WEBVTT - Incense, Part 1 0:00:03.040 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to stuff to blow your mind. Production of my 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:14.800 heart radio. Hey you, welcome to stuff to blow your mind. 0:00:14.880 --> 0:00:18.040 My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick and 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:20.840 we're about to venture into, I think, a couple of 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:25.439 episodes on the topic of incense and I was looking 0:00:25.480 --> 0:00:28.160 around for some fun quotes related to incense and we're 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:31.320 gonna get to some fun quotes and some mystical quotes 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:35.360 related to incense, but I was really enraptured by a 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:39.960 particular quote from Shaquille O'Neal uh, Shack himself, uh, that 0:00:40.040 --> 0:00:45.879 I read without any initial context. The quote is incense books. 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:50.760 Just weird, which which raises so many questions, especially since 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:53.640 I really don't know a whole lot about about sports 0:00:53.640 --> 0:00:56.160 and the life of shack and so forth. I I 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:59.520 played shack Fou the the old video game back in 0:00:59.560 --> 0:01:02.960 the day, the first one, but outside of just shacks 0:01:03.000 --> 0:01:08.440 General Um ever present media power and his appearance all 0:01:08.800 --> 0:01:11.320 throughout media, I don't know much about him. Uh. So 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:12.920 I had to research this one a little bit and 0:01:13.080 --> 0:01:16.000 not certain, but I think this is a quote from 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.919 shack talking about his former coach Phil Jackson. I believe 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.840 the situation is that during the early two thousand's, Jackson 0:01:23.840 --> 0:01:26.880 would have the Lakers meditate before their games, and I 0:01:26.920 --> 0:01:30.720 think he also assigned various texts for his players to read. 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:33.600 So maybe our basketball fan listeners out there can chime 0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:36.840 in on this topic. Oki Doki, I have absolutely nothing 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:41.000 to offer here. I know I have almost zero shack knowledge. 0:01:41.480 --> 0:01:44.960 So we've discussed the human mastery of Fire Multiple Times 0:01:44.959 --> 0:01:48.360 on the podcast. How it enabled us to externalize our 0:01:48.360 --> 0:01:51.720 digestion and master cooking, how it enabled us to illuminate 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:55.080 the dark and somewhat free ourselves from the shackles of night, 0:01:55.640 --> 0:01:58.480 how it enabled us to master the use of minerals 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:02.080 and ultimately venture into the world of Alchymy and chemistry. Now, 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:04.480 on the subject of smoke itself. We have discussed the 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:08.440 use of smoke in long distance communication, but the use 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:12.920 of incense, the burning of specific biotic materials to produce 0:02:13.000 --> 0:02:17.160 pleasing and or masking fragrances, as well as the visual 0:02:17.200 --> 0:02:19.679 splendor of smoke, this is an area I don't think 0:02:19.680 --> 0:02:22.600 we've really considered before. So what? What? What got you 0:02:22.639 --> 0:02:26.840 going on, incense man? I think interestingly enough, I was 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.080 on the front porch. It had gotten cool enough to 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:32.960 work outside, have my laptop out there, but I had 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:38.720 some Anti Mosquito UH incense burning. Not not the spiral 0:02:38.800 --> 0:02:40.360 kind that will reference in a bit, but one of 0:02:40.400 --> 0:02:44.800 these more modern situations where you have a little gas 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:47.239 pod that's put in the bottom of the machine and 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:50.520 then you have a little cab that has a certain 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.720 chemicals on it that you slide in and then that 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:58.800 Burns and it creates uh, some nice, pleasant looking whiffs 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.320 of of Grace Molk that also keep the mosquitoes at 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:05.080 bay at least a little bit. So one thing I 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.840 gotta Start With an addressing incense uh is that I 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:14.440 mistakenly used to think that incense was one unique substance, 0:03:14.520 --> 0:03:17.720 like it was the product of one plant or something, 0:03:18.639 --> 0:03:21.280 but apparently that's not true and it's also not a 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:25.880 consistent recipe for a combination of products that that applies 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.359 to all incense around the world. Instead, I think we 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:32.040 should say incense is a class of substances right. It's 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:36.280 like any organic material or combination of organic materials that 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:40.520 you burn in order to release a fragrant smoke. So 0:03:40.600 --> 0:03:42.720 what goes in your incense and one culture might be 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:45.440 totally different than what goes in in another and and 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:49.160 even within a culture you might use different substances. That's right. Yeah, 0:03:49.240 --> 0:03:52.960 various traditions will have different blends, different materials and yeah, 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.320 sometimes you're talking about, uh, some sort of dried substances, 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:59.080 other times it's formed into an incense stick. Certainly we 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:02.560 have cones. Uh, they're also oiled. I mean there's a 0:04:02.560 --> 0:04:06.720 a wide spectrum of substances, though I would say generally 0:04:06.760 --> 0:04:10.280 we're taught not talking about things that are intended to 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:16.040 be directly inhaled. Generally we're talking more about an ambiance 0:04:16.360 --> 0:04:19.919 in a room, though they of course, are gonna end 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:21.840 up inhaling some of that, but it is contributing to 0:04:21.880 --> 0:04:24.560 the atmosphere. It is not, uh, something that one is 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:30.080 necessarily consuming, right. So the English word incense traces back 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:33.920 through the French to the late Latin Word Incense Um, 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:36.320 just meaning that which is burned. It's a thing that 0:04:36.360 --> 0:04:39.400 you burn, and this is related to the Latin verb incendiary, 0:04:39.839 --> 0:04:42.599 which means to set something on fire, to light on fire. 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:46.080 So it's something that you burn to produce an aromatic smoke, 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:49.919 especially a sweet smoke, according to a lot of early sources. 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.359 So while incense is a class of substances. Uh. There 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:59.880 are some specific plant products that are especially significant in 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:03.720 the history of the incense trade, and a couple that 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:06.200 really stand out to me because of, you know, all 0:05:06.240 --> 0:05:09.720 my received Bible stories as a child. I think will 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.000 be familiar to many other listeners. This would be the 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.520 references to incense in the story of the birth of 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.040 Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew. So in this story 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:21.600 it says that when Jesus was born, uh there were 0:05:21.600 --> 0:05:24.600 wise men, that this is a translation of the Latin 0:05:24.880 --> 0:05:29.279 Magi or the Greek Meg Oi, wise men bringing three 0:05:29.279 --> 0:05:32.240 gifts to honor the birth of Jesus, that they show 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:37.159 up and these gifts are gold, frankincense and myrrh. Now, 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:38.400 first of all I want to do one of my 0:05:38.440 --> 0:05:42.480 little patented uh Joe McCormick Bible fact drops. Did you 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.839 know that the Bible does not actually say there were 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:49.200 three wise men? The story of the wise men bringing 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.240 gifts uh at the birth of Jesus appears only in 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.880 the Gospel of Matthew. And here's what it says. So 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:57.720 this is from the N RSV quote. In the time 0:05:57.760 --> 0:06:00.320 of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Beth him 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:04.200 of Judea Magi from the east came to Jerusalem, asking 0:06:04.279 --> 0:06:06.240 where is the child who has been born the king 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:08.520 of the Jews, for we observed his star in the 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:12.280 East and have come to pay him homage. So that's it. 0:06:12.279 --> 0:06:15.400 It's just Maji, just a plural. Nown now there has 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:18.159 been an ocean of ink spilled over how best to 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.320 interpret the word Magi. Who did the author have in 0:06:21.400 --> 0:06:24.240 mind when the story was written? The theory that seems 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:26.520 most convincing to me is that this is probably a 0:06:26.560 --> 0:06:32.279 reference to Ptarthian or Persian Zoroastrian priests who were thought 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.520 to be very adept at reading portents in the stars, 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:39.839 which is why the word Magi is sometimes translated as astrologers. 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.120 But anyway, that's all it says. Says Magi came or 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:46.360 MEG OI came. Uh, not how many of them there were, 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.200 but the traditional interpretation that there were three of them 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:51.320 is probably derived from the fact that it does say 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.480 they brought three gifts, and those gifts again are gold, 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.839 frankinsence and murder. So we know what gold is, but 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:01.039 what are those other two things? Well, actual relief, Frankincense 0:07:01.240 --> 0:07:06.080 and Mr are both types of incense. They are resins 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:09.920 or chunks of hardened gum or sap from two different 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:14.720 types of related trees in the Burceray C I family 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:18.320 uh and the Burceray C I family uh. These are 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:22.160 arid or semi arid tree like plants that I think 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:25.480 are typically associated with growing in the Arabian Peninsula and 0:07:25.520 --> 0:07:28.640 on the on the Horn of Africa. And so these 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:32.960 two incense resins, along with gold, are probably used in 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.880 the story from the Gospel of Matthew because they're supposed 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:41.080 to show that the Magi or the Magi recognize Jesus 0:07:41.120 --> 0:07:43.560 as a king, as a king foretold in the stars, 0:07:43.840 --> 0:07:47.720 because Franken sits and Mur like gold, are expensive luxury 0:07:47.840 --> 0:07:52.480 items there. They're they're associated with with power and with 0:07:52.680 --> 0:07:56.400 religious significance, that they were used in religious rituals all 0:07:56.400 --> 0:08:00.560 throughout the ancient Mediterranean and also to perfume the itch such, 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:02.960 as you know, in a burial ritual for a king. 0:08:04.040 --> 0:08:07.880 Now I've seen enough imagery, Christian imagery of the three 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:10.480 kings uh, to you know, to to know that you know, 0:08:10.520 --> 0:08:12.600 generally they are depicted as holding some sort of special 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:15.640 box that contains the Frankensense and the Murr and of 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:19.800 course I've I've seen images of frankensense itself. But I 0:08:19.840 --> 0:08:21.960 still have to say, like, when I think of the 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:25.680 three kings bringing gold, Frankensense and Murr, I hear frankensense 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:29.480 and I still imagine Frankenstein's monster. Um, he said, at 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:31.960 least back there, lurking in the back of my mind, 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:34.760 even as I'm putting together this major scene in my 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.920 head right there with you. I I always made that 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.480 connection when I was a kid. It's like you got Frankenstein, 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:44.960 frank and Berry cereal and Frankensense the gift to Jesus, 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:46.640 and I don't know what that is because they never 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:48.880 explained when I was a kid. I think one time actually, 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:53.760 somebody did explain that, uh, that mirror was used for uh, 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:57.440 it was used in its like essence form or oil 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:01.160 form to anoint Berry Oles of the dead, and I 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:03.160 was like, well, that's a morbid gift to give a baby. 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:05.040 It's like here's something that we will put on you 0:09:05.080 --> 0:09:07.839 when you die. But again, I think it's supposed to 0:09:07.880 --> 0:09:12.040 be something that is expensive and royal and and holy 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:15.480 and shows that, you know, they recognize that the stars 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:17.520 have foretold. This is going to be a king yeah, 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:18.960 and I think these are all things to keep in 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:23.839 mind as we start, as we eventually discuss how how 0:09:23.920 --> 0:09:27.560 incense factors into different cultures and different belief systems, like 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:31.720 what it means to burn this sacred substance that creates 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:36.760 a special pleasing odor. I actually found a fascinating article 0:09:36.800 --> 0:09:38.360 about that that I think we're going to get into 0:09:38.400 --> 0:09:40.840 more in part two of the series. But before we 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:42.880 move on from frankensince and Mura, I did want to 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:46.160 add a few more facts descriptive about their what they're 0:09:46.200 --> 0:09:48.080 like and how they were used in the ancient world. 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.480 And Uh, this is coming from another interesting article I 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:54.480 was reading. This was an eon magazine by a University 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:59.000 College London anthropologist named Timothy Carroll, and the article was 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:03.360 called Franken since Murr both holy and heretical. And so 0:10:03.480 --> 0:10:06.560 there is a background section where where Carol here is 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:09.720 describing what these these smells are like. It's kind of 0:10:09.720 --> 0:10:11.400 hard to you know, we can't make you smell it 0:10:11.480 --> 0:10:14.520 through the Internet here, so unfortunately we can't give samples. 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:18.599 But if you've never smelled them before differentiated them. Frankensense 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:21.960 is known to have a kind of woody or what 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:26.000 he calls a warm spiced smell. So I'm imagining that 0:10:26.120 --> 0:10:29.560 is in some way roughly similar to the warm spices like, 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:32.760 I don't know, cloves, allspice, cinnamon and that kind of thing, 0:10:33.679 --> 0:10:37.080 whereas Carol says that mirror is typically said to smell 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.880 like rose or maybe like Basil, but also is sometimes 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.200 said to have a kind of bitter aroma, and if 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.800 you think about the kind of bitter back note to 0:10:45.840 --> 0:10:48.160 the smell of a rose, that makes sense to me. 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.920 An interesting thing about the origins of the word Frankensense. 0:10:53.520 --> 0:10:57.440 Uh so you associated with Franken Stein, but actually what 0:10:57.440 --> 0:11:01.880 what frankensense means is, uh, the refix. Frank there is 0:11:01.960 --> 0:11:06.200 just a word that archaically means like high quality or pure. 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.760 So Frank instence basically means like pure incense or really 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.920 good incense. Another distinction is that I said both of 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:16.439 these were forms of incense, and they are, but frank instence, 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.520 I think, is almost always used as a as a 0:11:19.559 --> 0:11:22.360 type of burned incense, so you would burn pellets of 0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:25.319 it to make a smoke, whereas mirror has a lot 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:28.840 of different preparations. Sometimes it is burned as incense other 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:32.440 times people will make like an oil infusion out of 0:11:32.480 --> 0:11:35.280 it and use that to like anoint people, to you know, 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:38.000 place upon their heads for religious purpose or at a 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:42.480 burial or something like that. But Carol talks about how 0:11:42.600 --> 0:11:46.200 these substances were not just for the religious purposes that 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.280 we're going to get into in more detail. They were 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.600 also believed to have like practical benefits. He points out that, 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:53.480 as we've talked about on the show before, a lot 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:55.400 of in the ancient world there was a lot of 0:11:55.400 --> 0:12:01.920 association between disease and bad smells. So aromatic substances were 0:12:02.000 --> 0:12:05.880 used throughout the ancient Mediterranean to cleanse bad air that 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:09.120 was thought to somehow be associated with disease and also 0:12:09.200 --> 0:12:13.280 to drive away vermin like rats. Okay, so, so, functionally 0:12:13.280 --> 0:12:17.440 at the very least, amasking odor, but within the like 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:21.880 the crude belief systems of of the day regarding infection 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:26.720 and disease, they're cleansing, they're actually helping to protect you 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:30.880 from illness and well, I'm not sure Howard to rule 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:34.600 the prevention of rats creeping around. I mean I think 0:12:34.640 --> 0:12:37.679 you could say that to various extents aromatic smokes are 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:41.400 effective at driving away especially insects. Yeah, I don't yeah, 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:43.480 but I don't know about the rats. I'd need to 0:12:43.520 --> 0:12:46.679 see more. More data is required on that. But there 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:51.160 were all these alleged medical uses of these fragrant substances, 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:54.000 like Frankensin Sen Mur Carol points to the writings of 0:12:54.000 --> 0:12:58.920 an ancient Greek physician named Pedanius Dioscorides, who lived from 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:05.040 forty to nineties Ce and speaking about Murr specifically, diascordes, says, quote, 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:08.480 rubbed on with the flesh of a snail, it cures 0:13:08.559 --> 0:13:13.000 broken ears and exposed bones, as well as pus in 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:17.600 the ears and their inflammation, with meconium castoreum and glaucium. 0:13:18.160 --> 0:13:21.680 It is rubbed on vericose veins with Cassia and honey. 0:13:22.280 --> 0:13:24.280 Very good, very good. Some key substances in there, some 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:26.440 of which will come back up again, and he mentioned 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:28.520 some other uses too. It is thought to have to 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:33.200 be able to help regulate sleep, blood flow, menstruation, all 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:35.240 kinds of things. So this is the Murror is kind 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:37.040 of shaping up like a cure, all like it has 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:40.079 some kind of religious significance. It will, it will mask 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:43.120 the odors of death, it will make you seem like 0:13:43.160 --> 0:13:45.839 a king and it will also, allegedly, like, cure all 0:13:45.880 --> 0:13:55.240 these various diseases or regulate the processes of the body. 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:58.160 But to come back to the idea of incense more 0:13:58.320 --> 0:14:02.520 generally again, we're talking about a a class of substances 0:14:02.600 --> 0:14:05.559 that you would burn in order to produce an aromatic smoke. 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:10.920 That's right, and and certainly fragrant woods, herbs, oils other 0:14:10.920 --> 0:14:14.800 such substances. They can be added to many different heat sources, 0:14:14.840 --> 0:14:18.360 many different flames, including flames that are primarily used for 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:23.080 illumination or cooking, Um like on. On the subject of cooking, 0:14:24.240 --> 0:14:27.520 I don't really barbecue much anymore. When I do cook something, 0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:30.080 I use a gas grill, but I remember growing up 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.840 when you do the charcoal grill and occasionally cooking certain 0:14:34.120 --> 0:14:35.880 cuts of meat, it was desired to get like some 0:14:35.960 --> 0:14:41.120 hickory branches to add to the coals underneath, uh, and 0:14:41.200 --> 0:14:43.080 so you know, there are various things like that one, 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:46.320 of course, can do within say, a culinary tradition. Yeah, 0:14:46.360 --> 0:14:48.800 and smoking meat has multiple effect. I mean, on one 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:51.560 hand it's just pleasurable. People like the taste of of smoke, 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:55.040 but also it has preservative effects, yes, but it's also 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:58.680 a rich global tradition of creating specialized sensors or other 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:03.520 artifacts does signed and built exclusively for burning incense of 0:15:03.600 --> 0:15:06.560 some sort. Now a lot of these devices are tied 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.480 into practices that involve the burning of incense for pleasure 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.000 and or religious purposes, and we'll get into many of 0:15:13.040 --> 0:15:15.680 those in a bit. But I wanted to touch a 0:15:15.680 --> 0:15:19.760 little bit on the idea of of of practical incense burning, 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:22.120 functional instance burning kind of like we're talking about earlier 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:25.320 to drive the rats away at the bad air UM. 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:28.120 And coming back to my earlier example of of of 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:32.200 mosquito repellent, because really the first place my mind went 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:34.880 when I started thinking about this, in part because I 0:15:34.920 --> 0:15:38.480 was keeping mosquitoes away with with special smoke at the time, 0:15:38.720 --> 0:15:42.360 is the humble mosquito coil. Everyone, I think it's probably 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:46.120 seen this usually green. It's a coil, it's it's essentially 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:49.400 an incense you start burning the the outer edge of 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:52.680 the coil and it slowly burns and spirals in towards 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:56.760 the center. Generally this is the coil itself. Contains Pyrethrum, 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.720 which is naturally occurring, and acticide. UH, there may be 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:05.280 some other ingredients in there and you're generally talking about 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:08.760 six inches length coiled up in one of these, and 0:16:08.800 --> 0:16:11.600 it will take up to about twelve hours to burn through. 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:14.120 I don't have a lot of direct experience with these 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:16.600 that I was just looking up some general stats about them. 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:19.840 It's apparently a Japanese invention of the eighteen hundreds uh 0:16:19.920 --> 0:16:22.120 that that of course, really takes off once you have 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:25.800 mass production capabilities in place for it. It's a design 0:16:25.840 --> 0:16:29.160 that effectively allows you to have a super long incense 0:16:29.160 --> 0:16:32.480 stick that will burn for a long time but also 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:35.600 doesn't take up a lot of space, because imagine if 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.800 you had, instead of it being in a spiral, it 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:41.800 was just like just a long incense stick. It could 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:44.080 kind of be a pain to to lay out somewhere 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.840 that if it covered the entire length of the picnic table, 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:50.080 for example, that wouldn't be as as cool of an experience. 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:53.840 Now again, I don't know exactly how dependable the idea 0:16:53.920 --> 0:16:56.360 of up to twelve hours is. I don't know what 0:16:56.520 --> 0:17:00.760 affects that rate of consumption, but it does bring to 0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:03.160 mind this really and this is where I really got 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:07.040 interested in the topic of Incense. Is that okay? You 0:17:07.080 --> 0:17:08.760 can look at the basics here. If it takes x 0:17:08.800 --> 0:17:11.240 amount of time to burn through an incense stick or 0:17:11.240 --> 0:17:14.880 an instant spiral, then perhaps that rate of change can 0:17:14.920 --> 0:17:19.040 be used to measure time. And Uh and yeah, this 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:23.040 is a whole area of combustion based timekeeping and there 0:17:23.040 --> 0:17:25.720 are a number of things you can loop under this heading. There's, 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:27.960 of course, the candle clock, which makes use of the 0:17:28.000 --> 0:17:31.359 gradual rate of change in a burning candle. We see 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.080 these in the traditions and traditions of the East, West 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:37.240 and Middle East, with a council in Chinese writing going back, 0:17:37.240 --> 0:17:40.439 I believe, as far as the sixth century CE. And 0:17:40.480 --> 0:17:43.680 then there are also oil lamp clocks. Now I think 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.400 these only go back a couple of centuries, in part 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:48.720 I'm guessing, because you need a dependable way of making 0:17:48.960 --> 0:17:53.040 the decrease in oil Um visual, you know. So that's 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.520 gonna be harder with some of the oil lamp constructions 0:17:55.520 --> 0:17:57.920 of old. And so some of the examples that were 0:17:57.920 --> 0:17:59.920 coming up from me when I was researching this sort 0:17:59.920 --> 0:18:03.080 of eighteenth century designs, and they're really beautiful looking, but 0:18:03.119 --> 0:18:06.240 of course they involve a lot of elegant metal and glass. 0:18:07.400 --> 0:18:11.200 But the incense clock, UH, yeah, this takes us into 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:16.200 Chinese traditions, and before I get to the invention itself, 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:19.440 I wanted to share some some some neat insight about 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:22.880 the role of incense in Chinese culture, as I think 0:18:22.880 --> 0:18:25.200 it'll all be worth keeping in mind as we take 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:28.439 the additional step and considering incense as a timekeeping measure 0:18:28.760 --> 0:18:31.960 and also generally, I think flows with some of these 0:18:32.200 --> 0:18:35.200 larger and even global ideas about incense. I was reading 0:18:35.240 --> 0:18:38.240 Stuart's Sergeant's two thousand and one article from the Journal 0:18:38.480 --> 0:18:43.719 of the American Oriental Society titled Wanting Jen's incense of awareness, 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:46.359 and while it largely deals with specific lines from the 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:50.360 poetry of this Song Dynasty calligrapher, painter and poet who 0:18:50.359 --> 0:18:54.160 lived ten forty five through eleven oh five, it also 0:18:54.240 --> 0:18:57.439 covers the role of incense in Chinese culture in general 0:18:57.480 --> 0:19:00.359 at this time. and Um, I'm not going to skip 0:19:00.400 --> 0:19:03.720 over the translated poetry either, because it's the paper points out. 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:08.000 He's very much leaning into the analysis of how the 0:19:08.359 --> 0:19:13.840 ritual use of incense affects one's state of mind. So here, here's, 0:19:13.880 --> 0:19:16.760 here's the first bit of poetry from wanting gin. A 0:19:16.920 --> 0:19:22.359 sense of peril like wandering ten thousand fathoms, high impatient 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:27.199 desires engender the five weapons within. I lean on the 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:32.440 arm rest with a single strand of incense, the numenous ESTRADE. 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:38.679 This is a spiritual platform, or Dais Dallas de Terminology 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:43.760 for the mind. Um, the numinous estrade is clear, empty 0:19:43.800 --> 0:19:47.119 and bright. Okay, so it sounds like he's describing an 0:19:47.160 --> 0:19:51.000 association between burning a strand of incense and having a 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:55.080 kind of clear or elevated state of mind. Yeah, yeah, 0:19:55.200 --> 0:19:59.720 overcoming the fears and anxieties within by being able to 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:03.000 clear mind, focusing on this, on this smoke, and in 0:20:03.080 --> 0:20:05.920 this it's interesting because this this seems to be focusing 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:09.480 as much or more on the visual of the smoke, 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:12.439 which I think is is easy to overlook, but I 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:14.280 mean not if you guess, if you're really into incense, 0:20:14.280 --> 0:20:17.760 but like watching the smoke from incense rise and curl 0:20:17.880 --> 0:20:22.640 through a room. I mean it's it's it's instantly captivating. Well, yeah, 0:20:22.680 --> 0:20:25.080 a lot of the writings about incense really emphasized the 0:20:25.160 --> 0:20:27.720 smell and that does seem to be, you know, the 0:20:27.720 --> 0:20:30.080 primary sense that's engaged by it. But when you watch 0:20:30.160 --> 0:20:32.480 the smoke, I think that also brings in a lot 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:36.200 of the ideas of I don't know the kind of 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:40.000 ideas about religion or consciousness that are associated with it. 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:42.520 It has to do with watching the smoke rise up 0:20:42.520 --> 0:20:45.240 into the sky and dissipate, which, on one hand, I 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:48.639 think is a reason why the burning of incense or 0:20:48.720 --> 0:20:50.920 the burning of things in general, was often assumed to 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:52.960 be a way of communicating with the Gods, you know, 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:55.800 if the Gods live up above and the skies. I mean, 0:20:55.840 --> 0:20:58.040 not every belief about God's is like that, but many 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:00.119 people believe the gods are up in the sky and 0:21:00.200 --> 0:21:02.320 the smoke rises up to them. So it's a way 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:05.760 of reaching them with something you do. But then the 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:09.200 other thing is like the it's it's an act that 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:11.680 that you can kind of like watch have a consequence 0:21:11.760 --> 0:21:14.560 that then eventually disappears, like the way that the thing 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.200 burns and then the smoke dissipates in front of your 0:21:17.240 --> 0:21:20.000 eyes is, uh, I don't know, some kind of significant 0:21:20.000 --> 0:21:24.000 transformation or symbol of ephemerality. Yeah, I I saw the 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:28.879 line drawn in different sources between, uh, the the original 0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:33.520 archaic burning of sacrifices, burnt offerings, and the use, even 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.600 the modern use, of incense, so as whereas one in 0:21:36.680 --> 0:21:40.960 ancient times may have burnt them, you know, the carcass 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:45.040 of a bull or other sacrificial animal, uh, the the 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:47.639 this would be a version of that. Instead of burning 0:21:47.680 --> 0:21:50.720 the animal, burning the remains of the animal, burning this sacred, 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:54.560 sweet smelling substance. Oh, that's not even a connection that 0:21:54.600 --> 0:21:57.000 you have to like hypothesize, like, thinking back on it, 0:21:57.000 --> 0:22:01.199 the connection was made by by some ancient really jens themselves. Like, 0:22:01.359 --> 0:22:04.040 for example, if you look at the Hebrew Bible, there's 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:07.560 like the first chapter of the book of Leviticus. Uh, 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:10.159 the Lord is giving instructions to Moses on how to 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:14.480 perform sacrifices of livestock, and this involves, you know, they'll say, 0:22:14.480 --> 0:22:16.000 you bring in the bull and you do this and 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:18.399 you do that, and then a few verses later, at 0:22:18.400 --> 0:22:21.240 the beginning of chapter two, it says if somebody's making 0:22:21.280 --> 0:22:24.240 a grain offering instead of an offering of livestock, you 0:22:24.280 --> 0:22:27.520 need to burn incense with the grain. I'M gonna come 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:29.639 back to that in part two when we discuss the 0:22:29.720 --> 0:22:33.840 idea that God or the Gods do enjoy smells. All right, well, 0:22:33.920 --> 0:22:37.119 let's let's go back into the poetry of lunch Gen here. UH, 0:22:37.359 --> 0:22:41.800 here's another one. That's that's really good. Midday Meal Birds 0:22:41.960 --> 0:22:45.920 Peer at the dais, sitting in peace. The Sun passes 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:49.440 the steps. Vulgar atmosphere has no way to come near. 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:53.960 The smoke drifts up and forms a massed defense. Now 0:22:53.960 --> 0:22:57.720 the vulgar atmosphere is not just like the stink here. 0:22:57.840 --> 0:23:01.960 This is apparently, according to the author, this is referring 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:06.240