Eastern Philosophies like Buddhism and Taoism and Hindu have much to supply the west although their method of perceiving the globe and also the Universe is completely totally different from western philosophy and thought. Western thought is full of dualism and dichotomies, however eastern thought and philosophy relies on the principle of oneness.
Western Philosophy traces its origins back to the Greeks, specifically Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Socrates usually said that he failed to very know anything, therefore he perpetually asked queries to search out truth. Socrates wrote nothing down, his student Plato wrote about Socrates and Plato conjointly wrote his own thinking. Plato was an Essentialist, that essentially suggests that that he believed all data resided within his own being, in his soul if you will. As an example, Plate believed that if you wanted to vary your own tire on the highway and you probably did not recognize how, that by asking certain queries within your own self like what do I want to urge the automobile off the bottom to alter the tire, you'd quickly verify that you wish a lever of some point and therefore a automotive jack. Plato also wrote about morality and knowledge.
Plato, in writing regarding Atlantis believed that with philosophy ought to return a certain morality. Plato's moral tale of Atlantis, a culture with abundant technological know how that turned to decadence and was destroyed by the gods and their wrath for being so decadent remains common in spiritual right thinking still to the current day. As a matter of reality, Western Philosophy traces abundant of its origin to Church philosophers of the Medieval time period like Saint Augustine, who derived a lot of of his thinking from Plato. The Church borrowed much from the Greeks and incorporated their thinking into the Medieval Church and their thinking continues to be terribly abundant alive in religious right thinking nowadays in America. The dichotomies of fine versus evil and free will versus God's Can and God on the outside or in Heaven whereas one exists become independent from God is all in Western thought and philosophy.
Another contrasting faculty of thought to Plato's Essentialism is the philosophy of existentialism, that is additionally Western in thought and was born out of the crisis of World war 2 and also the Holocaust. When the aftermath of these 2 horrific tragedies, many Atheists were born and threw out Plato's Essentialism and therefore the philosophy of Existentialism was born. Existentialism holds some precepts in that one: life is basically meaningless and the only meaning it's is that which the person ascribes to their own life; two: we are all mortal and death continually stares us in the face driving us to to try and do what we have a tendency to should do before we die; three: one continually finds himself or herself alone in the globe with his or her own thoughts and feelings and there's a type of isolation from others. There's a fourth powerful precept but this author cannot recall what it is. Existentialism is exactly the alternative to Plato's Essentialism within the West.
Japanese Philosophies but, are a nice different to Western Philosophy and thought furthermore Existentialism. Eastern Philosophies basing their birth in Buddhism, Taoism, and Hindu hold that everything is One. Oneness is that the driving principle in Jap Philosophy. There is no God separate from human or animal existence. True their may be a Higher Power, God with different names than "God" or Buddha or the Tao, however in japanese philosophy you're a part of a cosmic whole. In alternative words you're a half of God or you're Tao or you're a very little Buddha with a little mind while the cosmic whole is Big Mind. Japanese Philosophies do have variations, even in the various colleges of comparable thought like faculties of Taoism and Buddhism.
One common thing in Eastern Philosophies along with the concept of Oneness that will be translated into "where do you let off and the Universe begin?" is the concept of energy. Taoists decision it chi, hippies decision it energy and vibrations, Hindus believe in Chakras which are powerful seats of energy at intervals the human body. Taoists believe the same issue and believe that energy is neutral and that it flows through everyone and everything. This correlates terribly well with Western scientific thought in that Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, that it just changes form and form. Common to western thought is the assumption that humans are not perfect and God is. Humans during this approach of thinking have faults and imperfections or character defects or flaws. Eastern philosophies do believe the identical issue to an extent.
Certain elements of a persons character can be harmful to self and these would like to be worked against, like laziness for an example. However, other "flaws" are simply each assets and defects at the identical time. For example, what a western thinker would possibly decision lust, an eastern philosopher might say that all wedding begins with lust. Additionally a perfectionist for instance might have issue allowing himself or herself too create mistakes that will hinder one's personal as one learns from creating mistakes, however perfectionism can conjointly be an asset within the workplace or as an artist or writer. So from jap philosophy point of view assets and flaws can be simply the same factor it only matters how they are addressed and applied in one's daily life. Similarly contrasting to western belief in free can is that the jap philosophical read of Will. The west sees that we are all individuals that is extremely an ego that says "I" and "I" have choice and free will. Eastern philosophies hold that the ego is a division between yourself and also the Universe or Tao or the Nameless One or Massive Mind. In this approach of thinking there really is no free can their is simply Will. You are Tao or tiny mind or a half of the Universe and what you are doing is merely a more extension of Universal Will.
To sum up, japanese philosophy and thought is drastically different from Western thought that is full of dualism and dichotomies. Jap philosophies hold to the principle of Cosmic Oneness with the Universe and derive their approach of thinking from bound non secular and non secular traditions such as Taoism, Buddhism and Hindu abundant just like the west derives its manner of thinking from Christianity and Judaism. Eastern philosophies also see the ego as a division between a self that thinks it exists except for the Whole whereas western thinking holds that self is all there is. Jap philosophies hold that the Universe or "God" IS whereas western philosophies see that people exist but a God who lives in a very Heaven.
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