I reject the supernatural explanations of reality on the grounds of reason and agnosticism. But over the past two decades I have consumed progressively more content (especially books) that has made me a romanticist who wants to find the wonder in the mundane.
Of late I have started looking at syncretism in Sri Lanka as a means to understand how people who are caught between opposing cultures and religions adapt and thrive. For example, I have observed pantheons in auto rickshaws with Hindu, Buddhist and Christian idols and I have seen a 15 foot statue of a Buddhist god in a temple constructed recently. To me these are signs of a culture that is in transformation.
Today I completed studying M.M.J. Marasinge’s Gods in Buddhism. If the claims in the book are true, and my grasp of the religion is not too far off, according to it, such syncretism is possible. Gods, if they do exist can cross over.
