The Buddha

A Buddha image at one of my favourite temples

The Buddha looks so content and that is how he is supposed to look.  The Buddha is is not about personal weight modelling but about showing us the way out of suffering to contentment and happiness.  This image made me reflect that, after living here 13 years, I fear I may be becoming too contented under the spell of the philosophical norm of the east.  I will put it another way.

Through living here and my work which takes me to dealing with people from both the west and the east, I can recognize what I would name as western optimism versus eastern pessimism.  What does this mean?  It is not about everyone from the west being bright and rosy everyday, while those from the east are just negative and sad about everything.  I smile as I live in a land whose celebrated title is the Land of Smiles.  So what am I saying?

I am speaking of a philosophical distinction.  Optimism and pessimism speak of a continuum defining a mindset, an approach to life.  Western optimism is encapsulated for me in the approach that those from the west believe they can change anything and everything, while those from the east more just accept that this is the way it is and it will always be.

In working for change, this has a real impact.  From both perspectives, people will work for change but I see the different basis for such human endeavour and its impact on ones taking up the challenge and on the results expected.  It is not that one side always wins and the other always loses but there is nearly a self-defeating prophecy at play for both sides as neither grasps the full picture nor makes a necessarily realistic stance.

Like all things, it is not all one nor the other but there is truth in both and the reality is best played out in the happy medium - somewhere between working for change no matter what but realizing that change does not always win the day.