synesthesia The Schleiffen Man see: synsethesia 000621 ... sorry it hurts 031119 ... ROFL is a sin to be anethetized now.... what the max prison term? 031119 ... Piso Mojado louder and louder she sang the wordless notes vibrations ripping the fabric of dance, flow and campfire under light rain aligning internal external consciousnesses sucking breath in haaaaaaaaaaaaummmmmmm out the very walls of vision trembling, undulating pushing into other dimension her eyes shut, smile in eternal yes 050522 ... andru235 whats the big deal? recently i heard a composer on the radio talking about how he saw colors when he listened to music. big fucking deal. i see landscapes. i see dramas play out. i feel winds on my neck, the hands of a lover, a punch from a fiend. i sense past lives and future lives. i see plants, animals, rocks, abstract designs, galaxies, atoms and cacti. more frequently than any of this, i experience things beyond the scope of words or regular sensory input. and having had this conversation with many, many people, it would seem that everyone else does, too. i'm not sure why i should be impressed with someone who sees colors; rather, i feel a sort of pity. is that it? or are they being pretencious? seeing mere colors from hearing music would be like looking at an ornate painting and hearing repeated g-major sevenths. i, and pretty much everyone i have ever asked, hear concertos and symphonies and sonatas and ballads and rap-tunes and techno-beats and drum-cores and on and on. on a rare occasion i've experienced the color thing, but this pales tremendously in comparison to grander visions. and i'd be hard pressed to say i was alone. while i listened to the composer drone on and on about his synesthesiatic capacities, i wondered, is this anything other than sheer pretenciousness? 050523 ... andru235 ah, sweet paradox. i just *was* a composer droning on and on about my synesthesiatic capacities. i didn't mean to be pretencious, but i suppose i must eat my words. a bland dish. 050523 ... iNsEcUrE_GoTh_GiRl andru235 i love your words. i know exactly what you mean and i have decided to make an ass out of myself by shamelessly drooling over the description of the synaesthesia (am i spelling it wrong or is the blathe spelt wrong? do i really care?) that you gave. undoubtedly i shall have to play music more often. 050524 ... andru235 see? thank you, goth-girl-who-really-ought-be-quite-secure-owing-to-obvious-intelligence(-having-read-many-of-her-posts), for the vindication. i mean, seeing colors is nice and all, but who doesn't see that and much more? if all i received from listening to music was colors, i doubt i'd listen to music very much: i'd buy a color wheel and stare at that, for the direct experience. 050524 ... Piso Mojado andru 1) Who is asking you to be impressed by their experiences of synesthesia? Perhaps they are not bragging or being pretentious but marvelling at the beauty and magic found in this world and inspired to share that with others. Appreciation of the everyday and not-so-ordinary wonders of life. Not ego driven, but soul driven. 2)Next time, before you go off on how great you are for pitying people or seeing beyond the 'big fucking deal', you should find out exactly what it is that you are bashing. For if you had bothered to grab a dictionary off the shelf or go to the multitude of online dictionaries, you would have seen the definition of synesthesia: Synesthesia is not just listening to music and seeing colors (as you have written above,) it is when one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another. Any stimulation. Any sensation. 050524 ... Piso Mojado Biting into a peach and seeing a sunny afternoon on the porch with your friend five years back. Smelling the scent of your lover and shivering at the sense-memory of their touch. Looking at a picture of your dad and hearing his voice say your name. Putting 2 tabs of LSD under your tongue and watching the auras of dancers pulse with your heartbeat. Getting goosebumps while listening to Maynard hit that perfect note. 050524 ... andru235 it was inevitable, i suppose yes, i know synesthesia has a more general meaning but the opening link on the page goes to a musical (albeit non-color-related) reference, and in the composing world there has been a big to do about synesthesia lately indeed, has anyone ever had an experience, of any sort, that was *not* synesthetic? it is a rare sensory experience that doesn't lead to another (often seemingly unrelated) sensory experience! and a grand thing, it is! truly some of the profundities of earthly existence (and probably elsewhere) are found in synesthetic moments of all sorts and shapes nevertheless, i stand by my diatribe, at least musically. i became that which i was berating, as i already acknowledged immediately thereafter. historically, synesthetics (both musical and otherwise) were taken for granted; prominent musical discussions about it took place especially in the decades 1780-90 and 1840-70. what i find somewhat amusing, in an irritated way, is that after a century of composers who wrote whilst disdainful of all things synesthetic (this statement ought provoke, as well), suddenly there is this sense of rediscovery BUT IT IS TALKED ABOUT AS THOUGH THEY ARE THE FIRST ONES THERE a radio announcer on the local classical station said, "while some composers such as liszt, beethoven and wagner were known to have had synesthesia, it remains a mystery why they didn't explore it more fully." sheer hogwash! they explored it regularily, as did nearly everyone else. but since music's synesthetic capacities were taken for granted, there was nothing remarkable about its more minimalized - another firestorm awaits! - varieties such as the color thing. that is: most composers regularily intended their works to evoke [pathos et al] on a greater scheme; it wasn't until a century passed wherein [contemporary classical] music was written specifically to avoid sentiment/whatever that simpler synesthetics became of interest. at a certain level, the key-signature as raw color strikes me as parallel to "johnny can add 2+3." that's nice. but how much is there really to be said about it? (obviously i've now carried on about it for many paragraphs; i know, i know) i usually *love* hearing what goes through peoples minds/hearts when they take in art or music, etc, of any genre, even genres i myself dislike. but - my preferences being what they are - i'm more interested when things arouse complex sensations and thoughts. and as anyone who ever makes declarations should always append, "i know i am only correct for myself. what is true for you may be very, very different." clearly the letters 's-y-n-e-s-t-h-e-s-i-a' have evoked synesthetics on my part and yours. hooray! existence expands into another infinity! 050524 ... (z) (synesthetes not synesthetics) 050524 ... andru235 now i sense i'm being prodded...do i deal with this or not? ah well, let this illustrate to all in doubt the joys of slow neutron bombardment (what is andru235 talking about?!?)... {{SYNESTHETIC}} american heritage dictionary, ISBN#0-395-33959-6 (deluxe edition) {{synesthesia}} also {{synaesthesia}} n. a phenomenon in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as the hearing of a sound resulting in the sensation of the visualization of a colo. [syn- +(an)esthesia.] -SYNESTHETIC, adj. ...there's no mention of 'synesthetes' here... in the 2386 page (each page contains 9-microprinted pages) Compact Oxford English Dictionary, Second Edition, Complete Text Reproduced Micrographically, monocle included, are the following entries, on pages 467-8 of the 's' section: synaesthesia, -n synaesthesis SYNAESTHETIC, -s there is no mention of synesthetes! -BUT- isn't it a little absurd that i am resorting to dictionary quotations on a word whose meaning we already agreed upon? was it not already rather obvious what i meant? and had this discussion not taken place, and had i read synesthetes, i would have known what was meant, and even though it does not appear in the dictionaries present in my home, i believe quite surely that it appears in some dictionary or another, for it is a logical permutation; as logical, that is, as any permutation might be. i make up permutations of words all the time. why not?!? often there is no officialized word for the meaning i seek, and as i am already prolix, i can see little harm in advancing the language along reasonable lines. if someone were to use synethesiability, i would know quite what they meant; it purveys militance to demand one use the paragraph that would necessarily ensue in trying to employ such a meaning. who cares if it isn't a word? is not the purpose of the language to communicate a feeling? here i am, eating the very words i first posted under synesthesia: ISN'T THE PURPOSE OF LANGUAGE TO EVOKE RELEVANT SYNESTHE---(insert prefered suffix here; we're big enough boys and girls to know what is meant)? why is it that - and [z], i am not trying to single you out for something i have done myself (who hasn't?!?) - someone says 'whas'sup' and no one bats an eyelash; yet someone says ironicness and everyone panics, fleeing to the nearest dictionary for solace? i, who did this moments ago, cannot provide an answer. :D 050525 ... andru235 BTW the OED refers all synesth~s with an e to synaesth~. so we were all wrong! but seriously, folks? we were all right. fuck the OED. OED, whas'sup with ironicness? 050525 ... iNsEcUrE_GoTh_GiRl it's somewhat frustrating to see yet another blathe full of dissention and disagreement...... wait who am i kidding? this is what blather's about, but you didn't need me to say that for you. hey, i said it anyway. andru235, i'm going to blatherstalk you. i sat laughing for about 3 minutes for the amusing wittiness of your post, and although that might not seem long, imagine laughing (giggling) for 3 minutes in a silent library with only the odd looks of the staff (who know me altogether too well) and the blatant stares from random members of the public to stop you. i found it very amusing. also, thank you kindly for the intelligence comment. i like to think i have a brain cell or two left from the vodka binges, and this is certainly comforting to know. *beams* synaesthesia was something i almost had to incorporate into my english literature exam today. one of the poems i had to study said, 'how sweetly flows /the liquefaction of her clothes' according to my notes, the word 'liquefaction' and the 'sweetly flows' both combine the senses taste and sight to give a mellifluous effect of synaesthesia. How... interesting, everyone is thinking. (if you've read this far, congratulations) ...yeah i decided not to do that question. 050525 ... andru235 ok. piso mojado, i enjoyed your initial post. my diatribe was intended along lines completely unrelated to your post. your indignation toward my post is still valid; even i felt mild indignation toward my post immediately afterwards. z. i was in a foul mood last night; other nights i would not have been inclined to be a dictionarocrat. indeed i have lambasted dictionarocracy elsewhere. iNsEcUrE_gOtH_gIrL. i am glad that my post resounded with you, as your posts, along with the posts of z and piso mojado, have often resounded with me. you are right to feel irritation at this degeneration into opinion-semantics...my fault, i started it. see my second post. i knew it immediately! inevitably, at least one party here will be irritated with my attempts at feel-goodiness. well, so be it. i sincerely meant everything. my hopes were that these words would trigger a synaeliscious response in others. :D if i was a gambler, $5 says i rue this current post later. 050525 ... minnesota_chris so don't write posts that you will hate later! This may sound crazy and egotistical, but I love reading my old stuff. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&safe=off&q=+site:blather.newdream.net+minnesota_chris 050526 ... z http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=synesthete 050526 what's it to you? who go blather from