Eastern Philosophy Think. Don\'t Think.

Eastern Philosophy

Think. Don't Think. From the beginning this has been one of the primary differences between Eastern and Western Philosophy. Generally Western systems attempt to think and rationalize a system of philosophy based on experience and create a logic theory on the meaning of life. In Eastern philosophy, thinking is part of the discursive mind and clouds the actual perception of reality, so don't think, experience. In the West experience is explained in words, in the East, words are slowly pealed away so one can experience reality directly. Think. Don't Think. In fact the Taoist text, the Tao Te Ching, opens with the following, "The Way that can be told is not the Unvarying Way, the names that can be named are not the unvarying names." (Morre 149) So, in essence, words always fall short of the true meaning of experience. Eastern philosophy must be felt and experienced rather than thought about. In these philosophies there is not just the mind but the heart-mind from which understanding comes, something the west has separated into two distinct entities. It is intelligence vs. emotion instead of a combination of the two when talking about philosophy.

One of these particular concepts is one that is also difficult to translate correctly and that is wu-wei. Initially a Taoist concept, wu-wei si commonly transliterated as inaction, but I believe this allows for a mistaken perception regarding the term. The concept does not seem to call for no activity or no action, but something else more in line with the idea that one should "avoid the error of overdoing" (Morre 150) and flow like the Tao in all things. Perhaps translated using the word, effortlessness, gives one a better understanding of the term. Without thinking one lets the act unfold. I am doing this now as I type this sentence. I find that when I type I am not thinking where the letters are on the keyboard or how even my brain is sending the messages from the thoughts to my fingers then the keys and to eventually wind up on the monitor. In fact, when I do stop to think about it I find myself fumbling for the keys and the process is unable to flow smoothly with the act. This thinking about it is committing the error of overdoing that was quoted earlier.