Seeing Religion
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By
Sinead G
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What's a nard, and what does it smell like?
What a google search revealed a nard to be Starting on Valentine’s Day, we started reading The Aroma of Righteousness by Deborah Green, explores the imagery of fragrance in rabbinic literature. Two months later, we had Dr. Rachel Herz from Brown give a lecture on her work unraveling the neural processes of olfaction and gustation. The readings and lecture gave the class a well-rounded understanding at how scent is employed in ritual for invoking emotion. As mentioned earlier, our sense of smell is the most memorable due to its proximity to the pre-frontal cortex. Although research behind this phenomenon is relatively recent, practitioners of religion understand the influence of associating scents with divine concepts. In her introduction, Green mentions how we lack a vocabulary to describe our sense of smell, and refer to such using simile, metaphor or simply naming the scent. The explanation for such is that the olfactory bulb is located so “far down” that the circuitry co...
I couple of years ago, I went to an LGBTQ+ rally in front of the Catholic Diocese headquarters in Providence. Part of the rally's ritual was to have a row of people holding up all the different flags of the different subgroups of the Queer community. You would have loved it! Yes, the flags were flying outside the cathedral, but not because those inside were flying them. Still, It was quite a vision! I love how you make the powerful connection between the strategy/practice of heightening visibility and the the sacred connections brought about by vision itself. Vision, darsan, is a sacrament of communion.
ReplyDeleteIt is amazing how much meaning and importance that symbols can hold for individuals. I feel like the idea of those of certain religions holding, touching and becoming emotional over statues or images of deities or idols is sometimes made fun of or deemed as dramatic or irrational, but symbols such as LGBTQ+, or political/social flags and symbols or "safe-zone" stickers can mean a lot to certain individuals too as well as many other meaningful symbols and idols.
ReplyDeleteThis is such an important idea and I agree entirely. Also, I saw your art outside and it was so beautiful and profound!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you wholeheartedly. Seeing a rainbow flag flying out in front of a cathedral would mean the world to queer Catholics who may not feel seen by the Church. One 'little' thing like that (and i say 'little' because it's not really something little) makes a huge difference.
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