INTERFAITH WISDOM

You, no doubt, have heard of the Shinto religion but know little about it.  Well, it's not really a religion.  It is a system of rituals and it attempts to connect one to the Kami - spiritual beings.  Shinto can be translated to "the way of the spirits."   I'll try to boil it down for you.

Shinto is an ethnic product of ancient Japan.  No one knows of a founder.  There is no head person.
There are no scriptures.  It has no God.

Shinto considers people as basically good.  There are no commandments, as such, but it teaches ethical principles.  Shinto adherents are not restricted from following some (other) religion.

There are Shinto shrines built all around Japan.  People have Shinto shrines in their homes.  The Kami reside in these shrines.  Shrines are a place of calm and beauty.  There are country-wide festivals related to these shrines.  The ritual at a shrine would consist of:  purification, adoration, an offering, prayer, music and dance, adoration, sharing of food and/or drink.

A Shinto prayer for peace may look like this.(The Peace Abbey)

"Although the people living across the ocean surrounding us, I believe, are all our brothers and sisters, why are there constant troubles in this world?  Why do winds and waves arise in the ocean surrounding us?  I only earnestly wish that the wind will soon puff away all the clouds which are hanging over the tops of the mountains."

💗