Smell: Natures internet?

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Reading Ackerman's accounts of the tantalizing world of smell had me in awe of the magnanimity of the world of smells. However, their ability to instantaneously transport you and its ability to invoke emotions all over the spectrum are phenomena that I think don't get the awe and admiration they deserve. Over the winter I tested positive for COVID 19, following which, unfortunately, I lost my sense of smell for a little while. Reading the accounts and the vivid descriptions of the arousing nature of smell made me reflect on my days without it and I realized that my days did feel a little less vibrant, a little bland, lacking the flavor of life around me. 




 
The omnipresent nature of smell made me think of it like being Natures very own internet. Just like the internet it is a whole other world that is invisible to the naked eye, a nexus where information is constantly being uploaded and downloaded, and just like computers, out connection to it: the nose. Just the volume of information that we have access to through our sense of smells without even consciously processing it is so intriguing to me. The expansion of smell being the mute sense, had me scratching my brain trying to find accurate, descriptive words for smells that've been close to my heart for as long as I can remember; like the one of soil after a rainstorm, the smell of freshly baked brownies wafting through the house. All of which though etched in my memory may never be shared to its fullest extent without actually experiencing them. 

To me smell seems like a paradox, such an intimate yet communal sense. Something that each one of us posses yet cannot give an account of. I think the real beauty of the sense lies in this very paradox. It has the ability to bring lovers together, in a frenzy of passion but is also divided across the world. What struck me was that even though there are differences in the kinds of smells prefered by people across the world, the very concept/ideology of wanting to have pleasant smelling surroundings and wanting oneself to smell good is a constant. Throughout cultures and across the globe, Smells that connect us to things the represent fertility and sensuality in nature have been worn by men and women for centuries to accentuate their own personality, makes me feel like chemistry behind "chemistry between individuals" lies in this game of smell.  

I was able to look at the sense of smell with fresher lenses, and honestly do think that it colors our world in glorious Technicolor. 


Comments

  1. Jonathan Brumberg-KrausFebruary 8, 2022 at 7:33 AM

    The omnipresence of smell being "like being Natures very own internet" - what a great, evocative turn of phrase! So sorry you had to lose your sense of smell a bit when you had Covid 19 . What is like for you to smell things now, having experienced its loss. I know you said when you couldn't smell, your days became a "little less vibrant, a little bland, lacking the flavor of life around me." But what do you feel now when you smell things? I know whenever I thought I might I have caught Covid, I immediately checked to see if I could smell something, indeed, went out of my way to check out everyday smells, like toothpaste, theI onions I chopped, the interior of my car.

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