Can the East Influence Humanity?
For as long as time has existed, man has searched for the ultimate meaning of life and our specific purpose within it. Many decades have been spent searching for our true purpose but more importantly, how does one achieve such a purpose? This question however, comes with a complicated answer. You see, while the answer may seem simple, It is this same simplicity which creates the problem. Eastern philosophies provide simple answers such as doing good, and living right, but while this may seem simple to do, is it really? While each eastern school of thought provides great ideals for living, can humanity truly end its own suffering? The east philosophies feel that humanity endures a self inflicted suffering directly related to our individual actions and the consequences of such actions.
Influences of the East
The eastern world may seem quite bizarre to anyone who does not know much about it. The cultures are different, the beliefs, and life itself. While the west has become a material valued civilization, the east continues its hold on older cultural ideals that have laid the foundation for living life. Such areas include India, China and Japan, whose ideas have lived culturally for ages and still practiced today with the same intense beliefs as when such philosophies were first introduced.
Hinduism
The word Hinduism itself originates from the word Hind and it is the belief that is practiced by most of the people of India. It has existed for so long that its exact origin is not known and it also has no specific founder. According to University of Phoenix Philosophy: The Power of Ideas (2011),“The basis of Hindu philosophy is the belief that reality is absolutely one, that there is only one ultimate reality-being-consciousness”. Hinduism goes on to elaborate in stating that humans endure a repetitive cycle consisting suffering and desire which creates the misery of our reality in which we live. This cycle was defined ask...