Enlightenment

Eastern vs. Western Spiritual Traditions

Published on by Jim

The Hindu or the Vedic tradition has been around for at least 5,000 years.  Buddhism has been around for over 2,500 years.  Judaism has been around for over 3,000 years.  Christianity has been around for over 2,000 years.  Islam has been around for about 1,500 years.

Christianity has about 2.4 billion adherents. Islam has about 1.9 billion adherents.  Hinduism has about 1.2 billion adherents.  Buddhism has about 530 million adherents. 

Why have the Western spiritual/religious traditions expanded faster and farther than the Eastern spiritual/religious traditions?

It can also be said that Western traditions are more violent and warlike. Why?

I would say the key reason is PASSION. 

Eastern traditions are about ending suffering and are particularly focused on the individual’s liberation from suffering.  Western traditions are not about ending suffering; they even encourage suffering.   Western traditions are more about community and expanding their influence. 

The Vedic tradition focuses on the liberation from suffering for the individual. Buddhism has the Four Noble Truths, saying it is all about ending suffering, and the Eight-Fold Path is the way to end suffering.  As an afterthought the Buddha added the idea of compassion toward others.

The problem with this is that compassion requires suffering.  The etymology of the word “compassion” shows us that com means with and passion means “to suffer.”  So compassion is the willingness to suffer (with others).  But if your whole tradition is about ending suffering, then you are in conflict. 

The Buddha was wrong.  The goal in life is NOT to end suffering, it is to end the IDEA that we are trapped in suffering. 

Passion motivates people.  It pushes them outward and onward.  Passion encourages change, growth, and expansion.  Discouraging passion discourages that expansion and growth.

This is not to say that Eastern traditions don’t have something to offer humanity or even individuals.  This only means the traditions are not complete. 

Eastern traditions encourage finding inner peace, and that is very attractive for those who are suffering from inner conflicts.

Humans are considered the master species on Earth because they have been so successful at not just surviving but thriving and growing.  So it would seem that the Western traditions are the master traditions because they, too, have been so successful at thriving and growing.

But this may not be true in the long run if the warlike nature of the Western traditions leads to a major war that destroys many of the adherents of the Western traditions. 

Personally, I have found that BOTH traditions have a lot to offer, and by combining the two traditions of passion and peace, one can expedite the process of liberating oneself from the habits that create suffering, but can still use the suffering to motivate one to share that skill with their greater Self.

Life requires one to breathe in AND to breathe out.  So too, it is healthier and more expedient for one’s evolution to develop BOTH skills of passion and peace.  Western traditions have many psychological/philological tools to enable the development of passion.  Eastern traditions have long developed the tools to develop skills of finding inner peace via meditation.  But by adding one western skill/idea to that process, one can expedite the process of finding mental peace and the clarity that that brings. 

Clarity is what enables one to see the truth that sets them free to unconditionally enjoy and love all that life offers. This can be called enlightenment, liberation, Nirvana, or the Kingdom of Heaven.  

And once a person has the clarity, they can share that with others and their greater Self.  

Audio Combining Both Eastern and Western Spiritual Strategies

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The eastern spiritual traditions are about finding peace; the western traditions are about passion. By combining BOTH strategies we can expedite our spiritual evolution and increase the quality of our life experience.

In this podcast, I talk about how I unintentionally combined the strategies of the east and west and how that profoundly helped me on my journey to Heaven/Nirvana/Enlightenment.

Enlightenment is Open to Anyone Who is Open to It

Published on by Jim

There is so much crap out there about how difficult enlightenment is to experience.  Some will say that you have to go many, many lifetimes of suffering before you will reach it.  Those who use the language of Heaven or Oneness with God pretty much say the same thing that you have to suffer for many years throughout your life in order to go to heaven. 

Open Minds Open Doors

            The truth is too simple for these complex minds to accept, so they ASSUME that it must be difficult for anyone to experience. 

            Jesus pointed this out many times, such as when he said, “Great is the God that reveals the truth to babes but hides it from the wise and learned ones.” (Mat 11:25)

            All one has to do is to practice loving whatever thought that comes through their mind, no matter what it is, easy enough to say but in practice hard to do for so many reason. 

            Society and life teaches us to be afraid of things in the world so our habit is to think of those things and react with fear (contraction).  Honesty tells us that our thoughts of things in the world are not the same thing as the thing itself.  If we are honest with ourselves then we will admit that the thoughts cannot hurt us, it is only our reactions to the thoughts that cause of harm or negativity. 

            There are lots of reasons why the world does not want you to find the Kingdom of Heaven or Nirvana or Enlightenment or Perfection or whatever you want to call it. It is to the ruling class’s advantage to keep you suffering so it is easier to control and manipulate you.  But for the person who is awake enough to see that it is not to their advantage to continue suffering then ignoring the words of those who have not found enlightenment or heaven is the best strategy.