The Sacred and the Secular

And another early picture. I probably have dozens of pictures like this, but, once again, this dates back to my first trip to India so it is special to me. It probably speaks to me because it was one of those times when the extraordinary spirituality of India, which, because I'm a historian I already knew about, still jumped out at me in a very everyday way. Here is a little temple, essentially open to the elements, right on the sidewalk in the midst of the chaos of Mumbai. While America is not the most secular country in the world (technically many of the European countries are more secular than we are, although I tend to think that we still push ahead because we are so embarrassingly materialistic) we are still a world away from the spirituality that permeates all things Indian. This does not say that because of this fact India is necessarily better or that the U.S. is necessarily worse, but it does speak to the difference. I guess I wish that the U.S. was more spiritual and less religious.