He loves Tony Kushner’s “Angels in America.” And pioneering fashion journalist Andre Leon Talley of Vogue magazine, who he says taught him to appreciate beauty. He wrote his latest book listening to Beyoncé and thinking about the work of choreographer Alvin Ailey. His schedule keeps him busy these days - appearing in podcasts and social media, speaking to college students and leading meditations, yoga and spiritual retreats across the world. God is always this experience, inviting us back through our most divine, sacred souls. “God isn’t some old man sitting on a throne in the clouds, who’s, like, very temperamental,” he said. Through Buddhism, mindfulness and long periods of silent retreats, Owens eventually reconciled with God. Religion: Believers say three-dimensional mandala can transform negative emotions into compassion. “When I think of him, I think of this concept of Boddhisatva in Buddhism, the deeply compassionate being who is on the path to awakening and sees the suffering of the world and makes a commitment to help liberate others,” said Giles.Įntertainment & Arts Rare Tibetan Buddhist Sculpture Consecrated as a Tool for Peace “What I love about Rod is that he’s deeply himself no matter who he’s with,” said Cheryl Giles, a Harvard Divinity professor who mentored him and who now considers him one of her own teachers. I was only interested in how to reduce harm against myself and others.”Īt Harvard Divinity School, he was again immersed in religious diversity - even a Satanist was there. “What I thought was: ’Here’s something that can help me to suffer less. “When I started exploring Buddhism, I never thought, ’Oh, Black people don’t do this, or maybe this is in conflict with my Christian upbringing,’” Owens said. She later founded a nunnery in India focused on giving women in Tibetan Buddhism some of the opportunities reserved for monks. The British-born nun spent years isolated in a cave in the Himalayas to follow the rigorous path of the most devoted yogis. “Even though I wasn’t doing this theology anymore, what I was definitely doing was following the path of Jesus: feeding people, sheltering people.”Īfter college, he moved to Boston and joined Haley House, a nonprofit partly inspired by the Catholic Worker Movement that runs a soup kitchen and affordable housing programs.Ī Buddhist friend gave him a book that helped him find his spiritual path: “Cave in the Snow,” by Tibetan Buddhist nun Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo.

He trained as an advocate for sexual assault survivors, and volunteered for projects on HIV/AIDS education, homelessness, teen pregnancy and substance abuse.

His new religion, he said, became service. So, in his words, he “broke up with God.” He felt the way that God had been presented to him was too rigid, even vengeful. He wanted to “develop a healthy sense of self-worth” about his queerness, and was dismayed by conservative religious views on gender and sexuality. It didn’t deepen his relationship with Christianity. “Don’t know how he got there, but he got there.”Ī life devoted to spirituality seemed unlikely for her son after he entered Berry College, a nondenominational Christian school.

He walked his path, or he might have even ran his path,” she said.

Dalai lama quotes on women