Smells and Bells

  Of Paint, and Pottery, and Perception;  Looking at the Effects of Religious Arts I may be biased towards the power of art. I work in the gallery four hours a week, I set up exhibitions, I love to draw, and I long to spend my hours immersed in an art museum. However, I think many would agree that art has a lot of power culturally. In this instance, I will be looking specifically at the power of art in a religious aspect since so many religions tend to use art. If we look at one of the most famous examples, the Renaissance, we see an emergence of not just art but extremely emotional depictions of religion from The Last Supper to The Birth of Adam. Art tends to be a very popular way of creating connections between religion and the “masses” because humans are such visual creatures. The Sistine Chapel is a great specific example of this because it is not only filled with art but is also a public space that (theoretically) anybody can visit, meaning that the art is open to anyone ...

Seeing Signs: Angel Numbers and the Divine in Everyday Life (Darsan) By Calliope Mills  ( source ) In a world that constantly rushes forward, many of us long for moments that pull us into deeper awareness—glimpses of the sacred, signs that there’s more to life than the visible. Whether it’s the flicker of a temple lamp or the repetition of 11:11 on a clock, humans have always found meaning in what they see. Across traditions and times, the eye becomes a gateway to the divine.    Diana Eck’s  Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India offers a powerful insight into this connection. In Hindu practice, darsan is not merely about looking at a sacred image—it’s about being seen by the divine. When a devotee stands before a murti (a sacred icon or image of a deity), it’s not just a passive experience. It’s an exchange of presence. The divine is not hidden; it’s made visible, accessible, and relational. In this moment of mutual gaze, the line between seeker and sacred becomes...

      There is nothing a people person loves more than an unplanned reunion with a friend from long ago. Or seeing a loved one after a long period of no holidays. For humans, the sight of a loved one, to be in their presence, is essential. Diana Eck argues that in Hinduism,  Darśan is a type of communion between deities and worshippers; seeing in this way must be essential for Hindus to reconnect with their beloved gods. Eck also mentions that Darśan is never solely a visual experience but rather involves all senses. The communication between worshipper and deity provides an experience beyond the five senses, reaching into the sixth...     David Abram argues that humans have lost their touch with the living earth, resulting in devastation of our natural word. While some consider the gift of  shamans and sorcerers to be a supernatural one, connecting our human world to another dimension, Abrams argues that their power lies within their ability to c...

       Do we have to see something to believe it? Well, that depends on what it is you are trying to believe. Simply viewing something may just serve to confirm your previous notions of what you had already imagined. We can't really see wind, and we don't have a lot of wind-deniers. Of course, that's an obvious example, because we can feel it. If another sense can confirm the existence of something, do we really need to have the others involved? Diana L Eck argues that "Seeing is not a passive awareness of visual data, but an active focusing upon it, "touching" it" (Eck 15). The way she describes it as "touching" this data is fascinating to me. Going back to that phrase, "I have to see it to believe it," it holds true sometimes! Vision as touch can be really affirming! Touch is one of the strongest senses because when something is tangible there's not a lot of room for debate as to whether it exists or not, or what it looks like. ...

  Reading about Darsán and its critical role in Hindu worship, made me think: what if you’re blind? There are other aspects to the rituals, yes, but if physically seeing the deity is such a central point, what replaces that aspect of worship when sight isn’t possible? Part of me hopes that there is something else that the visually impaired can do that fills the time during rituals that would be for Darsán, something that allows them to feel like they’re seeing the image of the deity, but that can be perceived with the other senses. I think that there probably isn’t any other specific activity that fills in for Darsán. In a lot of cases, rituals and types of worship are as much about the things you physically perceive as they are about the way those things make you feel. I would assume that if you’re blind, being in the presence of the image of the deity is enough and you focus more on the emotional aspect of the experience. Rather than physically seeing the image of the deity and p...

       Dasan and Puja are important parts of Hinduism as discussed in Diana Eck's writings in  Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India. During these rituals the image of god is deeply connected to spirituality as you envision the god in which you are praying to. Not only do you envision the god you are worshipping in that moment, you also have physical idols or some sort of physical imagery to guide you to do that. There are shrines and statues used to help us visualize the deities we worship. Even during religious festivals, hindu religions are very sight oriented in how they must be decorated and celebrated. Diwali must have bright colors and lights and is often associated with gold, the biggest factor of a Holi celebration is throwing the dye on each other, filling the area with color. Specific colors represent specific things and must be used to celebrate particular festivals. Sight is a sense heavily leaned on for the Hindu religion      Int...

 In her book Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India Diana Eck discusses the importance and role of vision in Hindu religious practices. One element of this that stood out, is how the idea of looking in Hindu practice seems to be reciprocal. Looking upon the statue of a deity is a significant religious act and so is being looked at by one. The gaze of a newly sanctified statue is considered powerful enough that when their eyes are painted on they must not be looking directly at someone. This significance of looking, with vision having the power to transfer blessings and curses between humans and gods is particularly interesting when considered in comparison with other religious contexts. In The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch by Constance Classen, an important topic is the importance of touch in Medieval Christianity. During the era of relics, a different example of a religious object thought to be imbued with holiness, in some sense, and able to bestow its blessings on...

       Don't you wish you could see your favorite celebrity, just once? Even if just for a second, look at their house, maybe even just stand in the spot where they stood, see something they looked at with their own eyes? Although it is intended to be used in a religious context there is a word in Indian Hindusim,  " Darśan" that refers to this kind of seeing. In  Darśan: seeing the divine image in India , Diana Eck explains that religious seeing or  Darśan is a sort of worship that happens by looking upon holy items, places and people. For example Eck states that Hindus often go on pilgrimages to different sacred locations as "sacred sightseers" just to look upon the home of a god or goddess, a statue, a blessed city, and so on. Eck's description of the way people used to flock to Mahatma Gandhi just to "take his d arśan" (Eck 5) is what reminded me of modern day celebrities. Society has deemed celebrities important and even getting the chan...

 I have a fear of going blind. Not, like, greatest fear of all time, but easily in my top three. This is both a reasonable and fully ridiculous fear as (1) I do have a medical issue that affects my eyes but (2) it has never affected my vision, nor would it have ever made me go blind, but I was 14 when I was diagnosed, assumed it was a possibility, and did not bother to confirm that for long enough that I internalized it. It's also the only sense that I'm "good" at, as little sense (haha, sense ) as that makes. My sense of smell is awful as I've said before, I never hear things right (though that's less a hearing issue and more a focus issue), and though it's hard to quantify touch as a skill, I certainly would've been bad at the touch group's guessing game from their presentation. My sight, on the other hand, is perfect (Technically better than, since my vision is 20/15 and "perfect" is 20/20). I'm the only person in my family to not ...

The concept of darsan, or “seeing” the divine image, is fascinating to me. I often return to comparisons to Catholic practices and beliefs, not because I’m a practicing Catholic, but because it’s the environment that I was brought up in. I also found the reference to Western perceptions of idols and the references to Western attitudes toward pilgrimages interesting. The comparison jumps out to me because the role of images and the centrality of sight in Hindu tradition seems completely antithetical to what I learned in the context of Catholic tradition. In this tradition there was always a strong emphasis on having “faith.” Faith, by definition, requires a lack of tangible evidence. Of course there are images and objects such as crucifixes that are included in prayer, but they aren’t necessary for prayer. The call in Catholicism is to believe rather than to see.  This also made me think of a few stories from Exodus that involve “seeing God.” The first is of course the burning bush,...

 There is a certain way that Hindu temples are supposed to look, a certain way the "idols" are supposed to look. There may be some flexibility, but, in the end, they should look like at least one other temple or "idol" that has come before.  There is power in this system. Knowing that you are seeing something that has a long history, and knowing that history as well as a practitioner of Hindu is likely to know their religion, provides a deep sense of connection with those who have come before you. Let me provide a non-religious example. Schönbrunn Palace was once the imperial residence of the Habsburgs, the ruling family of – what else? – the Habsburg Empire. Its life began as a simple hunting lodge, but was quickly elevated to the primary summer residence of the imperial family. Dozens of babies were born in its rooms, dozens of the sick and elderly died. A young Mozart played for the imperial family, an equally young Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna – perhaps better ...

     One thing I found interesting in Diana Eck’s reading was the differences between Western monotheistic religions and Hinduism, specifically in their views of images in worship. In the West, the use of images is often seen as idolatry, that is, the worship of an object or something other than God as if it were God. As Dr. Dale Tuggy points out in his video lecture on Eck’s book, Western ideas and beliefs are often applied to Hindu devotion, claiming that the use of images, or idols, is wrong or bad. As mentioned in the video, the term idolatry is actually an outsider term, meaning that it has been used to describe Hindu practices from a Western viewpoint. I would argue that this goes against the concept of cultural relativism, the idea that a person's beliefs and practices should be understood based on that person's own culture, norms, and values From a comparative religious perspective, I think it’s important to keep cultural relativism in mind and try not to compare ...

I have known about religions that are imaginative and image-oriented for a while, mostly by learning about them in school. I learned about how it is normal to pray and worship the gods and goddesses through statues, which as a Christian, I thought was interesting and peculiar. I did not realize until reading Eck's book, that for Hindus, the notion of worshiping an invisible deity is seen as foreign and strange. The gods and goddesses in Hinduism take form in very elaborate and ornate ways so, I guess, it does make sense for them to be represented visually. Vibrant colors and visuals are often associated with Hindu culture and it is translated through the imagery of the gods and goddesses. What I am most interested in when it comes to Hinduism, is how the descriptions of how and when what these gods and goddesses look like came to be.   https://www.piqsels.com/en/public-domain-photo-fzxim   In Protestant Christianity, the idea of imagery and worshiping idols that are supposed t...

 Interesting preface to the second edition, with the mythological importance of and connection between sight and existence. Also interesting how darshan contrasts with typical western expectations of what constitutes worship: “in India, pilgrimage is the natural extension of the desire for the darshan of the divine image, which is at the heart of all temple worship” (5), where sight of something considered especially sacred is the main goal, while (and, this is just personal experience) western worship is more concerned with being metaphysically close with divinity, with sacred images serving as a means to ‘get worshippers in the mood,’ as opposed to the end as in India.  Additionally, the association between sight and touch (page 9) isn’t found in western tradition, and instead the opposite occurs: sight is considered one of the least ‘connective’ senses, possibly the least, with a ‘look, don’t touch’ from parent to kid being one of the most frequent things I’ve overheard wor...

  I was unable to read Diana Eck’s “Seeing the Divine Image in India”, though I did watch the three overview videos on oncourse about her book and examples of some Hindu rituals including darśan. I wasn’t aware of the western religions disapproval of the use of idols in worship. I had known beforehand of the use of idols in hinduism and how prevalent it is in their rituals, and never questioned how that could be perceived differently by others, specifically other religions.  From  http://dailydeeperlife.org/folly-of-idol-worship/  As someone who is nonreligious, the use of idols in rituals and worship seems like a perfectly acceptable concept. To have something you can physically interact and connect with would in my mind help you to form a closer connection with your beliefs as a whole. To know that you can speak to, touch, or make offerings to an idol that represents so much more than what its physical form constitutes would make the connection to that spiritual ...

I think there is beauty in the process of creating ritual artwork. The creation process Eck describes is really interesting. The process that for me can become a sort of mindless thing. I mean, art isn't really mindless, even if you find you just paint things that you think are 'pretty.' All throughout high school, my art teacher told us not to do that, but I did anyway and created some meaning behind everything I did. My focus for the entirety of my high school art career was myth and folklore. I painted mythological characters like Daphne (Greek) and Sif (Norse), along with Mexican figures like la Llorona and el Principe Oso. For the most part, I've abandoned the strict structure my teacher showed us: the idea, reference photos, three thumbnail sketches, color studies, then your painting. I have an idea, I start sketching, then I figure the colors out as I go. It's not efficient and it's definitely not a good way to go about traditional artwork, but I'm so...

Picture owned by Pravin475     https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Goddess_Durga_statue_of_2018_Durga_Puja_festival_06.jpg  To start things off, I want to make it clear that I wasn’t able to read “ Seeing the Divine Image in India '' so I had to watch the three videos on Oncourse instead. In regards to those videos, I have to say I was quite impressed by what they had to offer in terms of both the sensory and idolatry interpretations aspects of it. First and foremost, Hindu practice not seeing idols as a bad thing didn’t really surprise me since I was already pretty aware of how casual they were about it. I was also fairly well aware of how NOT casual christianity, Judaism, and Islam were about the idea of putting Idols everywhere. Honestly I never understood the whole mentality of seeing idolatry as sin in the first place. I mean yeah, today you can’t really put up a bunch of depictions of Jesus or whoever for the sake of public tolerance but back then, it just didn’...

Image from Dreamstime.com Reading about darsan reminded me a lot of my experience with Adoration. According to Christian tradition, Adoration is defined as "a​​ sign of devotion to and worship of Jesus Christ who is believed to be present in body, blood, soul, and divinity, under the appearance of the consecrated host, that is, sacramental bread" (wikipedia.org). It was and is difficult for me to understand how a piece of bread (a wafer, really) is supposed to encompass all of this. Additionally, adoration didn’t make me feel great because it is actually pretty awkward. Typically, people sit or pray in silence which can make it hard to think. I still have trouble looking at Jesus on the Cross in church even though I was an altar server because, in my upbringing, this statue was neither defined as a visual tool nor as an embodiment of the divine, so it really never “did” anything for me during mass, and I just looked at the priest.  The current and common view/thought/reactio...

Each and every minute we live our lives, for those who are not blind, we are seeing whatever is before us, unless we are asleep. Seeing has many purposes for us, as humans. And it is crucial to many aspects of our lives. Throughout Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India , written by Diana Eck, she explores how sight is essential to Hindu culture. Going into the physical representation of God and how it is important. Sight can be related to religion because of our visual perception of God. This visual perception is held sacred to many differnt cultures. As a Christian myself, there are so many images of Jesus Christ all throughout churches. This allows individuals to to form a picture in our head of what Jesus would look like in person. This is very symbolic to each and every believer whether or not they are part of the religion of Christianity.  Seeing plays such a crucial role in so many different aspects of religion that religion would not be the same without sight. It w...

The act of seeing something is almost always depicted as an action taken by the observer on the item being see. To me, it was always about one person fixing their gaze upon something. When I thought about it, I know that it is just our interpretation of different wavelengths entering our eyes, but intuitively it seems more like an active thing on our part.  In Diana Eck's  Seeing the Divine Image in India , I got a sense that "seeing" is about much more than just what wavelengths the rods and cones in our eyes are detecting. The Hindu idea of d arśana  is a much more passive concept than the way I usually think of sight. Instead of something getting looked at by the observer, it is more like the sight is getting broadcast by the thing being seen. To quote Eck, "The deity presents itself to be seen in this image".  I really enjoyed this concept, because it can be applied to more than images of deities or people. One thing I have always tried to do is...