While we were off meditating in the wilderness, immersed in fasting, prayer & the World Cup, the International Herald Tribune published a feature story on the trend toward "Spiritual But Not Religious" jewelry in men's adornment. 

Faithful readers of the BofG will no doubt be familiar with pretty much everything mentioned in the piece, from the emergence of early human adornment to the layers of meaning in seemingly mundane imagery to the growing strength of the spiritual marketplace.  A few highlights below:

The most inclusive of sects, SBNR appears to shelter nouveau Buddhists, 12- step adherents, lapsed Catholics, nonobservant Jews, people who burn incense and others who just don't, you know, like how negative "atheism" sounds.

Naturally, SBNR involves no overt dogma. But tacitly it encourages a few things: self-expression, whole grains, a working familiarity with yoga. And for men, it involves jewelry. No heavy-link gold chains; SBNR rejects such overt materialism. No diamonds; SBNR does not square with those dark politics. And no Christian crosses, no Stars of David; SBNRists are beyond such unimaginative choices.

"For me, it's about the perfect nondenominational, archetypal symbol," said Philip Crangi, an in-crowd jewelry designer whose men's business, epitomized by slim chains with pendants like slender polished tusks or old-school anchors, has more than tripled in the last year and a half. "I go back to the anchor, which has several layers of connotation, from a kind of tongue-in-cheek preppy thing to a more spiritual angle."

. . .

Francisco Costa, the Calvin Klein designer, wears a collection of religious medals and good luck charms he has picked up over the years.

"I don't even look at this as jewelry," he said. "It's more something spiritual, that depicts periods of my growth, of growing up, of my life. I try not to look at it as jewelry. If I did, I would rip it right off my neck."