I think the reason why I love reading about eastern philosophy so much (disregard the fact that I'm asian) is that eastern philosphy emphasizes more on how a person should live i.e. a balanced life as opposed to western philosophy, which focuses on abstract ideas that mostly point to the dichotomy of man i.e. the material and the spiritual.
In western philosphy, you could just read about how matter is evil while the spirit is good or vice versa and then read about the thoughts of western philosphers along the years which basically is recycled from the works of their predecessors with minor tweaking.
Don't get me wrong, I also like reading about these stuff because they present a lot of opportunities for mental gymnastics that always keep me on my toes, but I love eastern philosphy because It teaches me how to live now, here in the real world and not live among the clouds.
In most eastern schools of thought, there is no dichotomy with matter and spirit. Most of their ideas point to a balance between the physical and the spiritual.
In order to achieve true happiness, you must have balance in all the aspects of your life.
I just love this because instead of focusing on the idea of dichotomy, they emphasize on unity.
The focus is on how to be a well rounded indivudual instead of a person who thinks himself to be composed of two opposing forces, matter and spirit and despising one or the other thinking that in order to be trully happy, one must be free from the percieved "bad" side.
At this point in my life, based on what I've learned and experienced along the years, I'm kinda leaning more on the idea that in order to be happy, we must have an inner unity, having balance in all aspects of our lives, embracing the fact that we are indeed composed of matter and spirit and in order to be whole NOW, we must embrace both aspects and try develop a balance between the two, intertwined in a graceful dance of unity.
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