Synesthesia

[lemonlove]

I was wondering if anyone had experienced synesthesia while on hallucinogens...or whether you have it in everyday life.

I know some people do, especially musicians, including: Franz Liszt, Duke Ellington, Pharrell Williams, John Mayer, Aphex Twin and Justin Chancellor, the bassist from Tool. Usually they see music as colors, or some variation of that.

I have often a crazy experience where I can taste my thoughts...certain profound realizations/thoughts have a distinct taste or, more specifically, a kind of sensation on my tongue. It's totally weird and I've never met anyone else who has experienced it.

[BlackBeauty]

Not me personally lemonlove but I did read something about Sue Blackmore's first experience with cannabis resulting in some mild Synesthesia (http://www.thegrowreport.com/Forums/showthread.php?p=1273#post1273)...?

[max_freakout]

i experienced this once, although from what ive read it seems it's quite a common experience. On a super-intense mushroom trip i did once, i had some music playing and at a certain point in the trip i could 'see' the music, completely literally, it was still sound, but it was appearing in front of me in my visual field as an enormous flowing sculpture, which was staggeringly beautiful.

Mckenna's theory of visible language is based on the idea of synaesthesia

[earthmansurfer]

i experienced this once, although from what ive read it seems it's quite a common experience. On a super-intense mushroom trip i did once, i had some music playing and at a certain point in the trip i could 'see' the music, completely literally, it was still sound, but it was appearing in front of me in my visual field as an enormous flowing sculpture, which was staggeringly beautiful.

Mckenna's theory of visible language is based on the idea of synaesthesia

Max, you are giving me chills. I have not experienced it, but this whole "what is reality" thing fits in here. (I've been questioning it allot lately). Why not see music? I can safely say that many people do more than "hear" music, so yeah, why not see it???

Thanks for the idea for my next trip. I've never even tried listening to music on a psychedelic, except on Cannabis.

Earthmansurfer

[max_freakout]

Thanks for the idea for my next trip. I've never even tried listening to music on a psychedelic, except on Cannabis.


i think music is essential for taking psychedelics! It helps with remembering the experience, because when you listen to the same music again after the trip, you can remember how you felt when you heard it during the trip

[earthmansurfer]

i think music is essential for taking psychedelics! It helps with remembering the experience, because when you listen to the same music again after the trip, you can remember how you felt when you heard it during the trip

Will do. Let me just add something from my limited experiences. Taking Cannabis after (days, weeks, ...) the experience helps me to recall it as well. It sort of gives me another perspective in which to see/recollect the experience. It has worked very very well for me.

Earthmansurfer

[lemonlove]

i agree that music can help you recall the feelings of a trip...it seems like it's similar to your sense of smell in that it is closely linked to memories.


Why not see music? I can safely say that many people do more than "hear" music, so yeah, why not see it???


i read that one of the first people to use nitrous oxide tried to describe it by saying it gave him a feeling similar to the one a person gets when listening to music.

i wonder if there is a scientific explanation as to why that is? serotonin maybe?

[Weeyots Watcher]

Will do. Let me just add something from my limited experiences. Taking Cannabis after (days, weeks, ...) the experience helps me to recall it as well. It sort of gives me another perspective in which to see/recollect the experience. It has worked very very well for me.

Earthmansurfer

This works for me as well. If I lower my cannabis tolerance (abstain at least a couple weeks) then smoke heavily and listen to music I've heard while tripping I can access some of that "state specific memory" that can't be brought to the surface sober.

In my experience, larger mushroom doses (over 4g), pretty much always brings on some synesthesia. Sometimes, at the peak of one of these trips, it feels like every sensory organ is plugged into the wrong processing center in my brain.

[Lowlight]

Hi all

I have had profound synesthesia experiences whilst undergoing Salvia experiences. One time i literally saw every word spoken by my mental voice streaming out of my mouth as i thought them. I had the urge to try and collect them up and try and pull them back to myself but they sped away in a uncontrolled torrent away from my body. It was after that, that i understood what Mckenna meant by the world being made of language...

[Sparky]

2nd trip on mushrooms: a friend and I were sitting in a dark room listening to music. I decided to lower the volume of the music playing through my PC speaker, which sat above my monitor.

As I lowered the sound I noticed the colors on the monitor changing. I then increased the sound and noticed the same effect. Haven't experienced it since.