Smells and Bells

Last night, I had the pleasure of attending WheaTalks, Wheaton's version of the famous TED Talks. I must admit, I expected to be bored out of my mind during the two and a half hours that followed (I went to support a friend who was giving one of these talks), but I ended up thoroughly enjoying myself. The topics were fascinating and I was so impressed by our peer's intellect, but the last talk, Professor Morris's talk, made me think of this class immediately. Professor Morris discussed how we, as humans, are becoming increasingly dependent on technology, and, in 2035, if technology continues to develop at the rate that is has, computers will be more powerful than all human minds combined. In fact, we are merging with our technology, sometimes in dramatic ways. Neil Harbisson was born completely color blind. He sees the world in grey, but, with the help of technology, he has expanded his perception of the world so he can recognize colors. He had a camera surgically fixed...

JBK talking about food & sex... What to expect? I was not sure what to think when I heard the title of the talk was "Doing it Orally: A talk about food and sex," all I knew was that I was intrigued and wanted to hear more. For all of you who were unable to attend professor JBK's talk explained the relationship between food and sex, by using religious examples, and practicle examples. It was so interesting to hear someone describe their relationship with eating as just a metaphor for sex. I know how satisfying a particular meal can be when you are really craving something, and it meets all your expectations, and hits the spot. Eating can be a very intimate relationship especially when you are preparing it yourself and sharing it with someone you love. Food can either be something that brings two people together or tears them apart. Personally if I cannot share a meal with someone it would never work out for me. Food is such an important part of my life and was a...

Wheaton Words was an extremely emotional, stimulating and sensual event. Each performer's experience was portrayed in either a poetic or prose manner and utilized the senses to convey the extent of each experience. The details and realism of each account has made Wheaton Words my favorite Wheaton event yet. While each performer expressed a deep, rooted, and maybe even hidden story about themselves, each account was unique in regards to the emotions it evoked in the audience, the feelings in which it manifested in the performer, and in the senses the actual performances utilized. The senses I believe received the most stimulation Saturday night were: sight, hearing, and touch. Aside from the popcorn and candy provided during the intermission, I also thought that the sense of taste secondarily contributed to the audience's experience. As Professor JBK began the first performance of the night, he poured himself a nice cold beer. He then proceeded to pour his personal thoug...

NYTimes: All Grown Up and In Charge of the Seder http://nyti.ms/1NoJz6c

This morning I woke up and I realized I needed to meditate before one of my exams. That was when I first began to reflect on how sensitive I had truly been for the past week. JBK asked the class when a ritual truly begins. In my Wiccan readings I have come across the fact that a ritual starts to gain existence and energy even before the event, it beings with the first thought. Throughout my day I become very introspective as I caught myself thinking “I’m tired and I’m sad.” I realized that I barely left my room this weekend and I had even cried for a few hours. on further inspection I also hadn’t been eating right. To me this signals a need for a cleansing ritual. Thus my ritual had begun. I took a short nap, showered, and went outside to see the moon ( a symbol of my mother goddess). I needed to cleanse myself through burning sage. I closed my eye gently and envisioned the smoke entering my body, collecting dark energy. On the exhale I envisioned the dark smoke leaving my body are ca...

In chapter two, "Hearing Islam In The Atmosphere" of the book Women, the Recited Quar'an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia  by Anne Rasmussen she shared her understanding of the spiritual leaders, teachers and mentors involved in the instruction of Quar'an recitation in Indonesia. Kiai and Nyai are the terms used to identify spiritual leaders who through there wisdom and example act as mentors in Quar'an recitation. These definitions loosely correspond to lama (tibetan term for teacher of the dharma) or guru (sanskrit term of the same meaning). Here is a list of similarities between Kiai/Nyai and Lamas usually among social and economic leaders in community frequently considered part of elite lineages of religious leaders generally highly respected for religious knowledge, guidance and administration of schooling often model educators, preachers or even civic business/political leaders ex: Dalai Lama they are considered the anchors of religious learning ...

While I found the St. John's Passion concert to be an impressive display of talent, I did not find the religious experience I think many others did with it.  But then I began thinking, what do I think is religious music? Not what people tell me is religious music but what I feel to be religious.  I came up with two different avenues. One in which I feel connected to people, and one where I feel connected to nature.   Singing with other people, whether it be hymns on Sunday in church or even chanting with others during my yoga class- this is where I feel a strong connection with others that almost overwhelms me. To me just experiencing any music with others can be a religious experience if you make it that way.  The other thing I found to be true in the following days was my religious connection to the sounds of nature. Birds chirping, rain falling, the oceans ebb and flow, when I am reflecting on just the sounds of nature a feeling of gratitude swe...

I thought that the St. John's Passion by Bach was a beautiful piece, which I really enjoyed listening to. However, despite the swelling music and beautiful singing, the experience didn't feel like a religious one to me. Perhaps this was because it was in a language I don't really understand and about a gospel I don't really believe in, but I could tell there was something more to it than that. If ritual is a mode of paying attention, then this piece of music clearly represents this mode in both its composition and its performance. It is religious music, but I didn't feel it. This is obviously not a shortcoming of the music, but a matter of what I find religious, what I feel compelled to pay attention to. Listening to this beautiful work of religious devotion, yet feeling no religious experience caused me to realize how personal a religious experience is, and I began asking myself some questions about what I do find religious, and what it means to find an exp...

What makes a banquet? As Easter quickly approaches, and I realize that I will not be going home to celebrate the holiday as I normally do with my family in Astoria, NY, I think about the celebration I am missing out on, and what I will be doing to make up for this.  Usually my Easter is spent going to the Italian Sunday mass at St. Francis of Assisi, my parish church with my entire immediate family (my mom, aunts, uncles, cousins, nonna, nonni). We all find each other and sit in rows close to each other during mass, we exchange hugs and kisses during the "peace be with you" part of the mass, then we gather outside of the church after the mass has ended for our second round of exchanges.  We all know where we are going next, we walk the three blocks together to my nonna's where we all gather on outside when the weather is nice for pictures, then we go inside for the courses to begin. My nonna prepares for Easter for weeks in advance, making sure every grandchild...

The taste of food, what we expect to taste and what we actually taste... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAcVNxBbl1g During Emerson's special "little Italy" day I sat at a table patiently waiting for the "hand stuffed cannoli station" to open. I sat with my roommate, and we waited for about 10 minutes until I gave in and tasted one of each types of bread from the bread display (as I waited for the cannoli's). What made me wait the 10 minutes? I couldn't tell from just looking if the rolls were still warm or if they were crunchy on the outside while flaky on the inside. I had to actually feel them in my hands, and break them a part to tell, but before I put them in my mouth I could almost feel the warm buttered bread touching my tongue... But back to the cannoli's, it was about an hour later when the cannoli station was all set up. My roommate rushed to grab each of us one, by the looks of them they were not exactly what I expected, they we...