Varanasi, Fear, and the Hypocrisy of Selective Holiness
I was explaining my journey through India when someone confidently told me Varanasi was satanic, dirty, dark, and full of floating corpses.
I listened quietly. I had been there. He had not.
What struck me most wasn’t the accusation, but the fear behind it. We visit Roman ruins soaked in pagan blood, name our planets after ancient gods, celebrate Halloween without question, yet struggle to respectfully observe another religion’s sacred space.
Standing by the Ganges River, watching life and death coexist with reverence, stripped away my fear. It reminded me that faith is not threatened by understanding, and that open-mindedness is one of the greatest gifts travel can offer.