Gabriela Cociasi, The Smell of My Thought by LIVENESS

The

smell of my

thought

Extracts from Gabriela Cociasi, The Smell of my Thought: How Kodo Can Make Galactic Collisions in My Odorous Brain

Dissertation Studio 11 Le Marteau Sans Maître Tutor: Joseph Kohlmaier

School of Art, Architecture and Design London Metropolitan University 2021

Gabriela Cociasi

The smell of my thought How Kodo can make galactic collisions in my odorous brain

Dissertation Studio 11, Le Marteau Sans Maître Tutor: Joseph Kohlmaier Student: 18014884

Contents

Abstract. On methodology … p. 4 1. Introduction: The importance of breath, the life itself … p. 7 The dirty spot that makes me breathe - the first sign of brain Autumn. Maturation and the price he pays for it 2. The conflict: Critical theory of the smell … p. 11 Philosophical concepts that detach us from our olfactory qualities Spring. The romance of reconciliation 3. The acme: How to pattern Existence by smelling … p. 21 Etymological redolence Summer. The account of retribution. His world disintegrates 4. Conclusion: Understand the smell of my thought as social encounter … p. 28 Dialogue with my intergalactic brain Winter. Final stage of decline. The collision of senses. All new Prologue ... p. 31 Image Bibliography ... p. 33 Bibliography … p. 34

1. Introduction

The importance of breath, the life itself The dirty spot that makes me breathe - the first sign of brain

Autumn. Maturation and the price he pays for it Third year of Empress Suiko (595CE). Japan positioned at the eastern side of the Silk Road. Pragmatic drifting of a log of incense coming from China through Korea. Otherwise expensive, luxurious items, used by Buddhist monks for keeping time.The Tale of Genji (Wikipedia, 2020)

In the simple narrative of perception, our sense of simplicity is essential. We are at our core, a simple thing, a simple cellular form, multiplied and advanced in capabilities of developing within a context. Adapt. And each of that simple cell is interconnected with the next one, eliminating the gaps that civilization is imposing between societies. And what does that have to do with smell? It is smell. Life depends on breath. It is Universal, continuous until it isn't anymore. Breathing is a symbol of life, and through centuries people developed the need to enhance every breath they have by engaging with smell. And most times, not with their own. But a mirroring one, one that can adjust all the senses through synaesthesia. Smelling you completes my smell in the same way Oxygen completes the chemical formula of water. In the very way the two Hydrogen atoms complete the same formula. What we observe and smell around us is what we have within and at the same time missing. As Gallese points out3: 'The discovery of mirror neurons and of other mirroring mechanisms in the human brain shows that the very same neural substrates are activated when […] expressive acts are both executed and perceived. Thus, we have a neurally instantiated we-centric space' (Gallese 2010).

Neuroscientific research made by Vittorio Gallese that stays at the base of understanding the functionality of mirror neurons;

4.Conclusion

Understand the smell of my thought as a social encounter. Dialogue with my intergalactic brain

Winter. The final stage of decline. The collision of senses. All new 'Aroma is something no one understands. You and I both sense it differently. Kodo Ceremonies are for listening to good incense' (Bauer, 2017)

Gathered in a room, on tatami mats. Breathe the incense coming from the fragrant wood resting on a mica plate anchored on heated charcoals. Now 'listen' (kiku) to the smell. The moment you breathe, the odour emanated; the brain deciphers the components of the smell. The brain stems, connecting the brain to the spinal cord. Controlling our breathing. The same connections and movement as between galaxies in Laniakea, the Galaxy super-cluster that is the home of the Milky Way. 'In Kodo, ashes are arranged in the center to heat the aromatic wood and draw out it's scent. A heated piece of charcoal is placed in the center of the burner, then an ash pressing tool is used to form a low mound. The cone shape insures the right degree of heat is applied to the wood. A metal chop stick is used to give it a beautiful finish. A suber rimmed micro plate is placed on the tip of the mound and pieces of Alowswood only of few milimetres in size are set on top. The burner is lifted up and the right hand is cupped over it's rimm. After inhaling deeply one lightly exhale to the side. This is repeated three times. If you listen with all 5 senses in focus a world opens up for you to enjoy at your leaisure.' (Bauer, 2017) To be able to train olfaction and thoughts we have to understand if smell fits into consciousness or unconsciousness. Or both. As most of the times we are not aware of our environment and the odour molecules that floats in. Some would say that these stimuli are only unconsciously perceived.

Smith (2017) approves Keller19 in saying that ‘Odor stimuli induce desires, emotions, and physiological responses that make us respond to smells in automatic ways’ but also that ‘Instead, of thinking of smell as mostly unconscious, we could think of it as providing the background to consciousness, being unattended but modulating our experience moment to moment.’ (Smith, 2017) In a 2018 interview for the Scientific American, Peter Carruthers, an expert in empirical psychology and cognitive neuroscience, explains to the editor Steve Ayan20 that 'I claim that consciousness is always bound to a sensory modality… All kinds of mental imagery, such as inner speech or visual memory, can of course be conscious. We see things in our mind's eye; we hear our inner voice. What we are conscious of are the sensory-based contents present in working memory.' (Ayan, 2018) At the same time, in our level of consciousness, the experience of smelling creates thoughts. There are certain smells that the brain rejects and instructs the nose to respond appropriately. Researchers from the Weizmann Institute in Israel tested this idea and realised the shallow sniffing response to stench is involuntary but 'indicates minimal consciousness in accordance with clinical uses of the term.' (Barwich, 2020) Barwich (2020) makes the link between smell and consciousness through a simple connection with the historical smelling salt capsules, made of alcohol and ammonia that had a role in enlivening people from fainting or bringing them back to a conscious, astute state of mind from unconsciousness. As an analogy to the theme, Barwich brings into the discussion one of Rembrandt's earliest paintings made as part of the series of Five Senses painted in Leiden: The Unconscious Patient (Allegory of Smell).

Human Olfaction, Crossmodal Perception, and Consciousness is an article review made by Barry C. Smith to Keller, A. and Macmillan, P. (eds.). 2016. Philosophy of Olfactory Perception. Andreas Keller is an expert on the human sense of smell. He holds a Ph.D. in genetics from the Julius-Maximilian-University in Wuerzburg, Germany and a Ph.D. in philosophy from The City University of New York (CUNY). He is the 2019 recipient of the Barry Jacobs Memorial Award for Research in the Psychophysics of Human Taste and Smell and the author of The Philosophy of Olfactory Perception. (Andreas Keller, "Olfaction & Experiential Authenticity" | The Cooper Union, 2020) 20 Peter Carruthers, Distinguished University Professor of Philosophy at the University of Maryland, College Park, is an expert on the philosophy of mind who draws heavily on empirical psychology and cognitive neuroscience. He outlined many of his ideas on conscious thinking in his 2015 book The Centered Mind: What the Science of Working Memory Shows Us about the Nature of Human Thought. More recently, in 2017, he published a paper with the astonishing title of “The Illusion of Conscious Thought.” In the following excerpted conversation, Carruthers explains to editor Steve Ayan the reasons for his provocative proposal. 19

Prologue I have a concrete thought formulated into an abstract form. This thought is divided into dozen other thoughts, like the leaves of a fern, like veins and venules growing from and through and for the midrib to exist. My thought is now a concept, an idea, a map of knowledge, an assortment of brain processes, an opinion, a judgement, is analysis. My thought is the smell of conscious unconsciousness. At this moment, in my conscious state, I am a priori in the impossibility to freely feel the smell of my thought. It is irrational to speak about free will in perceiving an odour if the elements, the odorants, are strongly obscured in my unconsciousness. But at the same time, the unconscious mind is still viewed by many psychological scientists as a 'shadow of a "real" conscious mind, though there now exists substantial evidence that the unconscious is not identifiably less flexible, complex, controlling, deliberative, or action-oriented than is its counterpart'; this bias, according to Bargh and Morsella (2008) stays within cognitive psychology and parallels the unconscious with subliminal. Moreover, a subliminal scent which is an odour that cannot be consciously detected but gets to influence our consciousness through new thoughts, means that the theoretical non-spatiality of odour is invalidated. If we do not see it, it still exists. A substance releases molecules, odour particles into the air. They are diffused, move freely in all directions and enter our nose. Our olfactory receptors detect them and actions the olfactory bulb where the odour is computed. There is an object, a substance and molecules. Exists. Takes up space. Also, takes up the space already occupied by molecules in our odour memory and emotions. Is perceived due to patterns and improved and enlarged due to possible molecular novelty. Changes our perspective over what we thought the smell represents. On a biological level, when smelling the apple I am now holding in my hand, I actually interact with a combination of ester molecules. In organic chemistry esters21 are carbon bound to three other atoms. However, if one more carbon molecule is added, I am now looking at a pineapple that my hand holds. It smells accordingly. As stated by Bintinger (2018) 'Banana, pears, peaches etc share this common functional groups, Esters. A smell is never composed of one single aroma or one compound, it is a huge mixture.'

Esters | Introduction to Chemistry, n.d.

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