From what I understand, there are various ways a person can experience visualizations of colour. The synesthetic way being automatic and uncontrollable (thus classified as a "condition"), the cognitive way being creative and imagined (and therefore accessible to anyone with a good abstract/ metaphorical imagination, where colors can be used as metaphorical depictions of sound and other senses), and the hallucinatory way which is achieved either through the use of drugs or the experience of psychological illness.
So, really, it all depends on whether the colors you see are inspired in your mind by conscious or semi-conscious effort, or if they are innate and occur automatically, without any outside influence. There are various theories surrounding these experiences, but so far they are only preliminary (again, as far as I know).
All of the experiences mentioned so far have been either truly synesthetic, or at least similar to synesthesia in that they were consciously imagined in a similar way. Whether they are talking bull or not, it's interesting to hear what people imagine in relation to sound, no matter how the experience came about. (although I'm opposed to recreational drugs! So don't take that as advice haha)
As for actually seeing the world changing color, true synesthetes will see black letters like the ones I just typed with "ghosts" of color "on top" of them (an image in their mind, and not actually truly visible in the outside world).
For me, the words "black letters" look roughly like this:
black letters
This is an uncontrollable experience, and the colors associated with each letter have been consistent and unchanged for as long as I can remember.
|