Eastern Spiritual Mind

Written  Mathew Naismith

There were two people of different cultures discussing the starvation of people, one person was shocked and appalled by how people are allowed to starve like this, the other person not so shocked and appalled. 

To western thinking, allowing people to starve to death is unkind and certainly not of love or spirituality. To eastern thinking it is different because one existence is not separated from any other existence. So to the western mind it is appalling when humans starve to death but it’s not as appalling when animals, including insects, are starved to death!!

In very recent times, a western minded lady I know was diagnosed with terminal cancer. The eastern doctor sat on her bed, put his hand on her knee and said that she had terminal cancer, go home to die because we need the hospital bed.  The western minded lady was in shock, not just because of the diagnoses but of how she was treated, especially by an eastern minded doctor.

To the eastern spiritual mind, death doesn’t exist; in fact the perception of death is simply an indication of transition from one life to another. No matter what you experience in life, even if you have suffered from life experiences instead of learning from them, all kinds of life experience’s without exception are worthy to experience. One kind of life is not desired over another no matter what, so if your life experience is to starve to death like any living creation without exception, that is karma or simply the way life is or works. So what does the western mind desire to do, change the way existence is but in service to what? Self-gratification, ego.

You see the western mind took offence to the practicality of the eastern mind; your life’s journey is to starve to death, as your life’s path is to die at home from terminal cancer. Of course in the case of the person diagnosed with terminal cancer, the bed was needed for people that doctors can help, not for people who are beyond help!!

In all honesty, if I was diagnosed with terminal cancer, I would want to go home to allow another person the bed that can be helped, and no, I wouldn’t have been offended by the eastern doctor’s very caring practical honest approach. Yes, shock horror to the western mind, the eastern doctor couldn’t have been more caring, practical and honest if he tried. In saying this, the doctor obviously needed to be aware in how the western individualised self-cantered mind works. Of course to the western mind, ensuing known pointless medical treatment is more caring!! This is like feeding an already starving people to bread more so the chances of them starving in the future are higher!! True, this is how western kindness, love and compassion works, in other words how the western mind works. If it feels good, it has to be good even when it obviously isn’t.

So to the western mind, being spiritual has everything to do with feeling good and being good within the views of the western mind, in other words, being positive instead of negative. You know what? The eastern spiritual mind doesn’t separate everything like this between what is negative and what is positive. In truth to me and people like me, the eastern spiritual mind is all about the collective’s wellbeing, not the individual’s wellbeing of; if it feels good to the individual, it has to be good to the collective. In truth, which the western mind in all cultures is not about, this is simply not the case, not everything that feels good to the ego individually is good for the collective.  

In all honesty, the eastern spiritual mind is of the balance of western and eastern thinking. Never expect or even demand that the western spiritual mind thinks like this, this is unless influenced by eastern thinking as well.

I am not of an eastern mind or primarily of an eastern mind but I often balance out the western mind with eastern thinking, as eastern spiritually aware people often do.  

Note; when an eastern spiritual mind feeds a starving person, this is different to when a western spiritual mind feeds a person. It is like the love of an eastern spiritual mind is different to a western spiritual mind; there is no attachment to love of an eastern spiritual mind, when the western mind often becomes highly attached to love. Attachments are likened to control, as the western mind is of taking controlling rather than not being of control. The eastern spiritual mind is actually of releasing oneself of control, also meaning to release oneself from attachments even of love.  How many western spiritually minded people of love can detach themselves from the feelings of what love gives them? In all honesty, this is all about taking control of retaining fixated attachments the western mind will never give up, unless balanced out by the eastern mind of releasing oneself of control and attachments.  

The eastern spiritual mind doesn't have to deal with releasing oneself of control and related attachments because this kind of mind doesn't seek to control but to release oneself of control. There are no attachments even to what the feelings of love can give oneself.

In regards to starving people, there is no difference to starving animals, also, this is there life's journey that we should refrain from taking control of. This is the same with the terminally ill person; refrain from taking control of someone else's life's journey is as loving and caring as a spiritual person can get, but of course the western spiritual mind will understandably always think otherwise through attachments created by being controlling.