Smells and Bells

I thought it was very interesting in  Constance Classen's The Deepest Sense: A Cultural History of Touch, that he spend time discussing the environment of the houses that people in the dark ages. In particular I really enjoyed the description of beds, simply because they were so vastly different from ours. looking back at all of the rough textures of the past it makes us modern day people look like wimps. I think that without all of those rough textures our skin and our receptors in our skin are probably alot more sensitive. I also wonder how different their brains would be, would the area of the brain related to touch be larger or smaller? He mentions that they way that people heated their homes was with fire. The rooms would be filled with smoke from the fire place and make everything they own smell like smoke. I personally love the smell of firewood and its very noticeable to me. After awhile I bet they couldn't even smell it anymore. Does that...

​ “That with this new sensibility comes to view itself as an isolated intelligence located inside the material body can only be understood in relation to the forgetting of the air, to the forgetting of this sensuous but unseen medium that continually flows in and out of the breathing body, binding the subtle depths within us to the fathomless depths that surround us.” ​ This particular quote stood out to be because it reminded be of meditation.  There are two major types of meditation that peo ple typically practice.  First, sometimes people meditate by focusing on one particular thing or object and nothing else. The second type of meditation reminds me of the above quote, and involves freeing one’s mind from the body and the senses that connects us to the external world.  It is an extremely difficult task, and the easiest way to begin is to focus on breathing.  Since many of us have been using our senses to interpret and experience the world we live in our entire...

​ No matter what language you speak, everyone in the world uses their language to describe their interactions with their external environment.  They also use their language to describe the thoughts that are going on their minds.  Regardless of the language we speak, we can all have very similar, if not the same, experiences as those who speak different languages then us.  People have filled their languages with tons of extremely vivid and descriptive words in order to be able to accurately portray their experiences to one another.  According to the author, “ Our own languages are continuously nourished by these other voices- by the roar of waterfalls and the humming of crickets.  For the sound that unites all these words is that which the water itself chants as it flows between the banks.  If human language arises from the perceptual interplay between the body and the world, then language belongs to the landscape as much as it belongs to ourselves. ” ...

​ After reading this literature I became particularly interested in how the sensory world has changed over time.  In fact, the view of the self as changed immensely over the years.  In the early renaissance period, individuals developed their identities through the social networks that they were a part of.  Today, the view of the self is much more individualistic and people are encouraged to be unique in their own ways.  In the reading the author discussed of many technological developments that occurred over time that enhanced societies’ ability to incorporate all of the senses in education.  For example, when the printer was invented, people were able  to visually see information printed on a piece of paper.  Also, when eyeglasses were introduced to the public, those with poor eyesight were now able to participate in the classroom.  It is important for educators to incorporate all the five senses into the curriculum.  Many classes already ...

​ I’ve always been told throughout my life that those who lose one of their senses typically gain strength in each of their remaining senses.  After reading this chapter on smell, I became particularly fascinated by Helen Keller and her sense of smell.  Since she was unable to see and hear,  her remaining three senses, especially scent, became exceptionally stronger.  In the book, Helen Keller stated,  “The sense of smell has told me of a coming storm hours before there was any sign of it visible.  I notice first a throb of expectancy, a slight quiver, a concentration in my nostrils.  As the storm draws near my nostrils dilate, the better to receive the flood of earth odors which seem to multiply and extend, until I feel the splash of rain against my cheek.” ​ It is hard to imagine anyone with this particular ability and mastery of a specific sense.  Interestingly enough, she was able to somehow adapt to her lost senses by reinforcing her other...

This book did a great job at illustrating all of the senses that humans possess by exploring how individuals explore and experience the world through these different types of observation.  I like how her book describes the scientific and subjective experiences of the senses.  Ackerman accurately describes the anatomy of our brain and how we process sound waves, light waves, etc.  Furthermore, she explains how even though people process this information the same way scientifically, we all share different subjective experiences and feelings about the information we perceive.  The part about hearing really interested me because of my love and awareness for music.  Although every individual experiences music through sound waves, music impacts each individual differently.  Music is known to have physical, emotional, cognitive, social, and therapeutic impacts on individuals.          ...

​ It is nighttime on the planet Earth.  But that is only a whim of nature, a result of our planet rolling in space at 1,000 miles per minute.  What we call night is the time we spend facing the secret reaches of space, where other solar systems and, perhaps, other planetarians dwell.  Don’t think of the night as the absence of day; think of it as a kind of freedom.  Turned away from our sun, we see the dawning of far-flung galaxies. ​ As you can imagine, this quote in the chapter on vision caught my attention because it gives you a cool, different perspective on night and day that I personally have never thought about.  Also, it paints a picture in my head about how vast the universe really is.  As we spend our daily lives we focus our attention on objects that are very close in distance.  For example, we normally look at our laptops, cell phone, friends, the car in front of us, etc.  Rarely do we look at the night sky and get a good glimpse of...