It's been pretty bad here in Japan. It's as if I have a little sphere of light around my altar, but darkness reigns elsewhere. I attended a meeting of my religious group last Saturday. We are losing people. A lot of them are older and we would be declining anyway, but I think not at such a rapid pace. I think many of our members were harmed by the vaxxes. The leader of our sect had very little spiritual to say this time, which is unlike him. He spoke of the need to prepare to demolish our main meeting house to avoid putting that burden of the joint owners of the property, who are no longer able to attend. Really depressing. I am rallying with the leader and one other motivated younger intellectual member to at least leave a legacy for when people come around and realize they need it. Religions have come under fire everywhere except perhaps Russia (from what I can tell). They were blamed early on for spreading COVID. In Japan, most religious groups I know stopped holding public ceremonies, and some (including ours) even discouraged their members from coming together and performing them privately, for fear of incurring suspicions and fatal levels of criticism. None have resumed public ceremonies. The Kompira Shrine has stopped holding training courses for its followers these past three years. This year they tried to organize an on-line course, but it appears to me that they are suffering financially enough (much revenue from tourism) that they've had to let go of priests, and those who remain just don't have the time to organize very much. Meanwhile, the digitalization of Japan seems to be the only thing going forward. The tide is withdrawing even further from spirituality, and I will be driven further from society than I am already, but my little circle of light will not go out.
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branchandroot
Re: Mucky state of the collective astral around here
Date: 2022-11-10 11:48 am (UTC)I attended a meeting of my religious group last Saturday. We are losing people. A lot of them are older and we would be declining anyway, but I think not at such a rapid pace. I think many of our members were harmed by the vaxxes. The leader of our sect had very little spiritual to say this time, which is unlike him. He spoke of the need to prepare to demolish our main meeting house to avoid putting that burden of the joint owners of the property, who are no longer able to attend. Really depressing. I am rallying with the leader and one other motivated younger intellectual member to at least leave a legacy for when people come around and realize they need it.
Religions have come under fire everywhere except perhaps Russia (from what I can tell). They were blamed early on for spreading COVID. In Japan, most religious groups I know stopped holding public ceremonies, and some (including ours) even discouraged their members from coming together and performing them privately, for fear of incurring suspicions and fatal levels of criticism. None have resumed public ceremonies.
The Kompira Shrine has stopped holding training courses for its followers these past three years. This year they tried to organize an on-line course, but it appears to me that they are suffering financially enough (much revenue from tourism) that they've had to let go of priests, and those who remain just don't have the time to organize very much.
Meanwhile, the digitalization of Japan seems to be the only thing going forward. The tide is withdrawing even further from spirituality, and I will be driven further from society than I am already, but my little circle of light will not go out.