Idea Ripper // ArchiveCards: 1555 [Live] | Updated: 2026-10-14
Card #c211IR // #c211Synthesis

The Kami are high, swift, good, rich, living, but not infinite, omnipotent, or omniscient.

— In our words · Source: Shinto: The Ancient Religion of Japan (William George Aston)

[Use when]

When a system's gods have limits, read the religion as a technology for managing superiors rather than a metaphysics of the absolute.

[Why it matters]

Defines the operating range of Shinto divinity: powerful superiors rather than an all-everything God — which is why they can be offended, propitiated, and kept at a ritual distance.

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