“A quick at-home test for aphantasia, I learned, was called the red star or red apple test. Close your eyes and picture a red apple. How well can you see the apple visually on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the most vivid? Can you see its color, shape and the length of the stem? Is it a bit hazy, coming in and out of focus? For me, I saw nothing – no fuzzy outline, no hint of any image at all.”

Interesting. As I’ve gone through this recent spate of self-help books, everyone talks about that ‘inner voice’. We read about that all the time, but at this point in time, I’m very aware that I don’t have that sort of self-talk. My brain is highly image oriented, spatial, anchored to feelings. I see many alternatives to choices, but no voice chides me one way or another. Each alternative has a feeling associated, not words. Emotion seems to be my ‘chooser’. I wonder if there’s a classification for this.

Later: There is.

Even later: Dave comments on the above, relating his experiences. I’ll underline his last point: this is how blogging used to work … for those who’ve forgotten. We would use others’ observations as fulcrums for our own ruminations, digging into subjects to tease out value.