SHINTOISTS! Why do you believe...?

Question

Okay, I just wondered how many people would click on this question. I realise that it's not as sexy as starting a question with CHRISTIANS! or ATHEISTS! but I figure everyone should get their chance, right?

thanks to magpieix and the_gooligan. It was a joke, but I genuinely am interested. Thanks for your answers!

Answer 1

Harmony tends to work better than disharmony and it's a lot more practical to believe in a great void than a hairy thunderer - the great void makes you take responsibility and doesn't lead to time wasters like wondering about the personal hygiene or race of divinities.

More seriously, I was baptized Catholic and that didn't take. I was raised mostly atheist. That also did not satisfy my perception of an existence where life is cyclical, rather than a lot of terminal processes. And the Western faiths just weren't really workable at all - partly because I just couldn't believe in some big guy marching around giving orders, partly because I couldn't see any more validity to a hairy thunderer than I could give to a Great World Turtle, mostly because I just don't buy humanity as the pinnacle of existence. In cynical moments I think of E.O. Wilson's comment that God sure loves beetles and wonder if God is a big honkin' beetle . . . but that doesn't allow for the rest of life's variety. So in my gut, which is the same as saying in faith, I found myself believing in a non-representational deity that is integrated and a part of all evolving systems. And when I looked for a faith that approximated THAT belief, lo and behold, Taoism was pretty much a 100% fit. Shin-tao is what I understand to be the Japanese national version of the fused Taoism and the more animist Shin earlier faith, which then fused and were integrated (harmony rises again as a theme!).

The more I studied Taoism and Shinto, the more I found it to be supportive of spiritual pursuits and to feed spiritual growth, rather than to be a political/social instrument of control and behavioral policing. It enforces recognition of one's status as a part of a larger process of evolving physical and metaphysical space. Taoism or Shin-Taoism (Shinto) therefore seems like a natural choice for anyone who believes:
1) that life on the planet (and potentially other planets) matters and is not just a handy toy for humanity.
2) that life on the planet (and potentially other planets) is a complex evolving system of which humanity is one piece, rather than a big erector set handed to a juvenile species to be its special toy or some kind of responsibility test (I can see the lesson now for parallel parking a planet).
3) After careful consideration I couldn't honestly claim that God had to be anthropomorphic, and I couldn't impose a model on a divine force, nor even fully assert one exists although I prefer to believe one exists. If a divine force exists it is, and should be, far beyond my powers of imagination. This is what I believe is represented by the Great Void at the heart of Shinto and Taoism generally. Humbling but pleasing, as it puts neither special virtue nor onus on my species, but says only that we exist with specific gifts of our brains, and our learning ability and ability to make choices, just as elephants exist with trunks and European bees in hives and trees with photosynthesizing leaves - we all have adaptive skills and the ability to use them. There's no mandate to go out and exploit, and we can and should use our brains to restrain our instinctive responses - after all, that's one of our adaptive advantages, otherwise why would we need brains rather than just relying on instincts?

It's not that Shinto defined my beliefs, but that existing to the best of my ability in an ethical and observant manner, defined my beliefs and Shinto was one of the few faiths I found that provided a spiritual framework that did not provide license or mandate to violate my precepts of respect for others, respect for natural systems, acceptance that I can and must use products OF those systems but must not destroy them, and then after meeting those requirements, must respects and be tolerant of the beliefs of others and of their right to made choices up to the point where those choices infringe on or endanger other individuals, groups, or evolved systems (not individuals - fine to eat a deer but not to endanger an ecosystem. One can be compensated for within a system but and entire evolved system cannot be replaced by humans - we lack the understanding and ability).

Therefore my prior ethics, driven by a childhood around scientists who taught observation and respect for things other than myself, defined my worldview. Shinto is the best fit I've found for that worldview.

Gooligan

Answer 2

Shintoists worship nature.

Mountains are sacred--mountains exist.
The ocean is sacred--the ocean exists
Plants and animals can be sacred--plants and animals exist.

Obviously Shintoists have more concrete evidence for their beliefs than say, Christians :)

Answer 3

Calling all Shintoists?

Answer 4

2 points

Answer 5

You wrote: "maximum folk see it as a festive component that has little to no effect on their existence. Shinto spirits are even made as much as motivate a sale, have fairs, and celibrate countless events. purely a decide on few human beings take it as gospel. something play it quickly and loose, at the same time as no longer likely worrying approximately it extremely is reality." My answer is that there are various that call themselves Christians who basically "flow to church" and there are all varieties of techniques wherein persons carry the gospel from, as you assert, enjoying quickly and loose with it to keeping it in superstitious techniques, to easily seeing it as something intense-high quality to communicate in. There are some who're maximum involved in having their feet pulled out of the hearth. Then there are people who stay IT 2d to 2d and who love the Lord and desire purely His maximum Holy Will of their lives and have intimate union with Him. God does not look on the outward visual charm yet on the guts - purely He is conscious the state of a individual's soul and purely he's qualified to make the judgment.

Answer 6

this just illustrates a) who clicks on your questions on things, and b) when people ask why don't we ask questions of other religions besides christianity why don't we

you can clearly see having a conversation with shinto religion leads nowhere

Answer 7

I wonder if there are any Shintoists on this forum?

Answer 8

Darn, I was interested. I don't know much about Shintoism.

I like that new avatar... what painting is that?

Answer 9

I clicked! :-)

Magpie and Gooligan, I really enjoyed reading your answers!

Answer 10

LMAO!!!!