>> this is an interesting topic! yup - I too think visually; not necessarily in actual pictures, though - or fixed images or imagined metaphors. I find this an interesting insight, that some of you - I read about it in posts a few pages back - use exact visual metaphors or thought-contense defined imagery; such as mighty king from ancient greece for justice. cool idea!
> personally, I am strong visual thinker in more abstract terms. I do think straighforward visulizations, images, pictures [of course, all that I remember from my visually], metaphors as well.
>> yet the real thing I'd call visual thinking for myself personally, is a sort large infinite space or room without boundary in my mind.
> it is pitch black dark and there is nothing in it; it is nothingness itsself so to say. this endless space has an imagined centre and this centre is somehow located more or less in the centre of my head; or centre of my self. in a way, right behind my forehead.
> here, out of the nothingness, I let all kinds of imaginations play as theatre-play / drama, film, acting, real-life-simulation..etc. also, here I have a strong synaesthetic connection - for example, so that sounds become colors and colors become words [and sound again]; or that feeling and sense of my body is depicted as all sorts of meaningless or meaningful shapes, lights, light-flashes / as movement of shapes / sometimes as definde imagery of flowing things. while communication between me and others, and the feelings that come with it, may present itsself as visually depicted forces / beams / streams of light or fluid matter - working logical weights, and moving levers and mechanical gearwheels in this or that direction; depeding on the information that is communicated and / or thought / felt / imagined etc.
> also, I like to think with information as such [which isn't anything actually, that can be imagined]. yet, I imagine information as clouds of hundreds of billions of tiny glittering particles, infinitely small but still there, moving through complex system making things become other things, moving, influencing, changing things. I imagine virtual information to be my thought, a mental form of information; it is virtual since it has not yet become something real. then, when I perceive that my thought / my sensory-input / my actions actually affect something real, I like to think that my virtual thought-force as turned real - making reality [flowing / expressing interior to exterior]; while reality becomes virtual thought-force in the other direction [flowing / impressing exterior to interior]
again a way of imagining a sort of force that holds an instruction of effect; and by this I can easily think through difficult informational interaction, large informational systems like the internet and interhuman interaction as interaction of informational clouds organized as informational system... it is kinda powerful, I think =) it does magic sometimes.. =P
>> as for visual thinking in a generalized view: I've read that thinking with visuals of any kind is rather common in general - but then, this seems obvious since we remember what we see with our eyes: and that's visual. however, I think imagining a simple image or picture isn't what's meant by visual thinking... I mean anybody can imagine an image, for sure. I guess what makes it real visual thinking is the way / if at all / how one works with the thought-imagery - whatever it may be. by my understanding the thouht-imagery is then the main and central concept of solving problems of any kind in the mind.
>> I guess, thinking with all kinds of sensory inputs and their mental reimagination must be rather common as such [sounds, visual eye-sight images, sense of touch and taste, especially smell [which somehow evokes powerful memories with me], with words written or said aloud in thought, feelings/emotions, movement... then, I also think it is again the way, the efficiency and power of thought that makes a specific concept. more so, I guess that combining these different styles of sensory-input / memory-output / reimagination / fantasy in a unique and useful way - a way which everyone can individually train / choose / design to one's personal needs and thinking-abilities / styles - can produce an unique thinking-concept... I'm trying to do this, that's why I'm mentioning this here: it really has a lot of potential to improve well-being and one's thinking-power if one gets to know one's personal and natural configuration of mind, which can then be carved, optimized, focues etc. in a specific personalized structure. plus; it's a lot of fun to explore your own thinking by experiment, trial and error, empirical observation etc. [at least it is a lot of fun for me, especially because of the quite apparent improvement I've made over some months] ! =)
