Smells and Bells

  Web Blog Sensory Interpretation Blog Prompt or 6? 5 senses... Welcome!  Here is the Web post  Assignment for our class, and general guidelines for what to include in your posts Sensory Interpretation Web Blog Posts  (6 posts on each of the senses, 5% each, plus one summarizing blog post the last week of class 10%, for a total of 40%).  Short reflection writing assignments to be posted on a blog set up specifically for this class  here . Students will "log" what they are learning about the relationship between the senses and "religious" experience throughout the term, and be able to comment on one another's questions and insights.  You should make at least 7 posts, @one every two weeks. Make sure you have one post each tagged with "taste", "smell", "hearing", "sight", "touch" or "6th sense."  To assure you will get credit for covering each of the six senses in your blog posts, edit them to make sure th...

Magic is a word that has many different meanings among different people. Commonly in the past anything that was not understood was referred to as magic. Back before modern medicine or chemistry these practices were believed to be forms of magic. In David Abram's book The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More Than Human World he writes, "we no longer describe the shamans' enigmatic spirit-helpers as the 'superstitious claptrap of heathen primitives' - we have cleansed ourselves of at least that much ethnocentrism; yet we still refer to such enigmatic forces, respectfully now, as 'supernaturals' - for we are unable to shed the sense, so endemic to scientific civilization, of nature as a rather prosaic and predictable realm, unsuited to such mysteries" (Abram, 1996). (CC0) In the past the attitude that people had towards those who had practices that were different were often misunderstood. Within Europe these people were often...

I wasn't sure about how I wanted to finish the blog posts for this course, so I decided to spend some time with my senses and just share some observations. It is a sunny evening and so I figured it would be perfect to sit outside and reflect on what I have learned over the course of this semester. Smell : The smell of nature is difficult to describe, but there is definitely a smell. I don't know if I can put the smells of nature into words, but I feel like there is a slight smell in the air after a snow or rain storm or in the morning when there is still dew on the grass. Ackerman states that "nothing is more memorable than a smell" and I couldn't agree more (Ackerman, 5). When I thought about the smell of nature it made me immediately think about mornings walking to the bus stop as a kid after it had snowed and there was always a fresh smell in the air. Taste : I don't know if there is a specific taste that I notice right now as I sit on the porch, but ...

I have never seen the movie "The Sixth Sense", but by watching the trailer it seems like a movie about the paranormal world and I find this really interesting. Even during some of our class discussions it seems like a lot of people's perception of the sixth sense has a paranormal connection. I have never considered this definition of the sixth sense, but I also have never spent much time thinking about what the sixth sense is. I feel like people's definition of the sixth sense is based upon their perception of previous experiences. Perhaps if I had a very powerful experience relating to sensing a ghost, then I would be more likely to form my definition of the sixth sense based upon that experience. Instead of the paranormal, the first thing that comes to mind when trying to place a finger on the sixth sense is that "gut feeling" experience. This gut feeling, intuition, instincts or whatever you choose to call it, is really important to some people, includ...

Growing up, I used to always hear people talking about what their heart says or what their head says and which one they should listen to. I used to try to figure out what that meant and which one I should listen to. When I was little and faced with the difficult choices a six-year-old might face, I tried to think of what my heart would want and what my brain would want. My heart might want that piece of chocolate, but my brain knows that the extra piece might make me feel sick. Later on in life, I figured out I don’t really tend to listen to my heart or to my head. Instead, I trust my instinct. One might call it a “gut feeling” or my “sixth sense.”   I am very passionate about my gut always being right. I always trust my gut feeling even when that “feeling” is mild. Why? Because when my brain is going 5,000 miles per hour and is distracted through the other five senses, my gut is there to guide it. Some people might say that my gut and brain are the same things, but I t...

Web Blog Sensory Interpretation Blog Prompt or 6? 5 senses... Sensory Interpretation Web Blog Posts  (6 posts on each of the senses, 5% each, plus one summarizing blog post the last week of class 10%, for a total of 40%).  Short reflection writing assignments to be posted on a blog set up specifically for this class  here . Students will "log" what they are learning about the relationship between the senses and "religious" experience throughout the term, and be able to comment on one another's questions and insights.  You should make at least 7 posts, @one every two weeks. Make sure you have one post each tagged with "taste", "smell", "hearing", "sight", "touch" or "6th sense."  To assure you will get credit for covering each of the six senses in your blog posts, edit them to make sure they have these tags.   Also among your 7 or more posts you should respond specifically to ...