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A review by heykellyjensen
Stalking God: My Unorthodox Search for Something to Believe in by Anjali Kumar
This won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it absolutely delighted me. The book begins when Anjali decides she wants to find "something to believe in" following the birth of her daughter. After not growing up with a religious faith, she decided to pursue a wild array of different spiritual beliefs over the course of a year -- which becomes much more than a year -- in order to see what it is people find in these things that gives them a connection to the spiritual. These are not quests of different religious faiths; they're unorthodox approaches to spirituality and this distinction is important (and ultimately why I liked this so much).
Kumar is quite skeptical in her quests, but never once does she knock the beliefs. She's skeptical without being cruel and when she leans in, she leans in. Her takeaways are not about laughing yoga or Burning Man or seeing a shaman or meeting with the woman whose hugs are purported to cure all ills. Rather, her takeaways are about the importance of coming into your own, believing in yourself, and believing in whatever it is that gives you a sense of grounding, of connection to others, and to feeling like there's a bigger world out there, however that looks and feels.
The final part of the book digs into the idea of Nones: how many of us in the US don't subscribe to a specific religion but are instead either deeply spiritual, somewhat spiritual, or not at all spiritual. That this number is so large is part of why many of these "unorthodox" means of seeking enlightenment are so fascinating and appealing.
I'm not religious but am deeply spiritual. I find my footing in nature and in the sutras of yoga (which, of course, are not my own nor are they a religious belief system -- they're a set of guidelines for things to do for the world and things to restrict from yourself). So spiritual journeys like Kumar's really mirror much of my own in terms of wanting something and coming to the ultimate realization that the ideal thing for me is just letting myself find what I need, where I need it, and when I need it.
This was especially good in light of Anjali not being a white lady on a quest; we've been there and done that.
Kumar is quite skeptical in her quests, but never once does she knock the beliefs. She's skeptical without being cruel and when she leans in, she leans in. Her takeaways are not about laughing yoga or Burning Man or seeing a shaman or meeting with the woman whose hugs are purported to cure all ills. Rather, her takeaways are about the importance of coming into your own, believing in yourself, and believing in whatever it is that gives you a sense of grounding, of connection to others, and to feeling like there's a bigger world out there, however that looks and feels.
The final part of the book digs into the idea of Nones: how many of us in the US don't subscribe to a specific religion but are instead either deeply spiritual, somewhat spiritual, or not at all spiritual. That this number is so large is part of why many of these "unorthodox" means of seeking enlightenment are so fascinating and appealing.
I'm not religious but am deeply spiritual. I find my footing in nature and in the sutras of yoga (which, of course, are not my own nor are they a religious belief system -- they're a set of guidelines for things to do for the world and things to restrict from yourself). So spiritual journeys like Kumar's really mirror much of my own in terms of wanting something and coming to the ultimate realization that the ideal thing for me is just letting myself find what I need, where I need it, and when I need it.
This was especially good in light of Anjali not being a white lady on a quest; we've been there and done that.