Spectrum of Spirit: A Digital Sanctuary for Spiritual Discourse and Community

About 6 months ago, one of my college suitemates reached out to me about a book proposal. A book proposal where we would co write a narrative about the Book of Ecclesiastes. He wants to write with me? He’s a published author. I’ve never considered myself a writer. No way I could do this. It’s not a part of my plan. All of these thoughts went racing through my head as Ben tried to assure me that we could do it, if I wanted to. This phone call encounter left me surprised and for a little while uncomfortable. However, I remembered the moments Ben and I would send reflections from our verse by verse reading of Ecclesiastes about a year before the book proposal. I remembered the discussions and stories we would share with our other suitemates discussing theological and philosophical topics deep into the night. What could’ve once been thought of as disconnected events or random occurrences, I could now see as the thread that led to our finished manuscript, and most importantly a friendship I hope lasts for years to come, and creative binding filled with self-exploration.

I believe art can arise from the most mundane events, the sign we pass on our walk/drive to work can one day sparkle differently, nature running its course to surprise our expectations. I believe the change of seasons can assist one in recognizing the art on display. The way the leaves shift colors, or man made creations change over time, remind me of how much our perspectives can change giving us new experiences as we go through each day. The daily cycle from life to death, awake to sleep and the unexpected dreams reminds me of what we all share as humanity, our desire to connect one moment to another, no matter how disconnected the events may appear from a different perspective.

Unexpected Sacredness

I sometimes struggle with the idea of cultural appropriation. I try to attend a Hot Yoga Vinyasa session once a week, if you want, you could frame it as my weekly ritual. It has helped me clear my mind, open up my body, and a time to remind myself of how I want to grow within my spirit. However, some of the phrasings and symbolism in the studio is representative of a culture that Long Island has never had. Though the yogic tradition is one that has been intensely practiced by people who for the most part do not look like participants in the room, a lot of American yoga studios use the practices without the tradition. I want to be cognizant there are reasons for both diving fully into the yogic culture, and just using the exercises for physical body development, I find the discourse to be heavily weighted to discourage cultural appropriation of Eastern Yogi tradition. I believe sacredness comes from within, it is subjective, and what one decides to make sacred could be challenged with questioning, but without judgement.

On the Varshaa Paandayy channel, she released a video about the Jai Maa Durge song, a devotional song to Mother Durga¹. The video starts off with a woman with six arms riding a throne through a city². People read in front of her statue. Others are dancing in time of celebration³. The beginning and this next part are all animated very fluidly, the woman riding her lion to fight a ban that turns into a bull⁴. The next scene has an angry blue skinned man charging at Jai Maa Durge as she has the same peaceful expression on her face⁵.

The video is a relatively short video, with a song playing in the background that is in a language I do not understand. However, there are some themes I took from the video that I think are beautiful. The woman that I think is depicted as Jai Maa Durge is seen with a peaceful expression whether being praised in the streets, studied in the library, celebrated in the courtroom, or fighting men on the battlefield. For a majority of the short video, Jai Maa Durge is never walking on foot, traveling on lions, chariots, or other forms of what I believe to be luxury and power at the time. Lastly, the men who are attacking her are blue, while Jai Maa Durge shines with golden skin. The men attack her with a screaming face, what I believe the creator is trying to show as rage, as Jai Maa Durge calmly and swiftly parries the attacks, disarming and sometimes ending the enemies life without receiving a scratch on her body. I believe these repetitive images are displayed to communicate what Jai Maa Durge represents, the figure who was and is studied and praised for their bravery and stewardship in battle as their protector and liberator. Now, I could be completely off on this, I could be missing the mark on what history has presented, but I am not sure that is the purpose of the video. The constantly shapeshifting characters, the unexpected development of the story from one of praise to honor, stirring in me the desire to be as fluid as the video moves from one fight scene to the next, sacredly and unexpectedly, similar to the threaded universe we each create for ourselves to connect with one another.

Unexpected Motion

I’ve been taught that the best players in basketball, or any sport, have unexpected movements. Stephen Curry’s unexpected shooting motion from 30 feet and Patrick Mahomes unexpected deep ball side arm are some of the few athletes who have reached the top of the sport who have manipulated motion to their advantage. In studying the game of basketball, there is a history of the greatest players to ever play the game having the rules adapted to counteract their ability to dominate at a high level. One of the pioneers of the sport, George Mikan, had the paint extended from three feet wide, to ten feet wide due to the ease he scored around the basket. Most recently, the NBA has constantly had to reassess their judgement of shooting fouls, James Harden and SGA’s attack exploiting their ability to force contact and shoot a high percentage at the free throw line. Though free throws can be boring, there are plenty of exciting, energy giving motions in the NBA that bring fans to their feet, anticipating the next unexpected play.

The channel Swish Cultures released a short highlighting Cam Whitmore, one of the high flyers in the NBA, now playing for the Washington Wizards⁶. The video starts with Cam taking off downhill for a right hand hammer. A couple plays later Cam comes down the court with a right hand punch dribble and pulls the long three pointer⁷. Next, Cam gets an isolation play on the right wing where he crosses over to the middle to kick it out to his teammate for the wide open three pointer⁸.

Cam Whitmore is one of my favorite players, one I wouldn’t mind bringing his talents to Long Island for the Brooklyn Nets. Regardless, the video starts off with a determined Cam unrelenting on getting his way to the rim and bringing all the pain he can to the rim. His rhythm in the isolation involves a few instances of change of pace, unexpected motions that throw the defense off, allowing him an angle to attack, draw two defenders towards him, and kick out to the wide open shooter. Whitmore still has the staple of the highest value shot in today’s NBA, the three pointer, pulling up in the face of the defense, a common shot those in the basketball community can identify with adding to their game, mirroring the most recent NBA three-point pioneer, Stephen Curry. The way Cam plays is representative of the modern NBA wing, except Cam has an elite ability to finish above the rim. Cam has worked within the culture of the NBA to develop his three point shot and ball handling ability, but has not let what makes him special, his vertical explosion, to be dulled. His unexpected motion catches NBA fans in awe, strengthening threads in fandom and connecting broadening cultures’ interest in the NBA.

Unexpected Canvas

I’ve been trying to connect with content creators in the Long Island area, it hasn’t been very eventful yet. I have been fortunate enough to connect with some Stony Brook professors who have given me some advice into how I continue to try to grow this platform and hopefully encourage others to continue to grow from within. Though it hasn’t gone exactly the way I would like it to go so far, I will continue to seek connection, to find my community, and open up avenues to continue challenging myself to explore the different aspects of myself to become the best version of myself. I recommend you try to find your community as well, and if you have, continue to challenge yourself to grow from within yourself and the community you find yourself in.

On The Artist Block channel, the creator shares their top 5 ways to meet Graffiti Artists and to find walls to create one’s masterpieces⁹. The artist explains the first place he would recommend looking for spots at train tracks, and even in the most rural areas, train tracks are a gold mine for finding walls to write on¹⁰. The next spot the creator recommends is abandoned buildings, which tend to be found a lot on train tracks¹¹. Another great spot the artist recommends is underpasses, where you can find great walls to do graffiti on¹². Some of these might be illegal, but the creator recommends confirming that it is legal to write on the walls through research and interactions¹³. The creator references how all of these spots are connected to train tracks and his fourth suggestion is to check out train yards¹⁴. His fifth suggestion isn’t related to train tracks, but involves one’s own travels, following trails along their path where they could pass a wall that has been untouched¹⁵. The artist transitions into explaining why he thinks new graffiti artists have difficulty with finding new spots, due to new artists sitting behind computer screens and no longer going outside as frequently to find spots¹⁶. The creator shares a story about one of the writers he knows and the time someone pulled out a gun on them due to the threat of trespassing, recommending to always to travel with others and to be safe while trying to find spots¹⁷.

The artist shares more stories about how he found people within his niche, heading to legal and illegal walls around a time of day that makes sense for someone to be doing graffiti art, and to look at murals. He ends the video by sharing with others to reach out, explore, and make friends, while trying to avoid drama. The way Jon described the search for walls and graffiti artist friends encourages me to realize this is not just my concern. Though I am not a graffiti artist, my niche is one where it can feel quite lonely, with no direction of where to go next. Through Jon’s advice I’ve discovered his monologue could be the beginning of a dialogue between graffiti artists, artists, and creators in general. The art one invests in, any form representing their passion is not just a solitary act, but could lead to surprises, an unexpected canvas of connecting threads.

Unexpected Action

Invite the Unexpected. Read the threads. Notice connection. Own what’s sacred to you. Live in motion. Let your canvas sing. Embrace the action in sports. Understand the art in the street. See diversity. Express largely. Share and Originate. Eternalize what makes you human. Allow your story to echo.

Bibliography

1. Varshaa Paandayy, “Jai Maa Durge song | जय माँ दुर्गा भजन #maa #navratri #trending #song #bhajan,” YouTube, September 23, 2025, accessed September 24, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30cl5oxaHAs. ↩︎
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6. Swish Cultures, “Washington Wizards Cam Whitmore cooking up at NBA Runs #nba #basketball,” YouTube, September 22, 2025, accessed September 24, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ybUM_npoLdY. ↩︎
7. Swish Cultures, ↩︎
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9. The Artist Block, “Top 5 Ways to Meet Graffiti Artists and Find Walls,” YouTube, September 20, 2025, accessed September 24, 2025, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAaPX1InlJE&t=7s. ↩︎
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