Under One Blue Sky

Buddhist Peace Pagoda in Pokhara, Nepal

Blue Mosque, Istanbul

Selecting pictures to introduce this trip, I noticed that they all share a prominent feature. Each human-made monument to faith, no matter where it stands, is framed by the same deliriously blue sky. There's clarity to an architectural monument rising from the earth to stand solitary before absolute heaven.

Hurva Synagogue, Jerusalem

Christmas Lutheran Church, Bethlehem

Parthenon, Athens

Or rather, an illusion of clarity. Each of these frames hides something else: on the way to the Peace Pagoda, a Hindu temple. Behind the synagogue, a minaret. In fact, from one Protestant balcony in Jerusalem last summer I saw the Hurva synagogue on my right, the Muslim Dome of the Rock straight in front, and on the left, the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, where six Christian faiths continue to coexist in a complex timeshare. The only things singular here are the instinct to build something loftier and more durable than oneself, the one blue sky under which all this building takes place, and the Godhead being described, named, honored in so many diverse ways, the one just beyond the frame of our imaginations.