The Shimenawa Way- From Here to There

The Shimenawa Way is just that – a way. A way of looking at life, love, and the world which some have found to be useful in helping them see all these factors in perspective and navigate toward a way of life that is fulfilling – both in the sense of personally rewarding and in the sense of fulfilling your own particular mission – of doing the job you were sent here to do.

Sent here to do? Yes, exactly! The Shimenawa Way is not some free-to-be-me, do-whatever-you-like approach to life. It builds firmly on the belief that you were put on this earth to do a job, to fulfill a mission, and that you will be happiest in life if you dedicate yourself, to the fullest extent, to discovering and delivering on that destiny. This is perhaps the biggest difference between the Shimenawa Way and many of the other approaches to life you are likely to encounter.

Who gave you that mission? Well, the short answer is that it came from Heaven. As to what Heaven is like and who is up there, that’s for you to find out, according to your own experience. All we will say is that Heaven is benevolent, and wants to enlist you in spreading that benevolence around. Exactly how to do that is also up to you to discover – in fact, that is the whole point of the Shimenawa Way itself – to help you discover your unique mission and start down the path – your own unique path — that was intended for you.

Even though we can’t tell you where you are going along this path, we can be very definite that it starts right here. Let me rephrase that – it starts right HERE. If you use Google Maps to navigate your way around town, like I do, you will frequently be re-assured by a lovely voice that “You are on the fastest route, despite the usual traffic” or something like that.

I always get a chuckle when I hear it. Any mathematician or cartographer can tell you that you are always on the fastest route from HERE to wherever you are going. You are always on the slowest route as well. Or any route at all for that matter! Because all routes from HERE to THERE have to begin right HERE. Get my point?

You were put on this earth to do a job, to fulfill a mission. You will be happiest if you dedicate yourself, to the fullest extent, to discovering and delivering on that destiny.

But it goes deeper than just a simple geometrical truth. The first set of clues about the direction of your path are most likely to be found right HERE, or hereabouts. So the first step in finding your own unique path is to get to know the territory you will push off from – in other words, get to know what things are like right HERE. There is a lot of wisdom in the old adage that “your vocation is the person in front of you.” Your vocation, your destiny starts right HERE and right now.

Ok, so what do you do next? We’ve tried to distill the essence of the Shimenawa Way down into six “Shimenawa Virtues” to cultivate, which will help you find and proceed along that path.