Over the course of the last three years and becoming intimately acquainted with many of the concepts of Eastern philosophy, it became very clear to me that these teachings felt extremely foreign to me after growing up in the most Western society in the world. These philosophies helped bring so much peace into my own life and helped me answer some of those dire existential questions that I always struggled with and naturally I started to share them with others. Today I want to discuss why I think it's so important to bring Eastern philosophies to the West.
In Western society, the focus of life is very competitive and materialistic. There is so much emphasis on controlling our lives and being or having more. It's an endless cycle that can lead to a lot of feelings of being unfulfilled and resentment, which in turn lead to isolation and viewing ourselves as something separate than, and often less than, the rest of humanity. In short, Western Society encourages egotistical thinking and leaves many of us lost in our heads.
Western society is also dominated by Christianity and its ideas of judgement and original sin. The tyrannical "God" figure of the old testament and the perpetual debt we all owe for the sacrifice of "his only begotten son," who by the way we'll never hope to live up to, instill fear of accepting our true selves if they contradict the church's teachings. I don't blame all of the West's problems on Christianity, I'm mainly pointing out how it's a contributing factor and all of these teachings lead so many people to self-repression and self loathing, not to mention how it encourages judgment and comparison of self and others.
Judging others and comparing ourselves to them is probably the most toxic aspect of Western society from my perspective. These behaviors, when left unchecked, create such a wedge between ourselves and the ideals that we're taught that many people never learn to reconcile and find peace in their own lives. We struggle to find acceptance of ourselves and others, which makes it quite difficult to truly love anyone or anything. Tie that into the constant pursuit of power and materialism, and we're more often than not focused on what people can give us or do for us than appreciating them and loving them for actually being themselves.
I'm also not saying that everyone falls into these traps, but the vast majority of people living in Western societies do, which is why I feel it's so imperative to share Eastern philosophies. I don't think they're perfect, but I think it's important to present choice and encourage people to learn and find what works for them in their own lives, so that we stop having so many people living unhappy and unfulfilled lives in endless cycles of chasing things we don't really need by doing things we don't really want to do, and ultimately encourage everyone to embrace their own authenticity.
Eastern philosophies can accomplish this by helping to dissolve our egotistical self views and lead us to being more invested in the present moment. We can see life as less of a competition and more as a cooperative existence, where we collaborate and play the game of life together. Then we can stop feeling separate from the rest of existence and become one with the universe. All of those feelings of depression and senseless pursuits give way to the joy and contentment of living our lives as we truly feel we should, and in the end we can embrace the point of all of this, which as far as I can tell, is the experience. Namaste.