Between Ideas

Between Ideas of East and West Lies a Moment in Bodily Presence

Ivy Gaiser

California Institute of Integral Studies

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore the contours of the East-West encounter. Further, I plan to situate myself and my own experiences within this context.

Between Ideas of East and West Lies a Moment in Bodily Presence

Where do I stand in the East-West encounter?

            Once upon a time I worshipped scientific inquiry. My truth was that which had been/could be proven by objective observation of the tangible universe. I no longer consider science to be my ultimate truth. Science to me provides a fascinating microscope into the way things work and the visual beauty found in single-cell anatomy or oak tree trigonometry. But I'm interested in why and that's not a question any scientist can answer. I'm interested in diving deep down into the heart of the system to see what keeps the valves pumping. Not the mechanism, but the force. Where and what is the battery? These are questions that I have found are only answerable through self-inquiry.

            Through knowing myself I am able to unlock the secrets of the very universe. Through knowing myself I see that the force that animates this body and these thoughts that I possess also animates everything else that exists. I am the creative mind/force that thinks things into existence. On a transpersonal level this means that I am the creator of myself and this creation called myself. On the level of this one human being that sits and types, I am the creator of my reality, my body, my choices, actions, perceptions and reactions. I am the creator of my illnesses and the thought-energy that manifests into physical illness. I see every universal process mirrored in the individual processes of being human.

As Elgin states, “We are small pieces of God's mental apparatus” (Elgin Year:Page Number). So the universal mind is mirrored in the singular human mind. The power to create material/tangible reality lies in the hands of every person. Every physical thing built by human hands was first thought of by a human brain. Thought turned to creation. A chair is a thought manifested. A human is a thought manifested. Whose thought?

            If this is my reality, then what does that mean in terms of East or West? I think it's safe to say that I stand firmly rooted in the East, whatever “East” actually means, while I dabble in the West with my wandering limbs. The thinker who has come closest to articulating what I experience to be Truth about the nature of reality is Lao Tzu, author of the Tao Te Ching, and a man certainly from the East, both geographically as well as metaphorically speaking. Within the Tao I find reflections of my own experience and renderings of my own heart in faded Technicolor. On the one hand the depth provided is no less than ten dimensions of vibrantly colored articulation, while on the other hand the depth is so simple as to be overlooked at first glance. Because of my affinity with Lao Tzu and other Eastern philosophers that I have read, I place myself more in the East.  I do not take other people's words and truths on some random sense of them being an authority on the subject. Rather, I feel around for what resonates with my own vibrations and experiences of truth, when it comes to the areas of philosophy and cosmology.

What is the East-West encounter to me?

            What is the East-West encounter...? A collision of the material and the spiritual. The logical and the intuitive. The Scientific Method and self-inquiry. Individual consciousness and community consciousness. When I think of “East”, I think of meditation, yoga and  Buddha-consciousness. I think of thousands of years of experiential knowledge and wisdom gained from looking inward. I also think of those things which are not geographically placed in the east, but nevertheless represent a certain kind of awareness about the interconnectedness of all living things with one another and with the universe itself. There is an awareness that all things are of the same essence.

            It is difficult at times for me to see the importance of the “West” in terms of things we can learn from Western traditions. When all of the various traditions that make up “East” are brought together it seems like a fairly complete and healthy world-view, if we are to take the best aspects of each tradition. There is awareness of the creative powers of thought, whether we are creating that which hinders or enhances us. There is an awareness of the Oneness of all existence. There is the cultivation of deep compassion and care for all living things.

            At first glance, it appears that Western modes of thought are purely egocentric and counter intuitive if one is drawn to any kind of spiritual path. I do believe that if we look deeper, however, there is one big Western paradigm that is very important, and this is self-actualization/individuation. I have much to learn about the specifics of various schools of thought, but it does seem like in the East, with the over-arching cultural paradigms based on community connectedness and interdependence, there is not really a cultural drive to develop as an individual; to cultivate individual talents and to self-actualize in such a way that each person's unique gifts are brought forth to shine and influence the world.

            In the West we are encouraged to be an individual, to follow our personal dreams and become whatever/whomever we can imagine ourselves to be. This individualism is the same thing that causes a feeling of separateness and isolation that pervades the Western paradigm, unfortunately. People seem to think that if we are each singular, unique beings, then there is nothing that ties us to one another. We are separate cells floating, lost in space, unaware that “space” is actually one body of which we are an integral piece.

            The encounter, then, is to take the best of both worlds and mush them together for a more complete picture. Transcend the self not by escaping this human life, but instead by embracing and fully embodying what it is to be a human and to be a unique individual who is a piece of art: 1/1. The challenge is that this piece of art is never done being created while we still draw breath. It is in constant movement, changing and evolving, layers being added, colors and textures playing with light and shadow in a dance that does not cease until the artist has truly completed the work of being human, however many lifetimes that might take. The artist: who is the canvas and the paint and the creator of both.

An Integration of Sorts.

            This discussion of the divine act of creation in which everything and everyone participates brings me to the body, which seems to be left out of everyone's thoughts to a certain extent. This is of course a generalization, but it does seem that in the East the idea is to transcend the body, which is just a material trapping for a spirit that wants freedom from flesh and its desires. In the West there is rampant dissociation from the body, treating it as an object of study by science and the source of sin in Western religious tradition. The West focuses on making the body look good on the outside while ignoring what it feels like to inhabit the body, whether that is a positive or negative experience. Everyone seems a bit disdainful of this human flesh. This is again coming from a person who has not studied extensively the specific traditions of the East, so I may be making assumptions and generalizations.

            For myself, I only came to know myself as a spiritual being in concert with coming into my body and experiencing it as a living body, rather than as a gross lump of flesh that I had to carry around all the time. When I became aware that my flesh was my creation, that “I” was not something separate from all of these cells, and that my thoughts were not my Self, I dove into this creation. I permeated my flesh with consciousness and lovingly tended to the needs that I became aware of for the very first time, since it was the first time I took the time to listen and care about what I was hearing. I cared for the physical and emotional needs of my body, caring for myself as though I were my own child, because in a sense I am.          

            The experience of inhabiting my body feels so different from everything that came before that I feel as though all the moments that came before were a waking dream of the worst kind. My sense of self was wrapped up in negative thoughts floating above a despised body that I couldn't seem to get rid of. Inhabiting this body on the other hand; knowing the experiences of my toes, knees, muscles and organs, is itself a transcendent experience. I get to know flesh consciousness, cell consciousness, wave consciousness, and hence, Universal consciousness. To experience the body is to experience the larger body and cosmic self.

            Furthermore, it is through the creativity of the body, be it physical creativity in the form of dancing or singing, or the mental creativity of perfecting a craft such as writing, or any of the other ways that our unique manifestations of creativity are expressed brings us into contact with our authentic selves. Through self-expression a person is connecting to the creative force, or the Universal will, or the Tao or God or whatever word you feel like choosing to describe this common experience.

            Neither do I wish to escape from my body by hiding in my mind and observing my motions as though I were a robot, nor do I wish to transcend my body and its earthly desires in the pursuit of some ethereal state. When my body stops functioning I will gladly re-enter the ether, but until then I will embody all that it is to be a human that thinks and feels and creates and does so with the larger awareness that there is no separation between this self of mine and all the other selves. I may be one unique thought, while you are another wildly different thought, but we stem from the same mind and so long as I hold that knowing in my awareness, I can be all that I set out to be when I chose this particular body and its lessons and experiences in this lifetime. I would very much like to live up to the high hopes and expectations of the mind that set me in motion; the force that builds stars, mountains, galaxies, and spiders alike.

            In thinking of integration, I find myself grasping at metaphors of “East” and “West” and wondering what really fits. No matter the metaphor, be it the masculine/feminine or the spiritual/material, individual/community; in the end the larger picture to be gleaned is that we are dealing in dualities. Any time we operate in duality we are missing half the picture. If we pretend that shadow is not a part of light, or that masculine can exist without feminine, then we miss the point. So if we are going to do any kind of integration, it is simply to recognize the limitations of a dualistic world-view. There is no East without West. There is no Me without You. There is no Shadow without Light. Rather than focusing on one side or another, it would be best to give the quarter a spin and recognize that both sides belong to a single coin.

References

Elgin, First Name.

            Year of Publication. Title. If it's an article, say In name of publication, author's /editor name of             publication(ed). Place of publication: Publisher.