Why Eastern Philosophy is So Appealing
Why is it so much more common to hear of people taking up Buddhist meditation practices, Indian style yoga, chanting, mantras or any number of practices from the Eastern greats but never even considering the possibility that the Western philosophers can offer the same thing?
Why are so many turning to the Eckhart Tolle, Rupert Spira, Buddha, and Mooji, but so many less are turning to Plato, Tolstoy or Jean-Paul Satre?
I think the answer lies in looking at how these philosophies are pursued today. If you want to learn about western philosophy you’re most likely going to end up in an academic institution where the professors are working on abstract concepts like ontological naturalism, Aristotle’s Ethics, understanding Heidegger's texts. But it’s not very easy to see the practical value of how doing these things can solve the immediate problems in our own life. Pursuing these ancient western ideals isn’t a bad thing, but also not very helpful in helping anyone improve their life without a sufficient amount of research and delving into the topics.
Eastern philosophy, on the other hand, does just that, it dives into our everyday problems and shows us how to live. How to live with the Tao, how to live according to the Buddha (eightfold path), how to face life’s problems with equanimity. Buddhist sects are on a mission to help us find our way through life’s challenges and suffering.
Eastern philosophies include everything that western philosophy is lacking. But the interesting point here is that the original Western thinkers didn’t intend to limit their ideas to lofty academics, but to the common man. Philosophies like Stoicism, including thinkers like Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca all intended for their philosophies to improve the lives of the common man. To provide solutions to man's problems.
I would even say that the vast majority of western philosophy has had the intention of helping those in our society live a better life. Nietzche, Socrates, Tolstoy, Schopenhauer, Epicurus, Derrida, and others all aimed at breaking down why we suffer and trying to understand how to live a wiser, more meaningful, and more fulfilled life.
It’s not valuable to take the reductionist viewpoint of labeling all western philosophy as unhelpful, because it is helpful. Western philosophy has so much to offer, I just think it needs to be reverted back to its original intent of helping the common man and not just providing high-level academics material and information to win a debate against another worldview within Western philosophy.
This is already starting to happen with people like Ryan Holiday providing tons of people with practical ways to implement Stoicism into their lives. Now it’s time for The Daily Existentialist, and The Daily Optimistic Nihilist, or any other major school of western thought.
