# Research Reflections ## expand\_more [### Universal Blackness among the Muridiyya and Its Artists ](/news/2026/06/15/universal-blackness-among-muridiyya-and-its-artists) June 15, 2026 Edited by Aaron Michael Ullrey The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting the academic study of religions. Francesco Piraino, Tenure-track Research Fellow at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Director of the Center for... ![Woman in black headscarf and black robes sitting at a table in front of a pile of salt or white substance with blue tablecoth looking at the other end of the table where there is a table fan facing her.](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-06/Annunciation-Salt%20%20Wind%202016%20%C2%A9Mai%CC%88mouna%20Guerresi%20.jpg?itok=WRBxTgVC) [### It Loves To Happen ](/news/2026/06/04/it-loves-happen) June 04, 2026 Edited by Aaron Michael Ullrey The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting the academic study of religions. I am a painter. The first thing I do in any new studio is to write—in tiny pencil letters, in a corner or by the... ![Painting of man with head bursting with colors](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-06/Picture1.PrettymanRR_0.jpg?itok=qFKMY4py) [### Knowledge Like Life-Giving Rain ](/news/2026/06/01/knowledge-life-giving-rain) June 01, 2026 Edited by Aaron Michael Ullrey The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting the academic study of religions. Imagine living in a world where you are told that most of what is around you is only an opaque refraction of true... ![Mountain ranges one behind the other, clouds and soft light](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-06/iStock-2262008729.jpg?itok=B70MLf5a) [### Aryavarta, Land of the Noble Ones ](/news/2026/06/01/aryavarta-land-noble-ones) June 01, 2026 Edited by Aaron Michael Ullrey The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting the academic study of religions. In 1891, readers of a small American journal called The Path encountered an article by a Jodhpur pandit titled... ![ Helena Blavatsky reading a book](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-06/HPB_reading_book_JPEG.jpg?itok=Za5BtXue) [### How Psychedelic Science Invented a History of Religion ](/news/2026/05/26/how-psychedelic-science-invented-history-religion) May 26, 2026 Edited by Aaron Michael Ullrey The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting the academic study of religions. It is challenging for me to imagine a time before the concept of “the psychedelic” existed, despite its emergence... ![Lab desk with magnifying glass, scrolls, plant specimens, and tinctures](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-05/iStock-1185392487.jpg?itok=Kww27Y3j) [### The Childless Ascetic ](/news/2026/05/26/childless-ascetic) May 26, 2026 Edited by Aaron Michael Ullrey The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting the academic study of religions. When I was seven years old, through songs and poems, my teacher, a widow, instilled in me an awareness of the... ![A group of sadhus walking on the street, some carrying sticks](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-05/P4110128_%D0%90.jpg.resize.jpg?itok=ongq7Qi2) [### The Literary Gods of Roberto Calasso ](/news/2026/05/13/literary-gods-roberto-calasso) May 13, 2026 Nicholas Low is a Research Fellow, Center for the Study of World Religions, Harvard Divinity School and a Fellow, Center for Theory and Research, Esalen Institute The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting the academic... [Nicholas Low](/people/nicholas-low) ![Image of a man wearing a red robe, writing something](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-05/Saint_Jerome_Writing-Caravaggio_%281605-6%29.jpg?itok=V4HGgYNl) [### The Mirror’s Other Side ](/news/2026/04/14/mirrors-other-side) April 14, 2026 Edited by Aaron Michael Ullrey The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting the academic study of religions. Reports of near-death experiences (NDEs) are not simply a late twentieth- and early twenty-first-century phenomenon... ![William Blake, The Soul Hovering Over the Body](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-04/William%20Blake%2C%20The%20Soul%20Hovering%20Over%20the%20Body%20%281%29_1.png?itok=SjotRnIp) [### Loanwords along the Silk Road ](/news/2026/04/13/loanwords-along-silk-road) April 13, 2026 Edited by Aaron Michael Ullrey The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting the academic study of religions. Lots of the words and phrases we use every day are “loaned” or otherwise sourced from other languages. “Coffee,”... [Adam Bremer-McCollum](/people/adam-bremer-mccollum) ![Ancient Chinese Text of the Diamond Sutra](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-04/Image%201_Adam%20RR.jpg?itok=la5l23Pz) [### The God in the Mirror ](/news/2026/03/30/god-mirror) March 30, 2026 Edited by Aaron Michael Ullrey The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting the academic study of religions. Around 1797, Matsudaira Sadanobu (1759–1829), the feudal ruler of Shirakawa domain and senior advisor to the... ![Ancient painting of religious leader kneeling](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/styles/hwp_16_9__480x270/public/2026-03/JJStorm.RR_.Image2_.jpg?itok=MhOQkf8J) - Previous page chevron\_left - [1](?page=0 "Current page") - [2](?page=1 "Go to page 2") - [3](?page=2 "Go to page 3") - [4](?page=3 "Go to page 4") - [5](?page=4 "Go to page 5") - [6](?page=5 "Go to page 6") - [7](?page=6 "Go to page 7") - [8](?page=7 "Go to page 8") - [9](?page=8 "Go to page 9") - [ Last page 10 ](?page=9 "Go to last page") - [ Next page chevron\_right ](?page=1 "Go to next page")