This Thursday 21st March I start publishing my series ‘Spectacle’, in which I share with you my experiences at the most amazing religious rituals I’ve ever experienced. The series will appear on my YouTube channel.

Over the past year, and continuing in 2019, I’ve been collecting video from events which I’ve attended for any number of reasons; occasionally I’ve been invited to attend, other times I have been there for my own personal reasons, but all of them have had a profound spiritual impact on me.

It’s not that I hadn’t attended many of these before; most of these at most of these events I had experienced and even participated in for years before. Being a writer and vlogger, I had often been asked what sort of experiences I’d had while travelling, or even in my own country, and it would be only half of the truth to talk simply about beautiful mountains, friendly locals and tasty cuisine. I decided to share my experiences of these for the first time, as these experiences have shaped a significant part of my travelling life in the past few years, and spiritually for at least half of my lifetime.

Therefore, the journey of Spectacle is often quite personal in addition to being, well, spectacular. Some of these experiences have affected me deeply, and I am inviting you to be a part of it.T

The hazards of vlogging

However documenting religious festivals as a blogger and vlogger can be very hazardous. Too often we see travellers turn up to religious events expecting it to be a tourist attraction, some kind of supermarket for spiritual enlightenment. Lets be under no illusions here; these events are not places to try and write a chapter of your own version of Eat Pray Love – and that is far from my intention in sharing Spectacle. 

On the other hand, if you do find yourself learning about culture, religion or ritual in a meaningful, constructive way, or if something you see does spark an interest or genuinely awaken something inside, then I’m more than happy for you.

Some of these events are so exuberant and so exciting that I couldn’t contain my excitement when I realised I was going to invite you all along with me to celebrate! Some of them might be so bewildering to non-participants that I hope I can do my best to explain why some people (including myself) do what we do. We live in an era of so much information, but so little wisdom, and I hope my videos have some worth as a learning experience.

I also pray that I know when to refrain from mindless speculation, and concede that there is much more that I don’t know than what I do. You’ll often hear me say “that topic is better left for scholars”, because often it is; I don’t claim to know everything about what I am witnessing, and that is an invitation to read more about the subject beyond my humble YouTube channel.

Religious discussions can bring out the best and the worst in people, and I’ve rarely seen the best come out online. For that reason I am not allowing comments on my Spectacle videos. If you want to comment, I invite you to start a civilised conversation with a human with a face – not start polemic debates with anonymous people online. 

Respect, not just representation

Some of the footage in Spectacle might be confronting to some people. Some viewers may object deeply to some of the rituals or beliefs described in this series. I have tried my best to provide a balanced account of what I saw, felt, and experienced, but it is not prescriptive – I am not a scholar on these matters.

Where a group of people appear to be “represented” in a particular way, I have tried to make that representation as multi-dimensional as possible – it is not my place to tell someone else’s story, and this is my ethos in creating this series.

While the participants often perform their rituals in public view, there still exists the question of consent where video recording is concerned. 

Consent has been sought wherever possible, although with the number of people in any one shot this has been difficult. Anyone who has been to a religious event in parts of Asia will know the insane numbers of attendees. I have therefore attempted to focus on the ritual of each occasion as much as possible, rather than the participants, although inevitably there are people in front of the lens.

Spectacle comes with a disclaimer – please watch this before viewing the video series;

I have really looked forward to sharing these experiences and events with you, not just because I think you’ll be interested, but also because they mean so much to me on a personal level. I hope you enjoy my new series, and may we all have the courage and maturity to respond respectfully.

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