As established, its' understandable to see that the human search for meaning within Shintoism is closely reflected in their beliefs, rituals, origins and culture.
To understand this idea to a greater degree, I've split responses for human searches of meanings into four sections:
Simplicity: Shintoism does not pride itself on a confusing and congested structure but rather a simple, independent view of the world. The lack of scripture, ethical/moral codes and doctrines allows the individual to not be crowded with information, expectations and rules, but rather with their own interpretations. One with the world: As Shinto is an immanent religion, the connection that the people have with the world around them is strong. They believe in caring for, appreciating and worshipping the nature of the environment they live in, and therefore they become are a part of the environment, too. Peace within the world: the idea of being the best person you can be, loving and receiving love in return and caring for all creation create an optimistic approach to the world. This enables the people of Japan to be not only at peace with the world, but within themselves also. Individual journey to self discovery and potential: As SHinto is a fairly free religion, it gives room for your own journey into spirituality. It is the acceptance of other religions, and general openness of the religion that gives the chance of a self discovery. Living your life to the fullest potential and doing virtuous deeds are essential to the make up of a Shinto follower. It is very important to live your life to the fullest it can possibly be. Through these four ideas, we can see that the human search for meaning is found through living life simplistically, being a part of, and caring for, the world, being positive and openly accepting others and reaching your definition of full potential as a good person, through worshipping and valuing Kami. |
Taiyun Yashan Shrine
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The Search for Human Meaning
The distinctive Shinto response to the search of meaning in life.