The Sacredness of Smell

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In Aroma of Righteousness, a story was told in the section on Fragrance and Rabbinic Beliefs that stuck with me throughout the week. The story was of king who had an orchard that was taken over by thorns and thistles so the king had decided to cut it down. However, he saw one blossom, smelled it, and decided ''For the sake of this flower, the orchard shall be saved".

I read this passage while it was snowing (again) knowing that there were no signs of flower life outside. Yet I could image the smell of this flower and it gave me comfort, much like I expect the king felt comfort when he smelled the lone flower in his orchard.

Hope. The king felt hope for the survival of the orchard and I feel hope that spring will one day come.

Nimshal explains this story in religious terms and parallels it to the story of God saving Israel. It was amazing to me that the smell of a flower and the emotion that it brought the king could be compared to the emotion felt by God while he was saving Israel. Yet after Rachel Herz's talk, it all makes sense!

Herz explained that no other sensory system but smell makes as direct contact with the amygdala (the section of the brain associated with emotion). Therefore, olfaction is directly related to mood.

Could this be why we find spring so refreshing and pleasing? We can finally smell the trees, the flowers, the grass, and other scents of life in the air that have been absent for so long during the winter so automatically our mood is elevated?



When relating this elevated feeling to religion I think of the word "sacred". Usually a strictly religious term, I have heard many secular people describe certain places, feelings, and things as being sacred. While it's very hard for me to find the words to articulate my point- to me sacred is the best word to use to describe the emotion felt when one is in a place that they feel a special connection to. Could the orchard to the king be described as sacred? I think so! Smell therefore can play a very large role in determining our emotions and connectedness with other places, things, and people.



I'm sure all of the sacred sights pictured smell very different. Perhaps smells waft of certain foods that reflect the culture, plants that aren't found elsewhere, maybe the Earth itself even smells different. I think that the odors (in a good way) that surround these sacred places have a direct role in the emotions one feels while visiting them. And hopefully one day I can test my theory by traveling to many destinations around the world and seeing what they smell like.


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