Smells and Bells

As we were talking about connections in class I couldn’t help thinking about how much of a social creature humans are and how we need connections to survive. Human beings would not be able to survive if they didn’t have connections.  This relates back to when Diane Ackerman talked about how nurtured babies turn out better than ones that aren’t. Babies are taught how to make connections since birth, this is because it enables them to survive. Having social connections allows humans to reproduce, hunt, and protect themselves.  There was also the question of if the need for the connection comes first or finding the connection. I believe that the need for the connection comes first because they need it for survival. Humans are constantly on the lookout for connections because that is how we evolved.  I’m not sure about connections to nature or God, but I think that comes from the need to feel like you’re a part of something and that you’re included in the w...

In our society, touch and the desire to be touched get a bit of a bum wrap. However, touch in general and the touching of others serves very important social functions. In her book, Ackerman talked about how sight in infants remains undeveloped for a fairly long time, which means that the very important realization that a separation exists between the self and anything else is formed by touch. Before they know anything else, babies learn that their bodies take up space and learn that other objects take up space too. However, to these babies who have very little understanding beyond what they feel, the caregiver that feeds, protects, and touches them is inseparable from the rest of the outside world. To them, the outside world is protection. Upon growing, and gaining a more full understanding of the world around them, people realize that it is not the outside world that protects them, but others who care for them. The early lesson, however, that touch is safety, is h...

Religion in itself is a set of guidelines for proper behavior within society, family and friends and even in our most intimate relationships.   Religion, regardless of which one, provides us with stories and reasoning to follow specific guidelines and the consequences that will ensue from not following these guidelines.   Religion also provides the answers to the most difficult questions that cannot be satisfactorily answered by science and it gives its followers the feeling of belonging and reason to exit. What Happens When, like religion, carried a message of guidelines involving our behavior towards sexual encounters and activity occurring on this college campus. Like religion, it provided a story with a narrative that we could all relate to and apply to our own behavior and experiences. And, like religion it explained the consequences that result from behavior that does not follow the specific guidelines for sexual activity without consent.    ...