Final Worship Experience

Research:
For my final worship project i wanted to focus on the element of Shintoism seeing as it was one of the religions which purpose was easy for me to interpret. Specifically in Shintoism i liked the idea of kami's, which are the life forces that are found in all things. As described by the Journal of Religion and Film, kamis are "a generative, immanent force that permeates throughout the phenomenal world". In simpler terms this just means that in Shintoism the things around us are more than which they seem and radiate a life and energy of their own. This is an idea that i can relate with very well, all throughout my life i believed that their was more to...lets say a flower than its physical properties. I just felt that when i was out in the mountains or taking a nature walk i was experiencing something greater than i could explain using physical phenomena.   I also learned that in Shintoism people have their own sort of kami which is a manifestation of their mind and spirit, known as the kokoro. Like with the physical world, ones' kokoro can become unclean and to return to a state of purity and one where they can experience kami  one must clean their kokoro. For me this sort of purification would be by experiencing kami or the life found in the world. Thus for my religious experience i wanted to cleanse my kokoro with my own sort of spiritual walk through.

What i Did: Like i stated above i feel like my heart and mind are at their most fresh when im active or experiencing life. When i walk along the river for instance i feel very alive, like im sharing the vitality thats around me. On the other hand when im being very lethargic and just sitting around my house i dont feel much energy in my life and as a result i feel very sloppish physically and mentally. So what i did was take a run by the river will listening to my favorite music (which does a good job of getting my heart rate up). I felt as if running would cleanse my body physically and being around all the energy of the river did a good job of revitalizing my spirit.

Reflection: While i was running i just thought about how good it felt to be active and alive. It was hard for me to actually think when i was running because its kinda of hard to concentrate when you're running. What i do remember is that even though it was hard i felt very good about myself and my existence. re-evaluating my life looking at these Shinto beliefs i can see how a religious experience can be good for one's life.