Continued...
How
much of ourselves can we smell? With enough flexibility we may smell our feet,
but otherwise we are limited to a rather small area around our face and the
parts of our arms and hands we are able to bring close to our noses. We have
the opinion of how we should smell “I showered, I put on deodorant, and I wore
clean clothing.” We may use worn clothing, or other people’s reactions, as a
“mirror” to reflect our aroma back to ourselves, especially after strenuous
activity. The clothing has its own distortions created by the scent of the
detergent, cologne, or aromas we may have passed through. The scent we smell
then passes through our opinion filter again “that’s nice, when did I pass by a
bakery?” This double filter and distortion is again what determines possible
actions and decisions “perhaps the socks should not be worn a second time, and
my feet need to be washed. When I go out tonight I’m wearing that deodorant
again.” Overall though we are never able to sense the total aroma, only to
smell fairly small portions of ourselves, although after a long hot day it is
most likely a blessing that our feet and noses are so far apart.
Taste
is very similar a sense to smell, especially in the way of perceiving and
experiencing our own. Whatever area we can smell we can taste. Whatever the
method to experience the aroma of another part of ourselves we cannot reach
with our noses, that’s the method of experiencing the taste. While we can smell
clothing to get an idea of our own scent, I would venture to say that there is
no need to taste worn socks though. And as we still can taste only a small
portion of ourselves, the opinions and distortions are still present and we are
still unable to experience our total taste.
As
we use our five senses to sense ourselves and the world around us, we also have
our sense of feelings acting as yet another sense to provide us information
about ourselves and our surroundings. As a sudden unexpected wave of emotion
washes over us, what sensory input caused it, and were we even aware of how we
were feeling? What feeling did we project to have the feeling we perceived
reflected back to us? The “opinion distorted-reflection opinion” filter remains
firmly in place. “If I smile at the receptionist, they will be friendlier with
me.” The receptionist may be distorted, or in other words frustrated, by days
of not being treated like a human being and the smile produces a stronger
reflection “you don’t have an appointment, but I’ll be able to squeeze you in
for a five minute meeting.” The reflection then passes through the opinions
again “it must be because I am so charming.” The same way we try to project a
certain image by choosing the clothes we wear or the mannerism with which we
speak, and receive a certain reflection from the people around us. This holds
true for the feelings or emotions we project, and have reflected back to us.
The pattern seems to repeat for all of our perceptions of ourselves, and the
reflections seem to be the only way to really perceive ourselves.
To be continued...
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