Sifu Lee on East vs West
In the West, people love striving towards goals. The West is very extroverted. An entrepreneur can become rich simply by setting up goals for others to achieve. In the West people love to feel that inner pride for what they do. The organizer for the Chicago Marathon may not even be able to run the marathon himself, but he set up the event with the goal, he provides the medals & the money rewards. Now thousands want to join to try to reach the goal he has established. The organizer of a certain ring fight may not know how to fight himself, but he has arranged an event & established goals to achieve. Now thousands want to achieve this goal & even more are paying to watch. People will pay another person money so that, that other person will create a goal for him to achieve. That is what tournaments are all about.
Now in the East, we set our own goals to achieve, we do not look towards another to set a goal for us. When you come from the East to the West, you can then become the leader that sets the goals for those in the West to achieve. There is a lot of yang energy in the west, all they really need is to be guided in the proper direction. People simply have a strong wish to be recognized for doing things that they are good at. The West is not the way of the Tao, but the emphasis on Tao reminds the man with the Western mind to not forget, when you do not forget, it is much easier to come closer to a balance. It is interesting when you come from the east & you start to understand the Western mind. It is a mind with constant activity, constant movement. It does not want to sit still. Rather than forcing it to stay still, many times it is best to simply guide it towards a healthier direction & set it free.
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May 26, 2012 at 4:52 am
Interesting article. I notice an identification “we” in the east versus “they” in the west. Ayn Rand would suggest that there is no collective achievement, only a collective of individuals. “The West” is not an entity and it would stunt enlightenment to anthropomorphise (sp?) an idea such as this. Integral philosophers (as well as Buddhists – typically “eastern” if you wish) would say that there is only one self. That I am you and you are me. There is only one consciousness and you and I are it. We are I. I am.
So, the journey to wholeness and enlightenment must include the shedding of identification with such distinctions and finite objects such as East and West.
Ethnocentrism is a stage of development everyone goes through, but it must be transcended.
East versus west. There is no versus; there is only self.
June 1, 2012 at 11:30 am
I noticed the “we” connection as well. But this aside, I feel that this topic has less to do with location then it does with “being a product of your environment.” The human mind-body grows based on the challenges it faces, the influences that surround it, and (if intelligent enough) an eye towards the future and what is expected of him/her to survive and/or succeed in the world.
Their can easily be the counter-arguement that the constantly moving, changing, shifting mind (over the calm, directed “Eastern” mind) might be of benefit in these modern, capitalistic society.
Just something to think about.