Same mountain. Completely different experience.

One thing being a yamabushi has helped me realise, or has maybe simply brought to my attention is that there are two mountains. There is the mountain you climb as a normal person, and there is the mountain you climb as a yamabushi. Even if it’s the same mountain, it’s not.

I’m not saying this to be pretentious, because I climb mountains doesn’t make me more important or special than anyone else, but it does help me realise that a shift in perspective, or mindset, can completely change an experience of a place.

If you enter the mountains as a normal person, as a tourist let’s say, your views are completely different to if you enter the mountains to worship them. What other parts of our daily lives, or the places we visit, could change entirely depending on how we approach them?