>>112533
I kinda get where you're coming from. If you look at a lot of spiritual and religious beliefs in Asia, Africa, or Latin America, there's this idea that the world is an enchanted place full of supernatural beings or spirits we can befriend and talk to. This culture died off in the West (and in Japan too) because modernity slowly killed it off and replaced it with a materialist mechanical view of the universe where trees and rivers are just dumb playthings for humans to exploit. But these spiritual and folk beliefs don't really share the same fundamental beliefs at all. Ottoman Islam, Russian folk Christianity, and Japanese kami worship all shared a vision of an enchanted universe where nature is filled with spirits and monsters, but their basic beliefs are completely different.

Is it true that ancient pre-Abrahamic religions were these cutesy pro-nature Shinto like comfyness? Well, ancient Near Eastern religions saw the gods as transcendent and unreleatable. Humans are inferior slaves of the gods and the natural world is often portrayed as a filthy shithole created by an evil god or by accident (e.g. after Ninhursag is killed by Enlil, the gods create humanity from her corpse to be their slaves and serve them food and drink). The Caananites and Carthaginians would burn infants as payment to appease Ba'al. What made religions like Judaism and Christianity successful is that they preached that everyone could have a personal reltionship with God and that he loves us and will forgive us and doesn't eat your children. You couldn't have a relationship with Zesus or Ba'al because you are literally a worthless slave and they don't love you or owe you anything. Ancient Slavic and Germanic religions were roughly simmilar. That's why these religions died out while Shinto and Hinduism are still around. Hindu and Shinto beliefs are a lot less cruel and harsh than the cult of Jupiter. Saint and spirit verneration was very popular in Abrahamic religions too and still is and some of the nicer deities get absorbed into Jewish or Muslim philosophy or folk Catholicism.

People have this idea that Abrahamic religions are all about hell and punishment while Buddhism and Shintoism are peaceful and comfy. But you have concepts simmilar to hell (jigoku) in Shinto and Buddhism and these people fought violent wars and killed each other over beliefs too. Shintoists had a whole campaign to wipe out Buddhism at one point.