Jonzu’s Reflections on Religion

[Sundance]

In my life, I’ve acquired all types of knowledge when it comes to religion and philosophy. Though, thinking about it, at this point in my life, much of it has become (to be frank) purposeless. It does not serve to impact my life spiritually, let alone better me as a person.


This is not to say that I’m not religious. In fact, I am. To summarize it briefly, (in the samurai spirit), I'm a believer in both the kami and Lord Buddha (i.e. Shinto and Buddhism - shinbutsu shugo). Specifically, I follow a sect of Shinto called Konkokyo and I’m exploring Pure Land Buddhism. I'm also drawn to Confucianism and Daoism, as two other religions which have influenced Japanese culture.


What I hope to do in life is try to clear out my own spiritual space of all of the unnecessary clutter. To do this, I will further dedicate my life to perfecting the values found within the code of the samurai, bushido.

 

[Quintessence]

It might be worth going into what you define "true" to be in this context. It's something of a polysemic word with many meanings, and to the minds of some, constructs (like human ideologies) are still truths. Put another way, many recognize something does not have to be literally or factually true to be true. What does true mean to you?

 

[Riders]

animist and a henotheist. What does this mean? I like your post.

 

[Sundance]

It might be worth going into what you define "true" to be in this context. It's something of a polysemic word with many meanings, and to the minds of some, constructs (like human ideologies) are still truths. Put another way, many recognize something does not have to be literally or factually true to be true. What does true mean to you?

Q, I edited the post a bit. The nature of truth was going to be my initial topic, but now, it's become “clearing the inner clutter”.