Maureen Seaberg - Tasting the Universe: People Who See Colors in Words and Rainbows in Symphonies

Praise for Tasting the Universe

Maureen Seaberg goes beyond theory and abstraction to delve into the real-life experience of the (surprisingly) many whose senses have revealed themselves in ways to which the rest of us are oblivious. She helps liberate people to explore their own senses and discover the colors of sound, the sounds of color, and so much more. This is an exploration of the mysteries of the senses like no other.

James Clement van Pelt, Program Coordinator, Yale Divinity School Initiative in Religion, Science & Technology

Synesthetes, particularly prominent ones, dont often share their perceptions and thoughts. By eliciting personal stories from famous synesthetic artists and scientists, Maureen Seaberg makes us aware of how people use synesthesia in their professional lives. Through these charming tales she gives us new insights into the creative powers of synesthetic ways of perceiving and thinking.

Dr. Cretien van Campen, psychologist and art historian, author of The Hidden Sense

Synesthesia is no mere curiosity, but an important window onto human perception and creativity. This books firstperson contributions by figures such as Itzhak Perlman, Billy Joel, and Marian McPartland round out synesthesias history and its place in the larger culture. Hand in hand with straightforward scientific accounts, these personal revelations speak to the meaning of the experiencefor the individual, surely, but for the collective rest of us as well.

Richard E. Cytowic, MD, George Washington University, author of Wednesday Is Indigo Blue

The universe and all of existence is derived from quantum waves of possibilities. According to the research, those people who experience unusual manifestations of these possibilities in the form of the sound and light of synesthesia appear to be privileged by seeing more deeply into Creation than the rest of us.

Dr. Amit Goswami, quantum physicist and author of The Self-Aware Universe

If Husserl is rightthat all perception is a gamblethen synesthete Ms. Seaberg is one of those gamblers who sits at the table with no one expecting her potencythen reveals herself as an artful, Zen Monk with the entire Tao in her hand!

Vanda Mikoloski, noted consciousness comedienne

PEOPLE WHO SEE COLORS IN WORDS
AND
RAINBOWS IN SYMPHONIES

A Spiritual and
Scientific Exploration
of
SYNESTHESIA

MAUREEN SEABERG

Copyright 2011 by Maureen Seaberg

All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher, The Career Press.

TASTING THE UNIVERSE

EDITED BY KIRSTEN DALLEY

TYPESET BY KATHRYN HENCHES

Cover design by Ian Shimkoviak/The Bookdesigners Printed in the U.S.A.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Seaberg, Maureen.

Tasting the universe: people who see colors in words and rainbows in symphonies / by Maureen Seaberg.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-60163159-6 -- ISBN 978-1-60163-667-6 (ebook)

1. Creative ability. 2. Synesthesia. 1. Title.

BF408.S3857 2011

152.189--dc22

2010054604

For my rainbow-hued tribe of synesthetes,
particularly anyone who recognizes
him- or herself in these pages
for the first time.

There are many people without whom Tasting the Universe would still only be dreamy sketches on a coffee-stained tablet.

Thank you to my parents for a home that valued talking and telling stories and reading. Thank you to my husband for his support these many months. Thank you to my friends, particularly Lorraine Cancro, Siobhan OLeary, Maria Alba Brunetti, Diane DiResta, Sandra Hunter, Lisa Marie Fricker, Shani Molligoda, Gul Celik, and Lauren Lawrence, for listening and inspiring and being the fine women they are.

To my agent, Jon Sternfeld of the Irene Goodman Agency, who never stopped believing, just as he once canoed the entire Mississippi River, and whose early edits shaped the book into something better than the ramblings of an inspired writer. To my acquiring editor, Michael Pyethank you for seeing something in this project and for already knowing so much about synesthesia when my words landed on your desk. To my editor, Kirsten Dalley, my Northern Light, thank you for many days of further shaping and inspiring the manuscript, and a congeniality matched only by your erudition. Thank you especially to the Norman Mailer Writers Colony, particularly my professor, Dr. John Michael Lennon, President Lawrence Schiller, and my amazing colony mates, for your early and continued guidance, support, and inspiration.

To the Tibet House founders and staff: Ganden Thurman, Dr. Robert Thurman, and Dr. Bill Bushelleternal thanks for your light and wisdom. Thank you to the members of the American Synesthesia Association and other synesthesia community denizens, particularly Patricia Lynne Duffy, Carol Steen, Dr. Larry Marks, Dr. Richard Cytowic, Dr. David Eagleman, Dr. V.S. Ramachandran, Dr. Ed Hubbard, and Dr. Randolph Blake, as well as the many other synesthetes and researchers who shared their truths. And to the pioneers at the University of Arizonas Center for Consciousness Studies and their conference participants, particularly Abi Behar-Montefiore, Dr. Stuart Hameroff, Dr. David Chalmers, Cody Bahir, and James Clement van PeltI no longer have the zombie blues, thanks to you.

A heartfelt thank you to the many busy celebrities and their staffs who found time to talk with a stranger about their common rainbows, particularly Billy Joel, Itzhak Perlman, Pharrell Williams, the Amazing Kre-skin, Ida Maria, Marian McPartland, Dame Evelyn Glennie, Sir Robert Cailliau, and Dylan Lauren. Youve never shone so beautifully.

Thank you to managing editor Angela Leroux-Lindsey and the staff at the Adirondack Review for believing in The Red of his E String.

And finally, to the production staff at New Page Bookshave I told you lately how much I love the spoon?

by Dr. William C. Bushell, PhD
Director of East-West Research for Tibet House

Bob Dylans song Chimes of Freedom was my first introduction to the phenomenon of synesthesia, and I didnt even realize it at the time. At least, you could put it that way. I was a teenager, around 19 years old (and not officially a synesthete), and I was listening to this song on my record player (some of you may remember those), as I had done many times before. But this time I was particularly absorbed, and I had already started developing what Ill call a literary or artistic consciousness. This time, I was suddenly and unexpectedly gripped by the effects of the lyrics and the music of the song for the first time. I experienced goose bumps and sensations on the back of my neck, my heart rate jumped, and I felt quite viscerally as though I were riding a wave. When the song ended I went back and I replayed it a number of times, re-experiencing that aesthetic thrill. I checked out the other songs/poems and found similar experiences with a number of them. I did not at the time attempt to explain to myself what could have caused me to have such a powerful experience.