I believe all people have synesthesia [1]Mary Alma Miller
   [2]Michael Richards - it's embedded in our very language and we
   don't even take notice of it.

   How can emotions be "hot" and "cold"? How can there be
   "distance" from a person?

   They've done brain scans. The experience of "emotional distance"
   activates the VERY SAME parts of the brain used by our visual
   systems for seeing far away things in perspective.

   Emotional pain (broken heart - more synesthesia) registers in
   the same part of the brain as physical pain. We call it "broken
   heart" - the brain registers the same pain _as if the heart is
   physically broken_. It's embodied in our very language.

   My bias is that I'm a fan of embodied cognition. I don't blame
   you for not understanding [3]Eric Little - it's ok. You're not
   stupid. Just taught wrong and I haven't found a way to summarize
   properly yet in an easily translatable way without resorting to
   excessive metaphors or sounding overly poetic. Hard to avoid.

References

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   1. https://www.facebook.com/mary.a.miller.94?hc_location=ufi
   2. https://www.facebook.com/michael.richards.58511276?hc_location=ufi
   3. https://www.facebook.com/erllaw?hc_location=ufi