Faith in Inari

[KD]

I almost made this thread into a poll but wanted to keep everyone's answers more open-ended for elaborations. A lot of people here have espoused a love or devotion for "Inari". What is Inari to you and how do you feel about him/her? What are your personal thoughts?

For me "Inari" is just a name, no different from Jesus or Zeus. It has religious or faith-based connotations born from mythological references that have persisted in one form or another to this day. When one talks about being 'saved' or discovering a higher power it doesn't seem to matter much what face we put on it, except to the individual and those who use the same keywords in their dogma. Often times I find this to be the case. When I see others declaring their affiliations to Inari and then I look at myself and ask the same, I can't help but feel it is no different from asking if I've accepted Jesus into my heart. Not that there is anything wrong with either. But the truth is I haven't. Not by any precise naming conventions anyway. I am hesitant to do so until a necessity can be determined or a 'correct path' is made evident.

Where does everyone else stand? As far as I know there are no wrong answers. Much of this is about personal conclusions regarding your faith as it may or may not relate to Inari. I am interested in what you might have all come up with. Thanks in advance for any replies.

[matoa]

Back in the good old Christian days, they (The church as a whole) told me to "seek" out God, and once I found him/her/it, everything else would come into focus, cats and dogs will dance, etc.

After a few years of "searching" I watched as my friends "found" something that they think is God, and me not seeing whatever it was that they saw. I felt left out and mostly alienated by their supposed illogical "feelings" and "emotions". I drank the kool-aid and asked the supposed deity "into my heart" like you said, and nothing changed. They wanted to "Baptize" me but after my prior non experiences, I felt that it would be a waste of time, and I refused.

Fast forward to 2009, and I traveled to the Inari shrine in Kyoto "seeking" Inari, and while I did have a great adventure, I did not "feel" what people are supposed to "feel" in the presence of a deity.

Does Inari or any god "exist" in any tangible way?

Am I broken and incapable of communing with these beings?

I ended up with more questions than answers, but I suppose that is normal for the mystical and supernatural world.

 

[Kuro]

Inari isn't necessarily for everyone.  My relationship with Her has really helped me to understand that there are paths that are right for you and paths that aren't.  For instance, there's no way I'd suggest Kirara to join the court.   That'd be stupid.  However, there's nothing wrong with them being nogitsune.  That's the path that fits them best, the path that will lead them to where they're meant to be.  Not everyone's meant to be a clone of everyone else.

Just a thought.  You may never find god/a god/gods.  You should at least find yourself regardless.

[Vulpesveritas]

To me, I found Inari, perhaps out of chance, perhaps out of intervention.  Either way... From that first time I prayed to her, I just felt... whole.  That's the best way I can describe it.   Even today, whenever I pray to her, I just feel waves of calm, of belonging flow over the entirety of my being.  I don't know  of many other ways to describe it.

But, I suppose everyone has to find their own path, and that not everyone would have the same experiences that I have.  I don't know why I might have them, when another might, however... I can't really make a judgement on that.  I can theorize perhaps if they can't feel something, then perhaps they are just meant for something else.  I was raised Catholic, and I never once felt anything when I went to church, but I just felt so many things when I found Inari... I think that perhaps it is much the same as what I was told I was meant to feel in the Catholic churches. 

So perhaps things aren't straightforward.  I think just each of us finds ourselves, and in doing so, perhaps one of the gods as well.  I don't know anything as far as a truth.  Who am I to determine what the truth of reality is?  However... if I can choose a truth, this is the truth I have chosen.  The path that I walk, and Inari who I praise, pray for guidance to, and would serve if asked. 

Not quite sure about anyone else's beliefs or experiences.  But I can only state my own.

[StormFox]

To me, a god is who the beings believing in it's existance think of it, we all carry a part of this god.