency like when your radio is picking up broadcasts from two different stations. I figured I just didn't yet possess the taller antenna needed for a clear signal at the time.

So, I assumed these tidbits of information were simply glitches in my budding psychic abilities and part of my own unfolding development process that was garbled in error at times. But now as I explore the phenomena and do the research, I see synethesia as an evolving intuition to be honored and trusted! I am quite certain there are deeper messages contained within the connections and associations that can be applied to health, spiritual evolution, and fulfillment. I am taking notes.

The condition has been known to psychologists and physicians for at least 200 years, and some theories have attributed the condition to an immature nervous system that cannot sort out sensory stimuli. And it seems that it used to be quite rare but in the last decade there has been a dramatic rise in reports of synesthesia, especially in children! Women are three times more likely than men, and left-handed people are also more likely to have these experiences. 

And, although there is not definitive data as to what causes synesthesia, it does seem to be more common in people who have a kundalini awakening, a near death experience, or a spiritual awakening. My own belief is that these abilities are a precursor to our next stage of human evolution and the transition we are making as multi-sensory, multi- dimensional beings.

So, if you are experiencing an involuntary joining in which the real information of one sense is accompanied by a perception in another sense, you are not alone. In fact, you are in good company! 

May we be blessed!

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