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INSIGHT

For one middle-aged man, the word "two" appears blue. The number "2" appears orange, and "5" is green. The man has been diagnosed with synesthea, a phenomenon in which printed words and numbers burst with colors, flavors take on shapes, and the spoken language turns into a rainbow. This person says, the collection of different colors when he reads is sometimes distracting, but he has discovered his ability makes learning the complex words of science easier. Those who study the unusual perception say, many people with synesthea take great joy in their unique symphony of sensation. To them, a newspaper is never black and white, it's red, orange, blue, beige, pink, and green all over.

Researchers think synesthea is the result of a unique wiring of the brain. They estimate that one in every 25,000 people has the disorder. So little is known about the disorder, because many people don't admit it, or are surprised to discover that they are unusual.

Believers in the Lord find more than black and white words and letters when they read from the Bible. There are new colors, sensations, flavors, and dimensions to be discovered in God's word, but these things can only be seen with the help of His Holy Spirit. Synesthea may be a good picture of what the Apostle Paul was saying when he wrote, "The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are spiritually discerned." 1 Cor. 2:14

—Associated Press; Man See, Hears Words in Color; March 18, 2002, Illustration by Jim L. Wilson and Jim Sandell.