Final Blog Post

   I just tried to find an image that could potentially encapsulate "Smells and Bells," and I found a photo of a guy with the words smells and bells next to him but I couldn't use it. Smells and Bells was a phrase I had never heard of until taking this class, and I only just learned that it is in fact a phrase and not just the title of this delightful course when completing said Google search. Regardless, I went into this course having taken either 4 or 5 classes with Professor Darling. I can't remember if it's 5 or not. Anyways, when searching for a class to take my final semester, I found Smells and Bells and thought huh. That sounds really fascinating. Because it makes sense (haha) that the senses would be heavily intertwined in religious experiences, rituals, and culture, I did not know to this extent how much it really does have an effect on how someone may interact with their faith. Not only even in religion- I had never really put this much thought into my senses as I have throughout this course. Of course, I became a bit more aware of my sense of taste in the past two years because I have been so paranoid about getting COVID and potentially losing my sense of taste because it would absolutely ruin me. My heart goes out to people who are struggling with food because of the long-term (or hopefully short-term with treatment) symptoms of COVID. 

    Each class the ice breaker question would really make me pause and think about my answers.

    Unfortunately for me, however, I was always the second person to go because of the alphabet, so I didn't really get to fully examine the depths of my potential answers, but anyways! Our class discussions, though centered around senses in religion, also always reached the senses that we explore on a day-to-day basis, especially through a modern lens. Which in itself is quite divine- we may not always consider our abilities to perceive things through each of our senses as miracles, but they are quite extraordinary. Of course, a lot of them have evolved through natural selection and evolution as a whole, but they are still very fascinating! I loved that while we got to read the physiological explanations of the senses, we mainly focused on how they can be applied in our lives, in faith, and so on. Each discussion was rich with differing perspectives and backgrounds, which added a whole other layer to these explorations of things we have for the most part taken for granted.

    I am so thankful to have been able to end my final year at Wheaton in a class that touched upon a lot of things that I hadn't truly given much thought to before. Just like the meditation that we got to partake in, I would say that this class as a whole was grounding in and of itself because I was able to really stop and think about my connections to people and the Earth via each sense.