Thoughts on Professor Kirkpatrick's Lecture, and 'Perfect Sense'

By Anonymous -
Professor Kirkpatrick's lecture was really eye-opening; as an English major I haven't really been exposed to a neurological perspective on the importance of the five senses so it was very enlightening.

Professor Kirkpatrick also raised a really important question in her guest lecture, which was: "What would we do without senses?" People like Helen Keller have shared accounts as to what it's like to live without some senses--but what about all? The reason this course exists, I imagine, is to show how the senses help enhance religious beliefs, make abstract concepts tangible and palpable. Not only would we not have faith without the senses--but we'd have nothing at all.



This film doesn't have much to do with religion, but with the five senses it most certainly does, and I couldn't help but call back to it from the very first day of class. I highly recommend everyone in the class watch it when they get the chance (don't worry--it's on Netflix). It's called Perfect Sense; it's an Irish sci-fi drama starring Eva Green and Ewan McGregor. It essentially starts out with a worldwide "epidemic" of people losing their sense of smell, and how a doctor (Eva Green) tries to figure out the cause. Not to spoil too much, but gradually, each sense begins to go away one by one. The film is very unique in that it not only shows the impact of losing the senses through the relationship between the main characters, but also illustrates how it affects contemporary society as a whole. For example, food is replaced by nutritional globs/gelatin substances once both smell and taste are eliminated--for what is the need for "good-tasting" food?

Professor Kirkpatrick talked a lot about the brain and neurons going through processes of "conversion" in which the brain turns light and molecules into things we can observe and make sense of through our five senses. What would our bodies, our minds do if they had not the means to convert? If we lost all our senses, we wouldn't even know if light was shining on our faces, for we could not feel the touch of its rays, or squint our eyes because we see its brightness. We'd be conscious, understand we exist, but be unable to ground ourselves or understand where we are in relation to the world. Really scary, huh?

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