About Japanese people who dislike spirituality

 About Japanese people who dislike spirituality

Regarding Japanese people who dislike spirituality, there seems to be a relatively widespread tendency in Japan to hold a negative view of spirituality.

I myself may fall into this category, as I tend to refrain from speaking about spirituality outside of platforms like this blog.

The reason is that many people simply cannot understand it, and it seems better to leave such words only for those who are interested, such as readers of this blog.

The fact that some Japanese people dislike spirituality can also be understood from a spiritual perspective, and it is an inevitable phenomenon that cannot be helped.

In Japan, after being defeated in World War II, a perspective emerged that education had led the people into war. At the same time, there was a trend against instilling in children a sense of morality rooted in nationalism. This was likely also part of the GHQ’s policies.

As a result, compared to other countries, there is a view that many Japanese people have relatively low patriotism.

Additionally, extremist communist groups carried out acts of violence such as killings and hijackings, leading to a perception that student movements among students were undesirable.

Furthermore, the Aum Shinrikyo cult caused major incidents harming ordinary citizens, creating a negative view toward pursuing values of the heart.

Since spirituality relates to values of the heart, it is understandable that Japanese people who dislike spirituality tend to appear.

Japanese people who dislike “spirituality” and have “low spiritual status”

The phenomenon of Japanese people disliking spirituality can be understood from a spiritual perspective as related to having “low spiritual level.”

As I have discussed many times on this blog, the growth of knowledge consists of individual realizations or insights, and similarly, the growth of the heart—what can be called the “growth of spiritual level”—also comes from each insight of the heart.

When one’s spiritual level rises, one’s presence or influence in a spiritual sense increases, the ability to fulfill the hearts of others grows, and the more insights one has, the broader the perspective one has on things. This is not a difficult concept; it is simply about becoming spiritually “mature.”

Conversely, having a low spiritual level means one’s spiritual presence is weak, one tends to prioritize satisfying one’s own heart over others’, and with fewer insights, one’s perspective on things tends to be narrow. Again, this is not complicated—it simply means being spiritually “childlike.”

As mentioned earlier, in Japan, there is a tendency to place value only on each piece of knowledge. As a result, awareness of the insights of the heart is weak, and adults with low spiritual levels tend to appear more often.

To understand spirituality, a certain level of spiritual maturity is necessary. Within a narrow perspective, feelings of dislike toward spirituality are likely to appear.

This can be likened to the way children feel aversion when scolded by adults—it is a natural response.

Ideally, one might simply ignore or be indifferent to spirituality, but since the matter involves the spirit, even those who dislike spirituality have hearts and may experience some curiosity or concern about it.

Japanese people who dislike “spirituality” and “presence”

Regarding Japanese people who dislike spirituality, this can also be considered from the perspective of “sense of presence.”

The psychologist Sigmund Freud proposed that whenever people eat, sleep, or even relieve themselves, some form of pleasure arises, and that humans are creatures who seek pleasure. He called this the “pleasure principle.”

In extreme terms, it is not an exaggeration to say that “sense of presence” = pleasure, and when one feels happiness, one can simultaneously experience a strong sense of presence and strong pleasure.

Not being able to feel a sense of presence is not just about lacking that sense; the human body and mind influence each other, and a stress response can arise as a reaction to threats to one’s life.

A stress response places a person in a choice between attack or escape in response to the source of stress. Either way, energy is required, and this process can also generate energy in both body and mind.

Japanese people who dislike spirituality may feel that it threatens their own sense of presence in a spiritual or psychological sense, making them resistant to it.

Additionally, as a historically agrarian society, the Japanese tend to share values with others. This cultural tendency can contribute to a natural resistance toward spirituality, which represents values that differ from the general consensus.