Continuing with the theme of things that assault the senses (music, TV) we are now going to look at how the world stinks.

Imagine 5000 years ago and walking into the Yosemite Valley. Imagine how that might have smelled. You’ll have to imagine it as there is no way in hell you’ll ever get a real sense of it now. The world is one giant chemical stench of industrial chemicals in the form of things like gasoline and road tar and in the form of things like fragrance and beauty products, and it is all-bad.

When my dog rushes up to another dog to greet him/her they engage in an exchange of sniffing. That first action usually causes gasps from the owners but that first 15 seconds tells the dogs so much each other. The smells they pick up tell each other about diet, stress, living conditions, where they have been and mood. In those few seconds their olfactory systems tell them vastly more then the human fist bump, half-hug and secret handshake. And we Human’s used to do the same thing without our noses.

We humans used to be able to smell fear, smell health, smell impending death and even marital status through another’s scent and now all we can smell is toxic waste. In some misguided effort to rid the world of its natural smells we have given everything a scent. Everything needs a scent. Everything needs a signature fragrance. And we just soak ourselves in it simply because marketer’s tell is we have to in order to be human.

When you meet someone now instead of getting know all about them via their unique scent you smell; body wash, shampoo, hair care products, deodorant, chemically created fragrance, chemical scented gum/mint/mouthwash, cigarette smoke, chemicals used to created clothing as well as the chemicals used to create one’s shoes. Yes, when you meet someone you smell that cacophony of vile factory creations and countless other ambient smells depending on where you meet them. And believe it or not it confuses the hell out of you. You can no longer rely on one of your key senses to help you understand the reality around you.

I myself have learned to hate the smell of anything that can be recreated in a factory. The smell of roses in the garden is nice, but the smell of rose scented anything in a can, bottle, cream or candle sends me into a homicidal frenzy. It doesn’t soothe me like the label often says it pisses me off. And that goes for all the rest of the packaged scents designed to make me feel something special.

What confounds me is this: if I sniff glue for fun the cops will arrest me and charge me with a crime. If I load myself up with the standard morning cologne bath and all the rest of the scented beauty products I get the same high! And it’s legal! If I walk into the Bed Bath and Beyond to purchase a frying pan I am stoned out of my gourd 15 seconds after entering into the store, as the chemical smell from the potpourri, candles, soap and all the rest turns my brains into mush. By the time I get to the frying pan section the music has taken what’s left of my will to live.

Try taking a bit of your preferred cologne or perfume and spray a bit on a rag and “huff it” and see how you feel? Take a dryer sheet, hold it up to your face and “huff it” and see how you feel. Does one think that because one isn’t actively huffing the effect of an all day waft is any different?

Every time I leave the house I run the danger of picking up a mass produced scent. A 20-minute chiropractic adjustment can lead to a change of clothes after lying down in someone else’s scent while on the table. I now refuse to enter the Bed Bath and Beyond simply because anything I buy needs to be washed and my clothes do as well. I touched a gas pump handle last week, which led to me touching my face and my steering wheel, which led to me enjoying the benefits of “Polo, by Ralph Lauren,” in my life for the next five hours. One prolific hugger planted a new brand of perfume on me that lead to me having to toss the shirt because I couldn’t get the smell out on my own (there is no dry cleaner in town that provides a scent free cleaning – none). Sure it all sounds a bit prissy of me, until you understand how all of this scenting of the planet affects your consciousness expression.

This need to scent everything is a crime against humanity and it is turning people into zombies. Scents have a huge effect on the ability to express our consciousness. When I was in college I would take a scent and use a hint of it to associate it to the information I was studying. Then come test time all I needed to do was put a dab under my nose and could remember what I needed to. Even to this day, if I smell the now chemical version of Aramis Cologne I think of my parents going out for a night out. If I smell the smell of brandy on someone’s breath I think of my father being an ass… well you get the idea there. A hint of garden mint reminds me of my grandmother and her yard. Ms. Fields was made famous by gently blowing the scent of the cookies into the mall, enticing customers. Our sense of smell is no joke and marketers know that.

Scent is important and our ability to smell the world around us is important. The world now is some Disneyland of synthetic chemicals, which absolutely changes our ability to perceive. They affect our mood, they cloud our judgment and they do everything but make us feel better. I suggested once to a client that breathing in dryer sheet smell all day was causing some mental confusion and the response was that people loved the way she smelled, as they often described her as smelling as “fresh and clean.” What in the name of everything ever created as led people to think the smell of dryer sheet is “fresh” let alone “clean?” While working with clients many would come to home and leave their mass produced fragrance in my house, leaving my unique home smelling like one of millions. Even worse, quite often the scent was so overwhelming that it made my work so much harder as I needed to battle they effects of the chemicals on my brain.

Some corporate fairy has run around the planet spreading scent all over the world in an effort to rid the world of that oh so offensive, “absence of fragrance.” While in Yosemite I enjoyed the smell of pine coupled with the smell of dryer sheet, the smell of water with the smell of Eternity by CK, the smell of diesel fuel with the smell of millions year old granite. In my mind I was simply overwhelmed by the conflict these scents were having on me and it wasn’t fun.

Soaps of every sort need a scent. Why does dish soap need a scent? Every room needs a scent? Every store needs a scent? Every car needs a scent car that gives the car that new car scent? Every holiday needs a scent? Every shampoo needs a scent? Every human needs a chemical scent on them at all times? Every candle needs a scent, which, when burned, creates some other horrifying chemically scented toxic fume? Next time you are out go into any drug store, any Bed Bath and Beyond even a Super Market and stop what you are doing and smell, breath it all in.

On of the most depressing parts of this is that once some folks did create things with real, genuine artistic fragrance. Many years ago I had a friend that made custom fragrances. She came over and smelled me, yes my skin - me, and put together something that didn’t cover me up and was a true artistic creation. Now some marketing guy contacts a globochem company and says, “gimme a scent to sell this damn candle” and one is rushed to them without regard to the end users consciousness expression. This kind of effort diminishes the true artistry of those who can craft something with soul. This ubiquitous scent thing has me disliking almost anything with smell at all at this point, as even those with some “spiritual” method seem to be just adding to the pile.

The worst part of all of this is we have lost the ability to smell others. Will a baby coated in baby wipe smell, diaper smell, dryer sheet smell and baby soap smell be able to smell his mom? Will a mother be able to smell when her child is sick? If your mom was in a line up with other moms could you pick her out by smell? Could you pick out your mate by smell or is your makes smell one of the CK signature perfumes? I know I have been so conditioned that the smell of another, without perfume, can annoy me. My mother is remembered by me for Este Lauder’s “White Linen” and not her personal scent.

Be aware how scent can alter the way you perceive your reality. Hours of breathing cigarette smoke is an obvious mind altering experience but so is breathing hours of perfume, or gasoline, or candle, or dryer sheet or anything else that is designed to stimulate the brain.

Tags: scent soul senses