Smells and Bells

Memorable Moments By Calliope Mills ( clip from movie)   There is a quote from the well-known children TV show Phineas and Ferb , (technically the special feature movie, called Across the Second Dimension ) where the main nemesis character, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz, is once again blocked from conducting his “evil” plans and says, “If I had a nickel for everytime I was doomed by a puppet, I’d have two nickels–which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it happened twice”. The format of this quote has come in and out of popularity on social media for users to recount a similar coincidence of their own, whether it was a negative or positive event. I feel that this format is appropriate for describing my taking of this course.  At first when I went to write this blog I was going to say that it was a complete outlier in an area of focus for a college class that I have taken–as it doesn’t align with economics, politics, international relations, spanish, or media–but, then I remembered ...

  Tuning In to the Impossible: The Telepathy of BFF-dom (Kripal and Authors of the Impossible) By Calliope Mills ( source ) Have you ever had a friend so in sync with you that you start finishing each other’s sentences—not occasionally, but all the time? You think of calling them, and they text you first. You’re about to share a thought, and they say it out loud. It’s like you’re operating on the same wavelength, as if an invisible thread connects your minds. To most people, this is just a funny coincidence or a sign of compatibility. But what if it’s more than that? ( source ) In his groundbreaking book Authors of the Impossible , Jeffrey J. Kripal explores the boundary between the known and the unknown—the rational and the mystical. He examines how certain thinkers (like Jacques Vallée, Charles Fort, and others) have dared to take extraordinary experiences seriously: UFO encounters, psychic phenomena, and moments of synchronicity that challenge the materialist worldview. For Krip...

  Sacred Clicks: From Relics to Fidget Cubes (Classen and The Deepest Sense ) By Calliope Mills ( source ) Picture this: You’re in a meeting, your camera off, half-listening while absentmindedly clicking a fidget cube or spinning a little gadget in your hand. It’s become so common that it barely raises an eyebrow anymore. But why do so many of us reach for fidget toys in moments of stillness or stress?  To understand the rise of fidget toys, we need to zoom out to the bigger picture—one that cultural historian Constance Classen lays out in The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch . Among a variety of other topics, Classen explores how the modern world has reshaped our relationship with touch, often limiting and regulating it. Fidget toys, in this light, are more than distractions. They’re symptoms of a tactile hunger in a visually saturated, touch-deprived society. ( source )      As Classen describes throughout her work, touch has been increasingly manage...

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...

The Discipline of Devotion  By Calliope Mills  From Wiki Media Commons       When we think about religious devotion, we often picture moments of quiet reflection, prayer, or spiritual insight. But reading Women, the Recited Qur’an, and Islamic Music in Indonesia by Anne Rasmussen showed me that devotion also looks like repetition, muscle memory, and hours of disciplined practice; sometimes with sound being the cornerstone of it all. Figure 20 from Rasmussen's book        The women Rasmussen writes about aren’t just participating in their faith—they're embodying it through sound. From the precise articulation of Arabic letters to the melodic flow of Qur’anic recitation, every vocal detail matters. Pitch, tone, rhythm, breath—these elements are fine-tuned with the same care as a classical musician rehearsing a complex piece. And just like music, these sounds carry meaning far beyond the words themselves. They express reverence, emotion, an...

Cooking as Devotion: The Religious Practice of Food Preparation (Religion in the Kitchen) By Calliope Mills  Although I would consider myself agnostic and without the ability to slaughter animals, the themes and experiences covered by Elizabeth Peréz covers in Religion in the Kitchen , I find compelling and on the cusp relatable. This is because this text redefines how we think about religious practice. While traditional views often emphasize formal rituals and sacred spaces, Pérez highlights the kitchen as a powerful site of devotion “The kitchen, therefore, is the great sacred laboratory where know-how, faith, respect and physical beauty meet each other for the enchantment of divinities” (Peréz 94). For practitioners of Afro-Cuban Lucumí religion, cooking is far more than a mundane chore—it is an act of spiritual dedication, community building, and cultural preservation. I think this exploration of redefinition also aligns with using “religion” outside of typical,  connotati...

  Sacrifice, not necessarily bloody after all? (The Aroma of Righteousness) Calliope Mills  Personally, the associations I have with incense are related to late nights in rooms where the amount of tapestries on the walls is a fire hazard two times over, and the smokey, spicy, and multifaceted aroma of thinly coated burning wood is working overtime to mask the smell of freshly blazed “mary jane”.   It is also connected to small corner stores that sell gold-plated trinkets and scrolls covered with Tibetan prayers. I also have memories of it in my home, where my mother would light a stick while she was reading in the late evenings, on nights when my dad was off on his own adventure, as his deeply asthmatic lungs cannot cope with the light haze it cast over the downstairs area.  Before encountering the words of Deborah Green or taking part in this class, I would not have put such peaceful and slow images in the same frame as the word “sacrifice”.  This word for me h...