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

Working with students, mainly from the age of 12-14, I’ve realized their ability to assume is a lot higher than mine. The student may try to use a vacuum to clean their room. If it doesn’t work, they almost immediately assume the vacuum is broken, until I come by and point out the vacuum is not plugged into the wall. This may be an overgeneralization and I’m sure there are many people who are younger than me that think through things more than me, however, I use this as an example to highlight different perspectives. One perspective may involve seeing a grand performance, and allowing meaning and assumptions to be based off of the first time experiencing a certain moment. Another perspective is one that allows small, repeated moments to show up in one’s life, dates, gestures, markings, and so much more, to develop the meaning of a concept. I question whether our society has programmed us as individuals to dismiss certain details that allow us insight into the best version of ourselves.

In this blog, I hope to explore certain spiritual traditions, details that matter, and ways of expressing oneself artistically to evaluate what might happen when we slow down. I want to explore these areas to analyze what might happen when we look closely. As I discussed in the last blog looking at contracting and assembling meaning from life, I will try not to force any answers, but to make claims to spark curiosity, allowing multiple lessons to be explored rather than a single point.

Overlooked Ritual

I have had a few friends over the years who have had birthdays that overlap with holidays. The most notable one is when birthdays fall on Thanksgiving, which for these individuals happens once every seven days. Though my birthday is on a holiday as well, I always was interested in my friends’ experiences where their birthday was occasionally on a holiday that most people in America were celebrating. I wondered if this made their birthday feel more special, more of a grand spectacle where their life felt more celebrated, or maybe the opposite occurred. There are times where multiple holidays overlap with one of another, a combination of rituals that some speculate to have special significance in human history. I wonder what this tells us about humanity, and if some of the traditions in an overlapping holiday are removed from our cultural memory.

On the Pathh to Peacce Channel, the creator released a video of how the combination of Ekadashi and Makar Sankranti creates a special day for people to experience¹. The video opens up showing the date 14, January, 2026 and subtitled “Makar Sankranti”². This day is known as the day that destroys sins, the holiday, Ekadashi, celebrates Vishnu and, the other holiday, Makar Sankrati, celebrates the sun³. The combination of the two is known to be a day of religious piety and charity⁴. One of the recommended actions of this day is to seek direction from a Guru and to offer water to the sun⁵. The conscience of this special day reminds people that life is not just about pleasure, but to see the sacredness that comes with life⁶. The video closes with the narrator giving a blessing to the audience⁷.

The time has come, the stars have aligned. The astrological and the religious have been aligned for quite some time, one of the most timely occurrences in the Western tradition is the Epiphany season of the church. Similar to the rare occurrence of Ekadashi and Makar Sankranti promising health and wisdom, the three kings following the stars to find the Messiah have similar storytelling tropes allowing the universe to recommend ritual practice. Honoring one’s traditions, through meditation/prayer or guidance from a spiritual resource is encouraged during this season to connect deeper with a higher being. Though I support engagement with traditions that one ascribes too, I want to be cautious of prescribing certain traditions as universal, as traditions everyone should adhere to or follow. I believe the more careful we are when addressing the sacredness of life, the more intentional one’s practice becomes, less likely to overlook customary rituals, but dwell in them at their own pace, encouraging their own spiritual journey.

Overlooked Intelligence

The “Pinot” Step, the “low pick-up”, the one-legged three pointer, the “Sombor Shuffle”, the “slow” step. I can go on lol. The NBA is evolving at a supremely exponential rate, a rate that is getting more and more difficult to keep up with current trends and even more difficult to predict future trends. Players are expected to be more and more mobile and agile than their predecessors, exploring how to manipulate time and space as they traverse the court. One player who has been manipulating time and space for 23 years in the NBA, almost as long as I have been alive, is the King himself, LeBron James. Though LeBron has had more moments of him slowing down, LeBron at 41 years old continues to beat Father Time, last night racking up 31 points, nine rebounds, and 10 assists, earning himself player of the night. He dominated the game as he has been doing for years, manipulating matchups, and exposing lapses in the defense.

On the Swish Cultures channel, the creators posted a short honoring a specific technique LeBron repeated against the Atlanta Hawks⁸. We are thrown into the play with LeBron attacking down the right slot in slow-mo with Jay-Z’s Family Feud playing in the background⁹. LeBron picks up the ball around the free throw line before galloping to the left side of the rim, protecting the ball from the outstretched hands of C.J. McCollum, and scooping it underhanded with his left hand¹⁰. After the cinema, we are sent to another play in the second half, where LeBron is attacking downhill once again, this time with Onyeka Okongwu in his path¹¹. Again, LeBron begins his gather at the free throw line. However, this time, LeBron ducks his shoulder, limiting Onyeka’s ability to jump. The King leaps on the left side of the land, and strides to a one legged underhand layup once again¹².

These might have been dunks for LeBron in years past, but the King has found ways to still make global highlight reels almost nightly. His movement to the rim is put to the tune of arguably one of the greatest Hip-Hop artists of his era. LeBron’s performance helped boost the Lakers back into the win column after a 3 game losing skid. Though this is not a new move that LeBron is showcasing, the discipline he has shown over the years proves that evolution and innovation isn’t all people want to see. I say all this to say there are a lot of details that can be overlooked in the picturesque representation of LeBron’s graceful bound to the rim. Yet, similar to LeBron’s physical giftings, LeBron’s intelligence will not allow him to look over any detail, and I would encourage you to aim to do the same.

Overlooked Permission

I am definitely biased in this, but I believe it would benefit us as humans if we engaged with all types of art, possibly even some creations that leave us uncomfortable. One of the courses was focused on Totalitarian regimes propaganda through film and media, some of the toughest I have ever seen on screen came from that class. Even more so, I took a Black Protest Cinema course, where we had to watch the powerful emotions of people allow them to tear others apart. Even today, I found a documentary about a Pastor of a church in Kenya being accused of mass murder after his prophetic message of Jesus’ return and the need for his followers to fast in the forest no matter how old they were, some of the participants as little as two years old. It did not bring me joy to watch any of these depictions of life in a particular era, however, I believe engaging with the content educates me, giving me permission to react while assessing context.

On The Artist Block Channel, the creator makes a video discussing different styles of graffiti¹³. The creator draws from audience submissions and discusses the techniques used to hopefully inspire his audience to keep creating¹⁴. The first piece is “EROS” and the creator talks about the positioning of some of the letters to create some uniqueness to his piece¹⁵. The piece is great but the creator critiques how the outside pieces stick out on both sides, however, both sides don’t connect¹⁶. The third piece seems like an old piece, referring to the “18” that probably signifies it was probably made in 2018. The creator points out how the piece appears to have wear and tear on the paint, and the black and silver format will never get old with him¹⁷. The fourth piece is “DIABLO” and the creator points out the artist decided to add interior detail to the piece, creating a “dope” piece”¹⁸. The creator gets to a piece where he stops at Anti-style Graffiti and tries to ignore it, pointing out the “ARTES” piece that is higher up on the wall than the other styles¹⁹. After some anti-style graffiti, the creator addresses anti-style graffiti and has a lot of problems with it²⁰. In the “MERD” and “EROS” pieces, the creator loves the orange pop in the words and the style of the letters²¹. The creator comes across a submitted piece, “DRIFIER” that covers the entire wall in white, silver, and black paint, which the creator commends the artist, any artist, who takes the time to cover the entire wall²².

The Artist Block, being someone who critiques and teaches graffiti art, has to be one of the few who engage as often as he does with unauthorized, and sometimes illegal art. He takes time to break down the craftsmanship and distinguish the details that someone like myself, with little graffiti experience, would skip over. In addition to the time he takes, he also has the knowledge to discern different styles, different movements, and offer his insight into the lack of fundamentals present in someone’s work. There were multiple times in the video where the creator does not want to comment on the anti-style graffiti, holding back his thoughts of rejection. There are also times where he views a piece he likes, but does not dwell over it to respect as many submissions as he can for the video. The creator earned a lot of respect from me, showing his artistic expertise and literacy when it comes to graffiti, his permission to offer advice rooted in his wisdom and willingness to not overlook the details.

Overlooked Reflection

Invite meaning. Read what’s hidden. Practice details. Look closely. Make observation usual. Ritualize your encounters. Intellectualize your spirituality. Permit your culture. Reflect on art. Understand and extract. Conclude with expression. Sharpen your inhale. Originate your awareness.

Bibliography

1. Pathh To Peacce, “Why is Ekadashi and Makar Sankranti together special? #ekadashi #makarsankranti,” YouTube, January 13, 2025, accessed January 14, 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2MGXKdWD8g. ↩︎
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8. Swish Cultures, “Lebron inside hand lays,” YouTube, January 14, 2026, accessed January 14, 2026, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PAwR_bWLF2k. ↩︎
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13. The Artist Block, “Anti Style Graffiti Is Trash BUT This Other Graffiti Is Pretty Good,” YouTube, January 10, 2025, accessed January 15, 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2w7guy-wc0&t=12s. ↩︎
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