Carpe Diem #927 Synesthesia

Dear Haijin, visitors and travelers,

February is running towards it end and we have just two episodes to go and than ... a new month will start however I can not publish our new prompt-list, because I haven't yet created it. I hope to publish it late Sunday February 28th.

Today we are going on with sharpening our senses and this time it's all about synesthesia and I will only "do" the essay by Hamish in this episode, because of lack of time. So here is his essay.

Hamish on synesthesia

Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.

Difficulties have been recognized in adequately defining synesthesia: Many different phenomena have been included in the term synesthesia ("union of the senses"). A more accurate term may be ideasthesia.

In one common form of synesthesia → color synesthesia or color-graphemic synesthesia, letters or numbers are perceived as colored. In spatial-sequence, or number form synesthesia, numbers, months of the year, and/or days of the week elicit precise locations in space, or may appear as a three-dimensional map (clockwise or counterclockwise).

Only a fraction of types of synesthesia have been evaluated by scientific research. Synesthesia was the topic of intensive scientific investigation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Psychological research has demonstrated that synesthetic experiences can have measurable behavioral consequences, and functional neuroimaging studies have identified differences in patterns of brain activation. Many find that synesthesia aids the creative process.

Buddhist literature, both sutra and tantra, contains extensive discussions on mind and its nature. Tantra, in particular, discusses the various levels of subtlety of mind and consciousness. Tantric literature is replete with references to the various subtleties of the levels of consciousness and their relationship to such physiological states as the vital energy centers within the body, the energy channels, the energies that flow within these and so on. The tantras also explain how, by manipulating the various physiological factors through specific meditative yogic practices, one can effect various states of consciousness. Synesthesia is said to be the state shamans reach when going into a trance. See if you can write your shaman haiku, meditating a bit first, perhaps, or if you have shaman feelings, going into a trance! Now is the time for your shaman haiku!

Fly Like An Eagle

My response

I love the idea of shaman-haiku and I have written several of them. I love to share a few here as a response on this essay by Hamish.

resonating drums
the five saints ... impressive beauty
spirit world opens

whispering leaves
telling all wisdom of the steppes -
cry of an eagle

And a cascading haiku:

lying down on my back
watching the deep blue night sky -
feeling my spirit

feeling my spirit
wishing to be free forever
like an eagle

like an eagle
free and high in the blue sky
my Inner Path

© Chèvrefeuille

This episode is open for your submissions tonight at 7.00 PM (CET) and will remain open until March 1st at noon (CET). I will try to publish our last episode of this month, Extra-Sensory Perception (and Common Sense), later on.