Eastern and Western Perception: How the World Works

The human world we currently live in seems to be somewhat split. Governed by two collective minds created by the culture of individuals of the East and West, a significant differentiation of perception on the totality of life has been projected into existence. Modern cultural anthropology and scientific research have provided evidence that someone who is born in the West will most likely view life entirely different from that of the person born in the East due to culture, and yet live side by side. Reasons for this are quite intriguing for one to invest their minds into, for assimilating in the opposing mind of your region can bring about a completion of yourself, a deeper understanding of who you are, especially if you are from the West and are yet to study the self-developing philosophies and teachings of the East. The major differences between the two can be found in a lot of different areas. Such as the advancement and fascination in fields of interests, from governmental desires like power and control to individual wishes for possessions of material and the aggrandizing of ego; there are clearly vast differences that distinguish an Eastern mind from a Western. Advanced brain research being conducted recently using the latest technology is providing information that proves culture plays a dramatic role in influencing one’s perception of life. What has been discovered is that someone of the West tends to see themselves as independent from everything else, like they are cut off from the world, rather than being a part of it. Interestingly, when presented with a picture test where Western cultured people had to observe an image, the majority of participants were naturally attracted to focus on central objects within the image, obtaining more information about one detail rather than the entire image. Sort of a reflection on how Westerners tend to favour individualism. On the contrary, the Eastern culture encourages interdependence, unity with one’s surroundings, and being culturalised in the East results in having your perception altered so that you are more likely to lose information on minor details, but can take in more information. That was proven by most Eastern cultured people observing the entire image during the test, rather than just centralising on specific detail. So, for example, let’s suppose I were to present you with a picture of the inside of a shopping centre where there is a lot of activity taking place. According to the findings of this research, if you are Western cultured, you will most likely concentrate on particular detail about the image, like studying the lady with the green handbag. You’ll focus on specific minor details yet miss out on the amount of diversity due to not looking at the complete picture. If you’re Eastern cultured however, you will take in the whole picture, notice a lot of people gathered, yet not see the minor independent details like the lady with the green handbag. That is just one simple example of distinguishing the two perceptions that are predominantly influencing this world. Where it becomes of an importance is when one culture is negatively affecting the other, and that is what is currently happening in the modern world.

Fundamental Difference

The fundamental variance between East and West in my opinion, would be that a Western person tends to look at the world as something external from themselves, and therefore treats it that way. Whereas someone of the East spends more time looking internally and experiences the world as something of themselves. What is being implied is that two worlds concurrently existing on the same planet are reflective of the beings that occupy them. So evidently in the West, the environment resembles tenants that feel separated from their surroundings, resulting in what is seen today in the characteristics of the average Western person where they consume a significant amount – pollute without care – strip and destroy nature to create goods and so forth. All without realising that they are ultimately destroying themselves. The lack of progression of someone studying who they are can lead to multiple issues that are contributors to anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and disinterest in the expansion of consciousness. Reason being is due to the fear of exploring what has been ignored, and when the ignored surfaces, the ill-disciplined due to always running – decide to hide. And a form of hiding that has become a cultural norm here in the West is to fulfil one’s time with intoxications that take oneself away from who they truly are. People resort to intoxicating themselves on all sorts of different mind stimulating activities like shopping, drinking alcohol, watching movies, scrolling through social media, going out to clubs, reading books, and so forth. Anything that will allow them to escape from who they are. They engage in activities that consist of the continuous exploration of the external world. Chasing money, status, power, objects, knowledge and what not. People of the West long for what is outside of them, running from the grasping hands of their inner selves which always leads to an intense game of cat and mouse that evidently is resulting in the destruction of our world. The conclusion to this is collectively dying as a species without knowing how beautifully divine we all are. That is the terrible mess haunting the soul found within the West.

In the East, however, the same amount of chaos takes place, but rather internally. They tear apart their identities, dissect and explore what lies within. Consequently, discovering untold truths as great of value as what Western science has found about the external world. They view their birth like a plant growing out of the soil and therefore believe that they are not just a plant that has been dropped into the planet to exist, but that they are the plant, the soil, the earth, along with everyone and everything else – the universe itself. What this psychologically does to someone who views the world in such a way, is formulate a persona that seeks unity rather than independence, something foreign to the Western world. An Eastern mind is not worried about the accumulation of material wealth, and the aggrandizing of their ego, but rather focused on the enlightenment of their spirit, and the health status of their environment. Someone who seeks liberation from the daily stresses of life should turn to the guidance of the teachings from the East, for there lies information that will lead you on a self-discovery journey like no other. Unfortunately, because of the sheer dominance and power that Western civilisation exudes and inhabits, the world we live in is being out balanced by the control that the West inflicts on our beautiful blue orb. The equilibrium of our planet has been destroyed by the conquering influences of the West. This is predominantly due to political reasoning, which is obviously quite shallow. The manipulation and infection of the thought process of a Western mind is now heavily weighing on the minds of the young in Eastern cultures. Inevitably leading to a world where the majority of humans are characterised by and express qualities of the West. The consequences of that are unbelievably dangerous for any pro-life being. To live in a world where the apex species consists of beings that are self-driven, egotistical, selfishly destructive of their environment by their fascination of blowing each other up with the complexity of energy to produce explosions, would be completely odious for any life form that co-exists with them. Quite apparent and relevant to the present world we live in.

The two Minds

It is interesting that historically speaking, Western science has always been extremely attracted and intrigued by energy. For thousands of years, Westerners persisted with understanding energy for what it is and how it can be used. This has evidently led to incredible inventions that rival the creative spark of a God. Creations like igniting the fire that burns ragingly in the hearts of the stars through the clashing of atoms and producing thermonuclear explosions to display the conquering power of man. Meanwhile, the Eastern mind decided to go about focusing on the essence of time. But did not use the tools that Westerners held close to their hearts like science, mathematics, astronomy, telescopic instruments used to observe the physical domain – no. The Eastern teachers resorted to self-examining spiritual tools such as meditation, yoga and deep thinking, distilling the art of life by studying the natural movement of trees waving in the wind and looking within themselves. What was discovered by Easterners is that time is illusory. That only the present, now exist for all of eternity. And realising this, along with all of their other discovers they acquired figuratively the energy that Westerners produced equivalent to the distant stars, enlightenment. The difference being the sources that the two minds drew from to produce an amount of energy that primarily causes the same effect. Destruction and creation. Enlightenment is the destruction of one’s ego and the birth of feeling absolute completion with existence. How astonishing to realise that two planet dominating collective minds co-existing together during the same period took different paths throughout their history. Both discovering vital information and untold knowledge about life by approaching existence with various instruments and tools. What that means to me, is that the world shares an over-mind. Like the human brain being split into two main parts of left and right. Left being the side that deals with solving tasks with logic, like science and mathematics, and right being the side that performs tasks that have to do with creativity and art. The mind of the human world is split into two, Western and Eastern. Western clearly being the side that is dealing with life as a scientific and mathematical equation that must be solved with logic. The Eastern side is, therefore, dealing with life by approaching it artistically, spiritually by advancement in self-understanding and development. For to be an artist, one must first delve inwards to extract themselves and express their feelings through their chosen craft. If this is so, that the world is shared by an overmind, then we know the importance that balance has, to not have one stronger than the other. For if there is a more dominant side that pushes the other away, we are faced with a situation of confusion, of being lost.