spirituality

As you’ve probably guessed by now, part of what made my recent travels feel like a pilgrimage — even those parts that didn’t hold religious significance — is the way the feeling of the transcendent followed me around, in all its many guises. We've already looked at the transcendence of numinous or holy places, of … Continue reading The Heavy Hand of Time

I’m a huge ancient history nerd. (I may not quite fit the ‘think about the Roman Empire every day’ meme from a couple years ago, but if you add in Persia, Egypt, Assyria, or Greece, I’m absolutely guilty as charged!) For this reason, I can never get enough of ruins, and Roman ruins are absolutely … Continue reading Borderlands

A number of years ago now, I looked at the personality characteristics, shared across human cultures and spiritual traditions, which positive psychologists have identified as critical to human mental health and wellbeing. Of these, one that has always stuck out to me is one they variably labeled ‘awe’ or ‘appreciation of beauty and excellence’ — … Continue reading In the Footsteps of the Ancients

A recurring topic of conversation with my traveling companion for this trip over the years has been what gives places that special feeling that, if it’s positive, we call ‘holy’ and, if it’s negative, we call ‘haunted’. It’s a feeling of otherness and strangeness in a place or person that is in more formal discourse … Continue reading Encountering the Holy