Innovation is usually associated with scientific breakthrough. But to some people, breakthroughs come in the form of religious disputes between their favorite pastor and the main Church. The dispute brings about a schism, and the pastor forms a new sect, bringing his congregation with him. While this may not make headlines, the entire town will be abuzz with debate over which church is right. Families may even split apart due to this "innovation."

For example, there's the story of the "Navelites" who believe that Adam and Eve did not have navels, and that that particular belief has profound enough implications to justify forming a new sect.

Maybe innovation is not the right word, since that implies progress. For these people, the goal is to look to the past and remove corruptions in Christianity, thereby making it more pure and conservative.

Why is it that a "spiritual awakening" in Middle America is considered joining a Christian sect, like Pentecostalism, while as a "spiritual awakening" on the coasts is defined as discovering Buddhism?

Perhaps people on the coasts are naturally cosmopolitan. They always look beyond the pond, broadening their horizons, greeting aliens visiting their harbors, and integrating their strange ideas.

In landlocked areas, like Minnesota, there is no such external stimuli. They must turn inward, divide their horizons into smaller segments, and form tribes within larger tribes, like Christianity.

Innovation on the coast is outward toward a gnostic acquisition of new ideas. Innovation in the interior is inward, toward nuance, provincialism, and a modification of traditions. Cosmopolitans want a different kind of pie. While as provincialists want to find the best parts of the existing pie, and making that their focus.

So I was on a research binge, reading up on Christian sects that started in the United States, and I noticed that many of them were headquartered in Minnesota. Which is weird because I thought nothing happens in Minnesota. Which got me thinking, that people on the interior, in landlocked areas, focus inward. They take Christianity, tweak the rules a little bit, and then call it the "true way." So if you're born in Middle America, but have a thirst for spiritual awakening, you will gravitate toward sects like Pentecostalism or Adventism.

But that same religious seeker, if they were born on the coast, would look outward beyond Christianity for inspiration. They would instead dabble in Buddhism or Hinduism. They seek exotic innovation, while as those living in the interior seek esoteric innovation.