Siarl’s Reviews > The Essence of Shinto: Japan's Spiritual Heart > Status Update

“No matter how hard one works to construct a theology with long strings of elaborate words, those words cannot contain either the world of great nature or the world of the spirit of Kami. In Shinto, it is important for each person to experience and feel in his or her own way and not to use language to force others to believe in a certain way.”

Shintoists, Japanese generally, don't believe in words very much. They understand that it is wrong to consider human language as absolute, recognizing that human existence is very small and limited when compared with the great nature. The Western mentality that treats human knowledge and language as absolutes is, from Shinto's perspective, a form of human arrogance.

The Essence of Shinto is a lovely small book written to explain the basics of the Japanese faith.
Western religions typically have a founder, doctrine, commandments, and objects of worship (symbols or idols.) Shinto, by contrast, has none of these. This alone makes Shinto radically different.
Shinto has evolved out of the life and experience of millennia of Japanese people. It has its own way of thinking and feeling.

A FASCINATING READ! Shinto, Japan’s unique religion, does not have a fixed point of view regarding a founder, doctrine, or object of worship. Shinto has nothing to do with any dogmas that point towards absolutism.
Shinto can be summarized: 1st, how each person makes contact with the noble spirit; 2nd, how each person shows gratitude and respect for the noble spirit; and 3rd, how each person grows spiritually.