Saturday Morning Smells

I have never paid much attention to smell. To me it appears that the sense of smell is thought of as lesser sense or completely disregarded. Yet, Green and Ackerman would probably disagree with that statement. In The Aroma of Righteousness Green states that “...odor, whether pleasing or foul, enters almost every aspect of our lives—it’s subtle pervasiveness affects our attitudes and judgments…” and I often ignore this pervasive sense (or at least I thought I did) so I wanted to try and pay attention to my sense of smell for once.

Olga Ernst 2018 ©

On Saturday morning (February 15, 2020) I could smell the freezing air, but does “cold” have a smell? Ackerman states in A Natural History of the Senses that “smells are our dearest kin, but we cannot remember their names;” so when I say that I can smell the cold, do we think of the same thing? When I think of smelling cold air I think of a fresh blanket of snow accented by a chilly morning wind, but perhaps someone else may only think of a minty piece of gum. 

The chilly morning air stuck with me along my morning walk until arriving at the bagel shop not far from campus. I figured a nice cafe filled with delicious scents would help me focus more on my sense of smell. Upon entering the shop I could smell the strong coffee scent drifting around the room, along with the smell of a variety of bagels all blending together. I ordered my bagel and coffee and sat by the window while eating my breakfast. While one may think that taste would be the dominant sense while eating breakfast, but smell is so critical. Smelling the coffee and the herbs in the cream cheese only enhances the flavors.

The smells that we encounter alter our experiences whether that is with a chilly morning walk, a cafe, or even within religious practices that Green discusses in The Aroma of Righteousness. Before going to the cafe, I had only intended on getting a bagel, yet with the delicious smell of coffee filling the air, I ended up also getting a coffee. Smell can be very influential as I observed during this trip. Green has also discussed just how influential smell can be while describing the story of Jacob and Esau and the impact that smell had on Isaac. Smell has a broad impact on many facets of our lives and from now on I will try to be more attentive to the world around me, including the smells around me.