Samudra Manthan—the churning of the ocean—is a story from Hindu mythology of a time pre-humanity when the gods have angered the higher powers of the universe, and are reduced to mere mortals in punishment. Their only chance for salvation is to find the fabled elixir of immortality that lies at the bottom of the ocean. They are successful in their search, but all good things come with a price—before they are able to retrieve the elixir, they are met with a poison so toxic that it could wipe out all of creation as we know it—it is a manifestation of all the evils of the world. Lord Shiva, in an act of sacrifice, swallows the poison himself so that the rest of the deities could be free. Parvati, his wife, grabs him right as he ingests the toxin, strangling him as it makes it’s way down his esophagus and trapping it in his throat, turning it bright blue and grotesque. With that, the gods get to live another day, but this story serves to ask us the question: in what ways do we embody the sins of our world? When stripped of everything but our humanity, how helpless do we feel when faced with the endless churning of the ocean?