The esoteric heritage in …..

When I’ve spoken to Japanese people including high-graded martial artists and even a swordsmith they invariably say that although they perform the various spiritual rites associated with their culture/art, they don’t actually believe in kami or or that their rituals will actually do anything. This was particularly incongruous when chatting to a swordsmith, dressed in the white garb of a Shinto priest (for purity), with a Shinto kamidana on the wall at the back of his smithy replete with fresh sakaki leaves, a fresh pile of salt and rice in place!

Is this the evolution of spiritual and religious practises in a far more lucid world?
 
When I’ve spoken to Japanese people including high-graded martial artists and even a swordsmith they invariably say that although they perform the various spiritual rites associated with their culture/art, they don’t actually believe in kami or or that their rituals will actually do anything. This was particularly incongruous when chatting to a swordsmith, dressed in the white garb of a Shinto priest (for purity), with a Shinto kamidana on the wall at the back of his smithy replete with fresh sakaki leaves, a fresh pile of salt and rice in place!

Is this the evolution of spiritual and religious practises in a far more lucid world?
It could be that even though they do not believe in the supernatural aspects of the spiritual, going through the rituals provides a comforting routine and helps put them in the proper frame of mind for their art or life in general.
 
It could be that even though they do not believe in the supernatural aspects of the spiritual, going through the rituals provides a comforting routine and helps put them in the proper frame of mind for their art or life in general.
Yes I think it’s exactly that: a little ritual, a procedure that allows you to collect your thoughts, centre yourself and prepare for what is to come. It’s like tennis players bouncing the ball a specific number of times before they serve. It’s a mental process and given humanity’s penchant for superstition, it became filled with spiritual woo woo.
 
Yes I think it’s exactly that: a little ritual, a procedure that allows you to collect your thoughts, centre yourself and prepare for what is to come. It’s like tennis players bouncing the ball a specific number of times before they serve. It’s a mental process and given humanity’s penchant for superstition, it became filled with spiritual woo woo.
…it’s like turning the light on and off exactly 7 times when you leave the room, and then starting over if you lose count…
 
Yes I think it’s exactly that: a little ritual, a procedure that allows you to collect your thoughts, centre yourself and prepare for what is to come. It’s like tennis players bouncing the ball a specific number of times before they serve. It’s a mental process and given humanity’s penchant for superstition, it became filled with spiritual woo woo.
For the sake of the light switch Kami of course.
 
Yes, SEVEN EXACTLY!
I had a good friend at University who, to salve his OCD, would knock on his door when he left his room to remind himself, later, that he’dlocked his door. I suggested that he might later be remembering a knock from the previous day so needed to have an extra movement for each day- perhaps hopping on one leg and knocking for a Monday, spinning on the spot and knocking for Tuesdays etc. His OCD made him comply and then I added he needed to add something for each month to ensure he was remembering the correct event. It drove him insane as the ritual became more and more elaborate 😆

He’s dead now…😐
 
I had a good friend at University who, to salve his OCD, would knock on his door when he left his room to remind himself, later, that he’dlocked his door. I suggested that he might later be remembering a knock from the previous day so needed to have an extra movement for each day- perhaps hopping on one leg and knocking for a Monday, spinning on the spot and knocking for Tuesdays etc. His OCD made him comply and then I added he needed to add something for each month to ensure he was remembering the correct event. It drove him insane as the ritual became more and more elaborate 😆

He’s dead now…😐
That's just mean.
Back in the paper charts days, I worked with an ER Dr would would compulsively line up the charts in the rack. Whenever I walked past, I would move one, just a little, or reverse it in the rack.
I told him I was doing it as "therapy" to help hi overcome his compulsion to line them up.
 
I had a good friend at University who, to salve his OCD, would knock on his door when he left his room to remind himself, later, that he’dlocked his door. I suggested that he might later be remembering a knock from the previous day so needed to have an extra movement for each day- perhaps hopping on one leg and knocking for a Monday, spinning on the spot and knocking for Tuesdays etc. His OCD made him comply and then I added he needed to add something for each month to ensure he was remembering the correct event. It drove him insane as the ritual became more and more elaborate 😆

He’s dead now…😐
Well that’s an evil story to be sure. Jeez.
 
That's just mean.
Back in the paper charts days, I worked with an ER Dr would would compulsively line up the charts in the rack. Whenever I walked past, I would move one, just a little, or reverse it in the rack.
I told him I was doing it as "therapy" to help hi overcome his compulsion to line them up.
Another evil story, but alas, I have no empathy for doctors. In regard to their feelings, I have simply run fresh out of care.
 
Another evil story, but alas, I have no empathy for doctors. In regard to their feelings, I have simply run fresh out of care.
He was a good guy. He was a Wiccan who made really nice pens. So I now have some really nice hand made pens, and he had some fairly nice handmade knives.
 
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