Becoming born and raised in a western culture, I discovered it extremely tricky to train my thoughts to embrace the eastern philosophies of Buddhism and Zen. Some of you may well be asking, why look at eastern philosophy at all? Effectively, I have come to recognize that there are basic flaws in western philosophy as practiced in America. Quite a few of us know that these flaws exist, but are so consumed by the dogmatic practices of western philosophy that addressing these flaws can only take place for the duration of a catastrophic societal breakdown like what we are at present experiencing with the Wall Street crisis.
Now, why do I use the term flaw? I use this term mainly because there are A lot of situations although western philosophy or customs never align with the person, society, or nature. In this distinct case, greed was the culprit. Wall Street, our elected officials, and corporate elites may possibly not agree with this assessment, but whose interest would it serve if they agreed with it? Not theirs.
To be fair, greed does not take place on its own. It is nurtured in a western philosophy that is primarily based on the notion of survival of the fittest, which espouses that the additional I generate, the far more I earn. Now, I have no challenge with the purity of this notion supplied distinct regulations and safeguards are in location to shield the society at big from unscrupulous and unethical company practices brought on by greed. The crisis we now discover ourselves in was permitted to fester due to the fact there had been no safeguards and small regulations in spot to guard the international public against excessive greed facilitated by:
deceptive bundling of mortgage backed securities by Wall Street executives
predatory lending practices by banks and mortgage brokers
irresponsible and overspeculating by genuine estate "investors"
All of these groups blindly purchased into America's old adage of greed is great (watch Micheal Douglas' portrayal of Gordon Gecko in Wall Street). This philosophy has been celebrated and pushed by America's business enterprise elite mainly because the inception of this nation. Facilitated by their cash and energy, America's corporate elite have utilized their campaign contributions to our elected officials to generate unhealthy alliances that never serve the very best interest of society at significant. In addition, unique interest lobbying groups funded by these corporate elites have silenced the voice of the typical person. Now, Quite a few industries are deregulated in the name of a cost-free marketplace (telecommunications, power [Enron-Need to have we overlook?], economic markets, and radio broadcasting are some of the now deregulated sectors of our economy). Is greed at play in these markets? Yes. But, why?
Western philosophy pushes the idea and ill-fated practice of pursuing self-fulfillment and happiness in the course of excessive consumption of material goods and solutions (entities outdoors of our Becoming). This practice of excessive consumption spawns consumerism, which is fueled by the pursuit and acquisition of the almighty dollar. This is why Americans are consistently chasing the buck and why we go to perform each day, although we may well hate what we do for a living. Our western philosophy has conditioned us to think that revenue's capacity to get us factors leads to happiness. The dilemma with this concept is that even though cash can acquire us a sense of security and safety in the form of clothes, meals , and shelter, it can not do a lot additional than that. Of most significance to us is that income can not offer sustainable fulfillment and happiness, mainly because it is an entity outdoors of our Becoming. For that reason, it does not and can't address the internal workings of the human spirit.
Western philosophy embraces an outdoors-in strategy to life, which typically instances leaves the thoughts, physique, and soul defenseless to the globe's damaging distractions and influences. I am not here to say that eastern philosophy is greater than western philosophy. But I am here to supply you with an option if you obtain that how you are living your life no longer operates for you, society, or nature.
What are the indicators that your life no longer performs for you? Here are some hints:
You really feel disempowered and disempower other individuals versus feeling empowered and empowering other folks.
Life is not observed as a fun adventure, but rather a essential chore.
You cannot discover or never even recognize that your not living as your genuine self (the essence of what it signifies to be you, the uniqueness that tends to make you specific).
Eastern philosophies (Buddhism and Zen) are really various from western philosophy, as there are no tricky and quick guidelines that implicitly or explicitly impose their will on people to reside their life a distinct way in order to attain a "material-primarily based" idea of happiness and fulfillment. Nonetheless, there are some rules. But know that these rules are all geared to empowering the person as he/she relates to the globe in a synergistic (balanced) way, top to sustainable happiness and fulfillment. In the eastern philosophy,
the western philosophy's outdoors-in strategy is replaced with an inside-out strategy.
the western philosophy's consumerism is replaced with humility and simplicity.
the western philosophy's survival of the fittest dogma is replaced with embracing and aligning the thoughts, physique, soul, and nature.
In eastern philosophy, no entity is left out from experiencing life to the fullest ought to it select to do so. So, what path are you on? Is it working for you? If not, may well you use a alter in philosophy?
Look at it.
Dr. Barrett has an earned PhD in used management and choice sciences, with a specialization in leadership and organizational modify. He also holds a MS in organizational leadership and a BS in organizational management. In addition to these degrees, Dr. Barrett has completed Quite a few executive certificates focusing on distinct locations of management and leadership improvement.
Dr. Barrett is proud of his academic accomplishments, as they are the item of his long and occasionally hard journey out of poverty. Along his journey, Dr. Barrett served honorably in the U.S. Air Force, participating in A lot of essential overseas operations in the Middle East and Europe. He has also taught organizational leadership courses at the graduate degree level at Mercy College. This wish to create leadership no matter whether it be in myself or other folks is what drives Dr. Barrett. Dr. Barrett at present lives in NYC, exactly where he runs The Barrett Center for Leadership Improvement, LLC http://www.TheBarrettCenter.com and produces The Barrett Leadership Weblog http://www.TheBarrettCenter.blogspot.com
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