The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/sikhism)
We were all, in some way, seeking the capital-T Truth – and if we thought we had found it, it made sense to want to share that with others. I hadn’t been sure of the Truth since I was a child, and, for me, that amorphous uncertainty was the point. Having someone, however well-intentioned, try to save me, or convince me – or even to convince themself that I was already saved – felt like the opposite of helping.
Western constructions of reality are so strong that they often overwrite our understanding of important, seemingly independent celestial events. The solstice is no different. In one sense, it is an astronomical occurrence, leading us to believe it is independent of cultural intrusion, much like how we might like to think mathematics or physics exist – that is, that they are the same no matter who is observing them. But culture has always intruded into our understanding of the world, and, because western culture is so overwhelmingly dominant, we must take extra care to see how different cultures reflect on events that we might think are independent of human interference. A few weeks ago, the northern and southern hemispheres celebrated the solstice, a celestial event whose date of occurrence might seem fixed and uncontroversial.