| Eastern Philosophies such as Buddhism and Taoism | | | | Philosophy. There is no God separate from human or |
| and Hindu have much to offer the west even though | | | | animal existence. True their is a Higher Power, God |
| their way of perceiving the world and the Universe is | | | | with different names than "God" or Buddha or the |
| completely different from western philosophy and | | | | Tao, but in eastern philosophy you are a part of a |
| thought. Western thought is full of dualism and | | | | cosmic whole. In other words you are a part of God |
| dichotomies, but eastern thought and philosophy is | | | | or you are Tao or you are a little Buddha with a small |
| based on the principle of oneness. | | | | mind while the cosmic whole is Big Mind. Eastern |
| Western Philosophy traces its origins back to the | | | | Philosophies do have differences, even in the |
| Greeks, specifically Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. | | | | different schools of similar thought like schools of |
| Socrates often said that he did not really know | | | | Taoism and Buddhism. |
| anything, so he always asked questions to find truth. | | | | One common thing in Eastern Philosophies along with |
| Socrates wrote nothing down, his student Plato | | | | the concept of Oneness which can be translated into |
| wrote about Socrates and Plato also wrote his own | | | | "where do you let off and the Universe begin?" is the |
| thinking. Plato was an Essentialist, which basically | | | | concept of energy. Taoists call it chi, hippies call it |
| means that he believed all knowledge resided inside | | | | energy and vibrations, Hindus believe in Chakras |
| his own being, in his soul if you will. For example, Plate | | | | which are powerful seats of energy within the human |
| believed that if you wanted to change your own tire | | | | body. Taoists believe the same thing and believe that |
| on the highway and you did not know how, that by | | | | energy is neutral and that it flows through everyone |
| asking certain questions inside your own self like | | | | and everything. This correlates very well with |
| what do I need to get the car off the ground to | | | | Western scientific thought in that Energy can neither |
| change the tire, you would quickly determine that | | | | be created nor destroyed, that it just changes shape |
| you need a lever of some point and thus a car jack. | | | | and form. Common to western thought is the belief |
| Plato also wrote about morality and knowledge. | | | | that humans are not perfect and God is. Humans in |
| Plato, in writing about Atlantis believed that with | | | | this way of thinking have faults and imperfections or |
| philosophy should come a certain morality. Plato's | | | | character defects or flaws. Eastern philosophies do |
| moral tale of Atlantis, a culture with much | | | | believe the same thing to an extent. |
| technological know how that turned to decadence | | | | Certain parts of a persons character can be harmful |
| and was destroyed by the gods and their wrath for | | | | to self and these need to be worked against, such |
| being so decadent is still popular in religious right | | | | as laziness for an example. However, other "flaws" |
| thinking still to this day. As a matter of fact, Western | | | | are simply both assets and defects at the same time. |
| Philosophy traces much of its origin to Church | | | | For example, what a western thinker might call lust, |
| philosophers of the Medieval time period such as | | | | an eastern philosopher might say that all marriage |
| Saint Augustine, who derived much of his thinking | | | | begins with lust. Also a perfectionist for example |
| from Plato. The Church borrowed much from the | | | | might have difficulty allowing himself or herself too |
| Greeks and incorporated their thinking into the | | | | make mistakes which can hinder one's personal as |
| Medieval Church and their thinking is still very much | | | | one learns from making mistakes, but perfectionism |
| alive in religious right thinking today in America. The | | | | can also be an asset in the workplace or as an artist |
| dichotomies of good versus evil and free will versus | | | | or writer. So from eastern philosophy point of view |
| God's Will and God on the outside or in Heaven while | | | | assets and flaws can be simply the same thing it only |
| one exists separate from God is all in Western | | | | matters how they are addressed and applied in one's |
| thought and philosophy. | | | | daily life. Similarly contrasting to western belief in free |
| Another contrasting school of thought to Plato's | | | | will is the eastern philosophical view of Will. The west |
| Essentialism is the philosophy of existentialism, which | | | | sees that we are all individuals which is really an ego |
| is also Western in thought and was born out of the | | | | that says "I" and "I" have choice and free will. |
| crisis of World war Two and the Holocaust. After the | | | | Eastern philosophies hold that the ego serves as a |
| aftermath of those two horrific tragedies, many | | | | division between yourself and the Universe or Tao or |
| Atheists were born and threw out Plato's Essentialism | | | | the Nameless One or Big Mind. In this way of thinking |
| and the philosophy of Existentialism was born. | | | | there really is no free will their is simply Will. You are |
| Existentialism holds some precepts in that one: life is | | | | Tao or small mind or a part of the Universe and what |
| essentially meaningless and the only meaning it has is | | | | you do is simply a further extension of Universal Will. |
| that which the person ascribes to his or her own life; | | | | To sum up, eastern philosophy and thought is |
| two: we are all mortal and death always stares us in | | | | drastically different from Western thought which is |
| the face driving us to to do what we must do | | | | full of dualism and dichotomies. Eastern philosophies |
| before we die; three: one always finds himself or | | | | hold to the principle of Cosmic Oneness with the |
| herself alone in the world with his or her own | | | | Universe and derive their way of thinking from |
| thoughts and feelings and there is a form of isolation | | | | certain religious and spiritual traditions such as Taoism, |
| from others. There is a fourth powerful precept but | | | | Buddhism and Hindu much like the west derives its |
| this author cannot recall what it is. Existentialism is | | | | way of thinking from Christianity and Judaism. Eastern |
| exactly the opposite to Plato's Essentialism in the | | | | philosophies also see the ego as a division between a |
| West. | | | | self that thinks it exists apart from the Whole while |
| Eastern Philosophies however, are a great alternative | | | | western thinking holds that self is all there is. Eastern |
| to Western Philosophy and thought as well as | | | | philosophies hold that the Universe or "God" IS while |
| Existentialism. Eastern Philosophies basing their birth in | | | | western philosophies see that individuals exist apart |
| Buddhism, Taoism, and Hindu hold that everything is | | | | from a God who lives in a Heaven. |
| One. Oneness is the driving principle in Eastern | | | | |