Bengali Mai, tantric aghori. Meeting her was part of our coordinator’s agenda to make Hinduism more complicated for us: a) it’s not clear how tantra is part of Hinduism, although they are commonly lumped together, and b) tantric aghoris are supposed to be male, and she’s not. Actually meeting and speaking with a living representative of the complexity and diversity of Indian religion makes it a lot less overwhelming and a lot more rewarding.
Head scarves drying outside a window in Istanbul. I had the idea that female, pious Muslims led relatively grey lives. There are certainly a lot of associated traditions that strike me as stultifying. But the Muslim head scarves are more colorful and expressive than almost anything that the liberated secularist women wear. In looking for expressions of individualism and personality, where do-I/should-I look?
Participating in domestic puja in Varanasi. Once I let my conceptions of religion and art, ritual and theater blur into one other, it ceased looking like superstition to me and started to become something I could appreciate.
Meditation in Thailand. Okay, they know what they’re doing. Give us westerners a meditation class with a great view over a misty valley and we’ll be happy. But they’re also wonderful about poking holes in our attachments. Meditation class was ridiculously simple, which made me realize how my preconceptions about meditation were ridiculously complicated.
Bengali Mai, tantric aghori. Meeting her was part of our coordinator’s agenda to make Hinduism more complicated for us: a) it’s not clear how tantra is part of Hinduism, although they are commonly lumped together, and b) tantric aghoris are supposed to be male, and she’s not. Actually meeting and speaking with a living representative of the complexity and diversity of Indian religion makes it a lot less overwhelming and a lot more rewarding.
Head scarves drying outside a window in Istanbul. I had the idea that female, pious Muslims led relatively grey lives. There are certainly a lot of associated traditions that strike me as stultifying. But the Muslim head scarves are more colorful and expressive than almost anything that the liberated secularist women wear. In looking for expressions of individualism and personality, where do-I/should-I look?
Participating in domestic puja in Varanasi. Once I let my conceptions of religion and art, ritual and theater blur into one other, it ceased looking like superstition to me and started to become something I could appreciate.
Meditation in Thailand. Okay, they know what they’re doing. Give us westerners a meditation class with a great view over a misty valley and we’ll be happy. But they’re also wonderful about poking holes in our attachments. Meditation class was ridiculously simple, which made me realize how my preconceptions about meditation were ridiculously complicated. 
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