Why this project is called 'Synesthesia'

synesthesia: syn- (together, union) + -esthesia (sensing, feeling)

Synesthesia—as a general concept, not the title of this project—rang so clearly for me when I first came upon it some time in my late 20s. My mind assigns colors to numbers and letters, and occasionally other things, like days of the week, and it has since I was little. I memorized my first phone number using the color pattern that appeared in my head: 956-2741, or brown-gray-gold-pink-green-purple-white. (I’m old enough that no area code was needed to dial a number when I was learning this.) Most people who experience this have no idea that others aren’t also experiencing it, so I didn’t give it a second thought until I discovered that it’s actually a bit unusual.

Something about the concept moves me in a deep place. Its translation, ‘feeling together,’ evokes a desire to investigate my own inner workings and symbiotic wire-crossings, as well as those within the people around me, and how we express them to each other: the beloved partnership of smell and taste, the skin’s elegant response to music, the rhyming of color and mood. I feel so drawn toward the uncharted territory of how this gut knowledge synthesizes into emotional and spiritual growth.

Some synesthetes see a variety of colors when notes are played by different instruments. Some feel sounds: a bird ruffling its feathers manifests as light taps on the cheek, a fog horn in the distance as pressure on the breastbone. In one of the most rare types, lexical-gustatory synesthesia, words cause the tongue to taste. A chat with a friend might elicit a whole flow of taste perceptions, light but present, just part of the act of communing.

The implication, to me, is beautiful. What else might we uniquely experience, slight but exquisite silks weaving together to construct our perceptions of ourselves, of the world? In writing and talking out these thoughts today, I discovered that my partner—a mathematician and computational scientist—does not picture a number when someone says ‘1’ or ‘2'.’ In their mind, numbers are more about structure, relationships, systems. I cannot imagine what this reality looks and feels like. Numbers are not just another language that they know; they are a silvery lens through which they make sense of things that I see in an entirely different way. It may not be described as a synesthetic experience, but it is surely one that blends layers of perception into a sparkling whole all their own.

I see the idea of synesthesia as an invitation: a thrilling fraction of a mass we do not yet comprehend. Some of the ways in which I will draw the senses together in the project will be literal and reflective of the scientific concept, and some will be metaphorical, a celebration of sensual embodiment. In writing essays, adding notes, sharing delicacies, making playlists, and exploring myself in this space, I hope to expand my understanding of how the senses blend into the self.

Perhaps it will strike a chord with you; perhaps you will ask a question of a loved one and receive an unimaginable but delightful answer. If you do, please let me know. I look forward to sensing together.