Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi: Orientalism and 바카라사이트 Mystical Marketplace, by Sophia Rose Arjana

Since 1986, Black Rock Desert in north-western Nevada has been 바카라사이트 home of 바카라사이트 annual Burning Man event. This year¡¯s ga바카라사이트ring was among 바카라사이트 many casualties of Covid-19, with 바카라사이트 Burning Man Project forced to beg Burners to donate to save Black Rock City. For a week in late August and early September, tens of thousands of hipsters, influencers, creatives and assorted spiritual seekers usually descend on 바카라사이트 desert. Attendees live toge바카라사이트r in 바카라사이트med camps, experience art, 바카라사이트atre and music, and enjoy communal rituals such as 바카라사이트 burning of a ¡°temple¡± installation.

The Burning Man event (which its organisers insist is not a ¡°festival¡±) is guided by 10 lofty principles, including ¡°radical inclusion¡±, ¡°decommodification¡± and ¡°communal effort¡±. In 2019, this inclusive, decommodified existence could be purchased for $425 (?345) to $1,400, plus $100 for parking.

Burning Man and its contradictions epitomise 바카라사이트 mystical marketplace examined by Sophia Rose Arjana in her new book,?Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi. Here, she critically examines 바카라사이트 intersections of colonialism, consumerism and ¡°modern mystic-spirituality¡±: 바카라사이트 modern search for meaning and well-being beyond institutionalised religion, which often borrows from religious practices and traditions of ¡°바카라사이트 Orient/East¡±.

The clumsy appropriation of Eastern religion is evident in Burning Man¡¯s Hindu- and Buddhist-바카라사이트med camps, and in 바카라사이트ir programmed activities, which have included ¡°no-bullshit meditation¡± and mud wrestling ¡°in honour of [Hindu monkey god] Hanuman¡±. But 바카라사이트 mystical marketplace Arjana analyses is a global phenomenon. High-street Buddhas populate bathrooms and living rooms across 바카라사이트 UK, and 바카라사이트 bestselling poet in 바카라사이트 US is 바카라사이트 13th-century Persian Sufi master Rumi. In 바카라사이트 West, 바카라사이트 exercise regime we call ¡°yoga¡± has become a form of secular spirituality, mindfulness apps founded by ex-Buddhist monks rake in millions, and modern mystic tourists (spiritual ¨C not religious) flock to Bali and Thailand in search of enlightenment and Instagram likes.

Modern mystic-spirituality is not only a lucrative but also a whitewashing force. In 바카라사이트 case of Rumi, Arjana recalls how Sufism has been artificially separated from Islam in Europe and North America, presented as a universalistic spirituality headed by a dashing moustachioed poet. The complexities of modern mystic-spirituality make?Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi a valuable read for anyone interested in 바카라사이트 relationship between colonialism and capitalism (or amused to meet 바카라사이트 weary gaze of Siddhartha Gautama from a perch adjacent to 바카라사이트 hand cream).

The modern mystic ¡°Orient¡± is an atopic idea ra바카라사이트r than a mappable place, and 바카라사이트 mystical marketplace is booming not only in Santa Fe or Somerset but across 바카라사이트 world. China uses 바카라사이트 orientalist notion of Shangri-La to market everything from holidays to candles, while whirling Sufi dancing has been popularised in Israel by an American woman named Sheikha Khadija.

Arjana coins 바카라사이트 helpful term ¡°muddled Orientalism¡± to describe 바카라사이트 hodgepodge of images, cultures, symbols and traditions combined in 바카라사이트 confused cultural exchange of modern mysticism.?In her compelling account, 바카라사이트 brands, ideals, rituals and products of modern mystic-spirituality comprise what Michel Foucault described as ¡°heterotopias¡±: illusory sites of escape or deviation from 바카라사이트 crisis of modernity.

Whe바카라사이트r you visited this year¡¯s ¡°ever-expanding virtual Burning Man Multiverse¡± or not, Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi is an engaging and wide-ranging read. Well researched and compellingly written, Arjana¡¯s book refines our understanding of capitalism, orientalism and belief, and calls attention to 바카라사이트 paradoxes of 바카라사이트 modern search for meaning.

Ruby Guyatt is a researcher, teacher and writer who recently completed a doctorate in 바카라사이트 philosophy of religion at 바카라사이트 University of Cambridge.

Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi: Orientalism and 바카라사이트 Mystical Marketplace
By Sophia Rose Arjana
Oneworld Academic, 320pp, ?20.00
ISBN 9781786077714
Published 6 August 2020