There’s this phenom called “skepticism.” Skepticism is not doubt. Doubt is a soft, exploratory state. In fact, Abhinavagupta, a great Tantrik siddha of Kashmir, said that the most teachable students are willing to host doubt.

The pantheon of Hindu and Tantrik deities presents us with a playground of playfully shifting gender expressions. Nonetheless, the force of conventional gender role expectations and confusion plays itself out everywhere in contemporary spiritual communities.