Smells and Bells

Our sense of sight is the primary sense in which we as humans use. We move from one place to another because, for the most part, our vision guides us. In many religious faith the sense of sight is a gateway to the divine. In ancient rome and other pagan societies, statues and images were build in order for people to see the divine. They would then worship the images because they represented god to them. An important aspect of the hindu faith is in the art of making sculptures to represent their gods. Similar to the pagan religions they then bow down to the images and pray to them for their blessings. I think that in terms of the artistic work, the sculptures and statues are breathtaking and a society that harvests such artistic creations are to be admired. Vision is so important to society that we base some of our discourse and metaphors around our ability to see. For example, often when people are ignorant or uneducated we refer to them as blind, not in the literal, physical  fo...

Our sense of touch is by far the most "full" of our sense. By the word full i mean that the organ associated with and known for being the primary tool for our being able to touch and feel is the skin, the largest organ in the human body. Without our ability to feel, hugs, kisses, even sex, one of the most primal and greatest of human desires, would almost be useless. While the associations we make with hugs, kisses and so on, as a society, namely the feeling loved and loving, might still remain but the actual pleasantness of the feeling would erode. The interconnectedness that our sense of touch allows us to experience is remarkable, for whatever it is that we touch, touches us back. Like all of our sense, some things are pleasant experiences while others are not so pleasant. In the case of touch, pain and physical suffering, are the downside to being able to feel. One, i imagine, would rather not feel the sting of burn from a hot stove. If the only advantage of feeling pai...

Sound and the ability to hear sound is the most  fascinating of all of our senses to me. According to the music in hearing in islam i was able to recognize the different tones and rhythmic beats, its clear that each song and recital had a purpose and meaning. For example, in my own religion and church during song service we have different songs for different purposes. When we are giving praise we often incorporate the use of drums and up tempo music. Whereas, if we are worshiping we would tend not to incorporate the use of drums, and use slower and mellow music, the lyrics are often similar in terms of etymology. In the bible when and ancient times when people went to war they would use the drums as part of their culture. Comparatively,  the music that the muslims sang were all similar as they were different. It was evident that they were reciting word from the Qu'ran but it was equally clear that the contexts were different, one at mosque, the other performing and so on. The ...

In the article second gate translated by professor Jonathan Brumberg-Kraus we see that food is in many way sacred and we would do well for us to contemplate on its value and appropriation. The thought that food has an end to which we must consider is one that surrounds pious discourse. In many religions for example we are taught to pray before, for a dual purpose. The first obligation is to thank God for he is the ultimate provider of the food we eat. The second is a prayer of faith that God will bless the meal and may nourish the body. According to the same article one purpose of eating is  annihilation,  kilayon,   of the thing being eaten in so far as it, the thing being eaten, is being turned into waste.  As we have seen in the bible and other holy scriptures, God is often being compared to taste, such as "taste the Lord and see that he is sweet." The idea here is that sweetness our most pleasant of tastes is what God is like, like the best experience we can ha...

In the article Aroma of Righteousness the author, Deborah Green prefaces her argument that smell by nature is fleeting and elusive. So two things stand true that we then have a yearning for pleasant and enjoyable smells and a repulsion towards those that are not. So given that smells are always coming and going we have a tendency to gravitate that which is pleasant. i then question what exactly is a good or pleasant smell and what evolutionary and religious purpose does it serve us to have it. I speculate that at a foundation level our sense of smell help us determine to some degree or another what is pleasant in the tangible world. for example, the smell of roses and flowers blooming often are pleasant smells. objectively, people often find similar things to be a pleasant smell, however, the different social associations made vary from cultures. However, some argue that a given culture or society can collectively change their perspective on a particularly smell. That is to say, sme...

The idea that humanity is capable of perception beyond the empirical ones, sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch, is one the pervades and questions our beliefs about the world. The belief in a sixth sense that perceives that which our other senses fail to recognize exist to some degree or another in both secular and religious discourse. you need not be a theist to believe in human's capacity to exercise their sixth sense, however, depending on your beliefs you may perceive the cosmology, origin, and teleology, purpose, of the sixth sense differently. In the Judeo-Christian traditions we learn that man was once capable of a sixth sense and that involved their ability to see and, beforehand, interact with spiritual beings who now reside in heavenly places. moreover, since the fall of man our connections to the spiritual world was strongly severed and our 6th sense was extremely weakened as well. Consider for instance how damage to the body can weaken and sometimes destroy any one of ...