The chapter starts out very loosely defining the basic differences in the "philosophy" of western and eastern attitudes. In general, they state that westerners are more focused on their individuality and egocentric world of being, manifesting itself in materialism and the ruthless pursuit of wealth and success. The career is everything and what one owns is the sum of oneself, as our antique dining room table now appraised at fifty grand somehow represents the aptitude of our soul. Maybe I'm skeptical, maybe I'm sick of American hypocrisy, or maybe I was a whirling dervish living out the theme of asceticism in a past life.

However, unlike the easterners who "focus on the subordination of individualism to a greater force", I believe we can have our cake and eat it too, meaning appreciating our uniqueness and focusing on a force greater than ourselves alone. The eastern religions also all have in common the fact that they are not theistic religions, meaning they do not personify God as a Caucasian man robed in Greek togas with a beard like Santa Claus and a face to match. They don't try to define God, yet they try to extract universal truths such as the intrinsic presence of balance and harmony. I don't believe it is as much about the devaluing the individual as much as it is about taking our eyes off the ground and looking at the world around us and accepting it instead of fighting it. There are even some Christian similarities such as in the Serenity prayer to "accept the things we cannot change, change those we can, and the wisdom to know the difference".

There are many similarities in Western and Easter

Some common words found in the essay are:
Santa Claus, Philosophers East, Western Eastern, Maybe I'm, Siddhartha Gautama, Zen Buddhism, Hindu Buddhist, God Caucasian, eastern religions, buddhism focuses, maybe i'm, western eastern,
Approximate Word count = 671
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)