I have a few tattoos. The largest I’ve had for 10 years and is essentially a belt around my hips made up of the symbols from a variety of world religions. There are more religions than I have hip circumference 😉, but I included those that came to my mind. 

![596AAB64-2C89-4505-86DF-F8093E52552F.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmbGKD5YE4Acma4uB78nqet3nj3AdvtV2sig5B9bMirA1T/596AAB64-2C89-4505-86DF-F8093E52552F.jpeg)

I should say “our” mind. Creating this tattoo was a joint project with @sean-king and our tattoo artist, Anna. He researched tirelessly finding many beautiful artistic symbols to share as examples, and Anna then created original little works of art inspired by the examples  He found. All that beautiful collaboration was then inked on me - the canvas. 

![B072311D-4144-4B07-BFB5-FD29BF66BEAC.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmeYQgirnTQqfM6agpjmSr5GUSNUGUaSpE2Gzv7GdvDUVF/B072311D-4144-4B07-BFB5-FD29BF66BEAC.jpeg)

I used to explain my belt as essentially a “coexist” belt. You know, like the common bumper stickers saying as such on cars? 

![B0FE231B-E897-4C44-BAF5-9ECE93C222A8.jpeg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmZx5YmL5qVetGJkJZL7CukQeH2FHbvxceNySsrhQ7NBhs/B0FE231B-E897-4C44-BAF5-9ECE93C222A8.jpeg)

But really it is and it isn’t a coexist belt. It is in that I think everyone has an inherent human right to hold their own faiths. So I would like to see a world where folks  respect each other’s religious diversity. Live & follow your faith and let your neighbor live and follow theirs...all the while respecting our common search for meaning, or our humanness.

But beyond the Coexist bumper sticker-esque meaning of let’s-all-hold-hands-and-get-along, my tattoo has a deeper meaning for me. A life long fascination of mine has been man’s search for meaning and for the variety of methods and systems, throughout the history of time, that humans have created to explain what is ultimately...unexplainable. ✨ Our compulsion to seek security, where ultimately none exists, is the master of all invention.