Sophia Rose Arjana’s Buying Buddha, Selling Rumi: Orientalism and the Mystical Marketplace unravels the colonial influence on the spiritual marketplace. Modern mysticism and spirituality are often represented with “stuff”; yoga mats, t-shirts, expensive classes, water bottles, books, and etc. The book examines mysticism historically, theoretically, and as a function of capitalism. Other people’s cultures are consumed through the process of what Arjana calls “muddled Orientalism.”
Muddled Orientalism defers from cultural appropriation, instead it is “sloppy” colonialism which takes various cultural and religious practices and slaps them together to formulate something. This muddled orientalism “sustains a marketplace populated with mystical and spiritual products and experiences.” The book gives detailed examples of muddled orientalism. For example, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam are often overlapped, confused for one another. Hinduism is not, a thing. It is not that there is not a religion that celebrates Vishnu or Saraswati. The word Hinduism was coined by British scholars in South Asia during colonization, what we call “Hinduism” is in fact multiple sets of religions or religious sects that fall under the term “Hinduism.” Sufism is highly whitewashed to the point that Islam no longer exists within it.
Modern mysticism takes from various religious practices to fit into each individual’s perspective. In this book, Arjana does not point fingers solely at the Western world or white people. Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists are just at fault for muddling their own traditions or more importantly for selling their religion online. Arjana shows in the book how converts seek to “appear” Muslim rather than practice Islam. These religions were popularized in the West by spiritual teachers, especially Buddhism and Hinduism. This book mainly focuses on Sufism, Buddhism, and Hinduism and is a wonderful read for anyone wanting to read about the negative consequences of mysticism and spirituality.
The only fault in this book is I was left wanting more. I wanted to dive deeper, than what this book did. This book scratched the surface, it did not leap into the issue at hand. For an uninformed reader, this will be a great introduction to this particular subject. I wish Arjana covered how certain pagan sects take from various religions to formulate their own “spiritual” path. It is something I have personally discussed with a friend and something others in the pagan, Wiccan, and witch community has discussed. I love Arjana’s books and believe that all her books should be on everyone’s shelves. I don’t think I can’t fault Arjana for not diving deeper, otherwise, her book would be a tome. I loved it when she called out Muslims, specifically white converts. If you are a Star Wars fan, I will warn that in all of her works she dismantles the franchise. If you are curious about people doing yoga and stealing cultures, this is a book for you! Just be prepared, she doesn’t let anyone get away with their bullshit.