East + West = Om

[Guest guest]

Hi Mary Ann:

 

I'll take a shot at this one, for what it's worth:

 

*** How necessary is it for those in the West to completely and fully

understand every little bit and nuance of Eastern thought/teachings,

and vice versa, in order to know the Self? ***

 

It is not necessary at all. You can get the same thing from the

mystical traditions of the Abrahamic faiths. It's just that those

faiths -- particularly Christianity and Islam -- are much younger,

and therefore their simple truths too often get lost in layers of

social-political-cultural dogma and "I'm right, you're wrong"

polemics. I think a lot of Westerners turn to Eastern thought to

escape the non-spiritual baggage that's accumulated around the

spiritual traditions they were born into. Others simply belong in the

Eastern tradiions by nature, and submerge there fully. But even those

who dive just a little bit deep might pick up something of great

value.

 

In my opinion, India's greatest cultural treasure is its religious

thought. This may sound like precisely the prejudice you're worried

about, but I truly believe it is (at least) several centuries ahead

of most other religious thought -- perhaps due to its uninterrupted

depth of antiquity; perhaps because of the cultural value

traditionally placed on personal spiritual exploration in India. I

cannot recall the author, but I once read that trying to express the

ideas of Hinduism (including itself closely related offshoot,

Buddhism) in modern English is an exercise similar to trying to

explain Quantum Physics in Shakespearean English: The vocabulary

simply hasn't evolved enough to say what needs to be said, because

the esoteric concepts themselves have not yet evolved enough in the

language's primary cultural context.

 

(BTW, I acknowledge that Islam and Christianity haven't cornered the

market on narrowly blinkered, earthbound, lowest-common-

denominator "fundamentalist" belief systems. Hinduism -- even with

all its mighty depth of tradition and tolerance -- nonetheless begat

the creepy BJP, which seems to espouse an oddly cartoonish (but

deadly serious) form of "fundamental Hinduism" (an oxymoron if there

ever was one). So you see, it's not the so much a given religious

tradition itself that is good or bad; it's evolutionary level of the

individual practitioner. Which brings me to your second observation:

 

*** Based on my direct experience in yoga, basic alignment principles

of the body/mind/emotions/spirit bring self and Self together, even

without scripture. While certainly scripture and traditions of many

kinds can help, some can also hinder. ***

 

This is true. Whether you approach hatha yoga in its holistic

spiritual context, or see it as no more than an especially effective

form of calisthenics, it can help you. It is incorrect to say that

people who don't buy the whole package are "doing yoga the wrong

way." To each according to her/his needs; from each according to

her/his abilities. If you're a person of a deeply spiritual nature,

Yoga will open itself up to you in a way reflecting your individual

need. If you are of a deeply materialistic nature, that's cool too --

hey, it'll make you look buff for the beach. Either way, better to do

some of it than none of it. ;-)

 

Thanks for a good post. Hope others can add something more to the

dialogue.

 

Aum Maatangyai Namahe