Often is it that faulty or crossed electrical wiring has been used in sitcoms or commercials to get a laugh or a rise. The throw of a switch intended for a harmless bedroom light opens and closes the neighbour’s garage repeatedly, or each channel change on the television means pushes grandma’s across the lawn. These Deus ex Machina images play on our preconceived notions of control and logic. Applying this same idea to the human mind, while it can be potentially funny, has a similar effect.
It has been thought of a sort of crossed wiring of the sense. Synaesthesia, according to a University College London study, is said to affect three percent of at least the British population. The youngest age documented to experience this phenomenon is only three-and-a-half years old, wherein a young boy experienced color from noises. While not resulting in grandma’s sudden re-routing from lawn sitting, it does provide a unique perspective. While the crossing of the senses certainly doesn’t harm, it can certainly change the way you think about the number 3. Syaesthetes have been known to actually argue over how the 3 feels or appears in color, or the color of Wednesday. These crossed senses run simultaneous. Much like the bedroom light and the neighbour’s garage, color can be felt. Music can be seen. Texture can be tasted or heard. Myself, I often hear things that have repeated motion, like banner ads or animated icons, and have been known to be repulsed by this ‘imagined’ sound. A friend of mine and I can often be heard discussing things like whether a particular string quartet is either “tea-coloured, or maybe even orange.” The same UCL site goes on to say that people in what are termed ‘borderline’ synaesthetic cases have reported numbers having a specific spatial quality, particularly even on their own bodies. It has also been said that letters can have gender, or even personalities, and they can be liked or disliked. Most of those who experience synaesthesia can’t imagine living without it.
To learn more, click here.
UCL states that synaesthesia can both be lost and acquired, though acquiring it seems to point more to drug use, hallucination, and progressive blindness. Here I suggest your drug of choice to be imagination. Wilfully suspend your preconceived notions of anything in your life, whether it be a prominent feeling, a favourite song, or a day of the week, and try to give it the color you think it is. Excitedly share what you come up with. There’s no wrong answer, just the unique perspective you have.
