Devotions

    Whatever your feelings on the subject of religion may be, there is something that is extraordinary about what we accoutre ourselves in to observe our religious practices.  These specialized garments are largely outside of time, since the baseline notion of communing with something eternal invests the structure and shape of the clothes to a great degree.  So most often these things are robe-

like, loose, and comfortable for standing, sitting, and kneeling for long periods.  And as a point of information, in this post I am not talking about the overt displays of power associated with some clerical vestments, with all their layers of symbolic meanings. Nor am I talking about complex rituals involving dance and costume.  I'm referring here to simple people doing simple devotions.
    Along with the loose and comfortable quality, something else is routinely a part of these things. Simplicity.  Because the idea of some kind of spiritual practice requires inward turning, the distractions of the outward world are not needed, in fact actively hamper achieving the place desired. So solid colors, clean and simple shapes, and a relative lack of ornamentation are the general rule.
    What we get left with is a poetical looking, and nearly sculptural image that diminishes the individual personality, in favor of the journey inward.  So we make manifest in physical terms our desire to be aligned with a divine force.  What I find most interesting about that, is that we associate closeness to divinity, not with outward display, but with the lack of it.  The more centered we become, the less we require ourselves to show to the world.
    Take a look at what I mean:

    Are there lots of other ways we make ourselves connected to what we see as divine?  Sure, endless numbers of them. But I wanted to focus only on this aspect of it for now, and allow us all to vicariously partake in that serenity.