What would it be like to experience or see color that others can’t? How exasperating would it be to describe what you’re seeing? It would certainly be as if you were explaining the difference between red and green to an individual who was born blind and had never experienced colors before. 

What’s fascinating is that many synesthetes (i.e individuals with a condition known as synesthesia - caused by a cross-wiring of the brain) actually claim to witness alien-like colors. For instance, some letters of the alphabet would appear to be constituted of multiple colors layered on top of each other or a blend that doesn’t appear to be like any other color they are familiar with. In fact, there are even color-blind synesthetes that see colors they shouldn’t be able to see! 

Neural conditions like this make you wonder how limited the way we perceive the world could be. There may be various forms and features of perception, such as different scents and colors, that we humans have not experienced before and never will. It makes me muse on whether there are other intelligent species out in the cosmos and the various ways in which they perceive their surroundings that we can’t. 

Then there are also perceptions that can’t be described and have to be experienced to be understood. As it happens, the term used to describe such ineffable subjective conscious experience is “qualia”. Even within our species, each of us experiences the “reality” around us slightly (or even drastically) differently than the other. It makes us re-think the value of seemingly naive questions such as - How do i know that your red isn’t my blue? In fact, V.S Ramchandran, one of the most extraordinary neuroscientists alive, claims to be asked this by his students all the time.

It’s conditions like synesthesia that make us realize that it may not be such a naive question after all - for answering it may take us one step closer to solving the mystery of consciousness. 

“Synesthetes experience the ordinary world in extraordinary ways, seeming to inhabit a strange no-man’s-land between reality and fantasy. They taste colors, see sounds, hear shapes or touch emotions in myriad combinations.” - V.S Ramachandran

Synesthesia is one of those neurological conditions that transform the way you think of the human brain. In short, it is the cross wiring of the senses, very likely to be genetically inherited and has a wide variety of possible symptoms.

For instance, There are some synesthetes that are left overwhelmed with vivid emotions when touching textures whilst others see specific numbers in specific colors despite the color they typed or written in. Fascinatingly, there are even those who see a certain color when listening to a certain musical note.

None of these people are derraged or even suffering from any sort of serious neurological disorder. The rest of their mental abilities appear to be perfectly intact. In fact, Most synesthetes report that they were unaware that their experiences were unusual until they realized other people didn’t have them. Whats more is that recent studies convey that about one in every two thousand people have synesthesia.

But what causes it? The most widely-accepted theory for those who perceive numbers in specific colors is that a genetic abnormality causes the color-analyzing region and the region that deals with the physical form of numbers (both in the fusiform gyrus) to cross wire.

Until very recently, synesthesia was not taken very seriously by neurologists for it barely made any sense. However, we now know that this intriguing mental phenomenon can convey a great deal regarding many aspects of the human brain including imagination, creativity, abstract thinking and even metaphors.

“Maybe someday we’ll answer the most difficult question of all: How does the human brain give rise to consciousness? Who is this “I” within me that illuminates one tiny corner of the universe, while the rest of the cosmos rolls on indifferent to every human concern? A question that comes perilously close to theology…” - V.S. Ramachandran 

Its quite tragic, that most of us are too busy with our every day lives to stop and contemplate on the question of our existence. The very thought that we are aware of ourselves and our place in the cosmos is absolutely thrilling. And I believe that this is one of the main reasons to why neuroscience is such a significant branch of study. It has the potential to answer the hard question of consciousness, regarding how unconsious matter can give rise to it in the first place.

Consequently, some scientists suggest that the mind (Whatever it may be) is the very function of the human brain as a whole. But how this mind has come to be is still a mystery. 

Throughout history, mankind has tried to answer this mind-bending question through myths and dogmas when no other explanation was available. But now we are beginning to think rationally and starting to use the scientific and technological tools available to us in order to attain a well-reasoned answer. At this very moment, hundreds of thousands of neuroscientists are mapping the human brain and scrutinizing it, aiming to unravel its mysteries. Perhaps one day, we will figure out why it is that this “I” exists at all.