Are we on the wrong path? The Eastern Philosophy Approach to Self-Actualization and Sustainable Happiness
Being born and raised in a Western culture, it was very difficult for me to train my mind to embrace the Eastern philosophies of Buddhism and Zen. Some of you may be wondering, why consider Eastern philosophy? Well, I have come to realize that there are fundamental flaws in Western philosophy as practiced in America. Many of us know that these flaws exist, but we are so consumed by the dogmatic practices of Western philosophy that addressing these flaws can only happen during a catastrophic social collapse like the one we are currently experiencing with the Wall Street crash.
Now why do I use the term defect? I use this term because there are many cases where Western philosophy or customs do not align with the individual, society, or nature. In this specific case, greed was to blame. Wall Street, our elected officials, and corporate elites may not agree with this assessment, but who would benefit if they agreed with it? Not theirs.
To be fair, greed doesn’t just happen. It is nourished by a Western philosophy based on the concept of survival of the fittest, which defends that the more I produce, the more I earn. Now, I have no problem with the purity of this concept as long as certain regulations and safeguards are in place to protect society at large from unscrupulous and unethical business practices caused by greed. The crisis we now find ourselves in was allowed to fester because there were no safeguards and few regulations to protect the global public against excessive greed facilitated by:
Deceptive packaging of mortgage-backed securities by Wall Street executives
predatory lending practices by banks and mortgage brokers
irresponsible and overspeculative real estate “investors”
All of these groups blindly accepted the old American adage that greed is good (see Micheal Douglas’ portrayal of the Gordon Gecko on Wall Street). This philosophy has been celebrated and promoted by America’s business elite since the inception of this nation. Facilitated by their money and power, America’s corporate elite have used their campaign contributions to our elected officials to create unhealthy alliances that do not serve the best interests of society at large. Furthermore, special interest lobby groups funded by these corporate elites have silenced the voice of the common individual. Now, many industries are deregulated in the name of a free market (telecommunications, energy [Enron-Need we forget?], financial markets and broadcasting are some of the now deregulated sectors of our economy). Is greed at play in these markets? Yes but why?
Western philosophy promotes the notion and unfortunate practice of seeking self-fulfillment and happiness through the excessive consumption of material goods and services (entities external to our being). This practice of excessive consumption breeds consumerism, which feeds on the search for and acquisition of the almighty dollar. This is why Americans are constantly chasing money and why we go to work every day even though we hate what we do for a living. Our Western philosophy has conditioned us to believe that money’s ability to buy us things leads to happiness. The problem with this notion is that while money can buy us a sense of security and safety in the form of clothing, food, and shelter, it can’t do much more than that. The most important thing for us is that money cannot provide sustainable satisfaction and happiness, because it is an entity outside of our being. Therefore, it does not and cannot address the inner workings of the human spirit.
Western philosophy takes an outside-in approach to life, which often leaves the mind, body, and soul defenseless against the distractions and negative influences of the world. I am not here to say that Eastern philosophy is better than Western philosophy. But I am here to present you with an alternative if you find that the way you are living your life is no longer working for you, society or nature.
What are the signs that your life is no longer working for you? Here are some tips:
You feel disempowered and disempower others instead of feeling empowered and empowering others.
Life is not seen as a fun adventure, but as a mandatory task.
You cannot find or even realize that you are not living as your authentic self (the essence of what it means to be you, the uniqueness that makes you special).
Eastern philosophies (Buddhism and Zen) are very different from Western philosophy in that there are no hard and fast rules that implicitly or explicitly impose their will on people to live their lives in a certain way in order to achieve a “material-based” notion of happiness and fulfillment. Still, there are some guidelines. But know that all of these guidelines are geared towards empowering the individual as he engages with the world in a synergistic (balanced) way, leading to sustainable happiness and satisfaction. In Eastern philosophy,
the outside-in approach of western philosophy is replaced by an inside-out approach.
the consumerism of western philosophy is replaced by humility and simplicity.
the survival of the fittest dogma of western philosophy is replaced with embracing and aligning mind, body, soul and nature.
In Eastern philosophy, no entity is left out of experiencing life to the fullest if they so choose. So which way are you on? It works for you? If not, could you use a change in philosophy?
Think about it.
