Is It Possible To Be Both Eastern And Western Enlightened?
For most of my life, I have regarded Western notions of enlightenment as superior to Eastern ones. I’m a cerebral person, a thinker, a lover of reason.
This was until a few months ago.
On June 2nd, 2024 while in British Columbia, I took 2 grams of mushrooms with my dad and friend John. It was and still is one of the most meaningful experiences of my life. I became closer to myself, others, and the Universe as a whole. Spirituality, which I had then only dipped my toes into, became a major interest of mine overnight. To this day, the insights from that trip are helping me (I write this in the middle of a break up).
But, something was off. While the experience has markedly improved my life, it didn’t fit with the divine word of the Western world.
It wasn’t, scientific…
It wasn’t empirically grounded, measurable, objective, factual; it wasn’t, dare I say—“real.”
And so, as I returned to Cornell University, I found myself scared to talk about the experience. I told a few people here and there. But during some moments of my day, I’d look at the nearest door, and wince as I imagined the reason police breaking through, academic stylus swords in hand, shouting: “Get on the ground, get on the ground!”
As I’ve struggled with this dilemma, I’ve realized my problem is part of a much greater narrative: the age-old clash of Eastern versus Western notions of enlightenment.
As a gross but necessary generalization, Eastern notions of Enlightenment tend to prioritize experience and feeling asking questions such as: how can we stop the eternal cycle of desire? What is our true self? How can we live in accordance with nature and others harmoniously?
If we were looking at reality through a window, Eastern notions of enlightenment focus less on finding deeper “facts” about reality outside the window and more on the distortionary nature of the window itself.
In contrast, Western notions of enlightenment tend to prioritize reason and science asking questions such as: how can we find deeper truths about reality? How can we become more rational? How can we use technology to further humanity? Western enlightenment doesn't involve just knowing a large amount about the world, but being able to change your opinions when sufficient evidence refutes them. If we were looking at reality through a window, Western notions of enlightenment focus less on the window itself, and more on the things we see through the window.
It doesn't take a genius to see the apparent clash between these two perspectives. Do you meditate under the Bodhi tree, or update your Excel sheet with how meditation boosts your productivity? As I dove more and more into this clash, however, I began to feel a question simmering in the back of my mind. It started as a soft tsk tsk, but soon began to dominate my waking attention.
What if we could balance both Eastern and Western enlightenment?
The more I thought about it, the more it felt not like a question but the question. It would solve my reservations about my mushroom experience at Cornell. It would help mend political divides between lefts and rights and help navigate timeless issues of racism, sexism, climate change and more. It would help us find meaning in an age where it can feel like all life is comprised of is doom scrolling on the Internet, going to a job you don’t enjoy, and zombifying in front of the television.
To explore a possible answer to this question, we need to journey in very rough forms into both Eastern and Western enlightenment.
What Does It Mean To Be Eastern Enlightened?
If there were a billboard titled, the quintessential Eastern enlightenment figure, it would say: The Buddha, known before his transformation as Siddartha Gautama.
Siddhartha Gautama, born a prince in ancient Nepal around 563 BCE, lived a sheltered life of luxury. His father kept him away from any suffering, but one day, Siddhartha ventured outside the palace and saw the realities of life—an old man, a sick person, and a corpse. These encounters shook him, leading him to realize that suffering was an inevitable part of existence. Seeking a solution, he renounced his royal life, leaving behind his wealth, family, and full body massages to embark on a spiritual quest. He wandered for years, trying various forms of asceticism and meditation, pushing himself to the extremes of self-denial, but still found no answer to the nature of suffering.
One day, while wandering with his ascetics, exhausted and confused, a traveler offered him a bowl of milk rice--the ancient equivalent of caviar, apparently. Unable to resist, he ate the rice and sat under a Bodhi tree to meditate. It was under this tree Siddhartha reached enlightenment. He realized that both polar opposite seasons of his life--being a royal prince and being a starved ascetic--were not the paths to enlightenment. He realized suffering is rooted in attachment and desire, and that the way to end suffering and pursue enlightenment is by following a path of moderation, mindfulness, and ethical conduct—The Middle Way.
He became known as the Buddha, or "the awakened one," and spent the rest of his life teaching others things that eventually were combined to form the major spiritual tradition of Buddhism.
I started with the story of Siddhartha because it captures the major themes of Eastern enlightenment across most major traditions. It’s experiential. You can’t encapsulate it in words—in fact trying to might make it harder to become enlightened. It fundamentally changes one’s way of being in the world. Siddartha sat under the Bodhi tree, but he rose as the Buddha. Finally, it most often leads to a profound degree of kindness, compassion, and love, which you want to spread into the world.
That being said, let’s go through each major spiritual/philosophical movement in the East and summarize its key insights regarding Eastern enlightenment.
Hinduism
Hinduism is one of the oldest religions in the world, its origins tracing back over 4,000 years.
Central to Hindu thought is the idea that enlightenment is about transcending the individual self (or Atman) and realizing unity with the ultimate reality (Brahman). This process involves moving beyond material desires and the illusion of separation between the self and the Universe. Hindu practices like yoga and meditation emphasize an experiential path, seeking inner transformation rather than intellectual mastery.
Enlightenment, from a Hindu perspective, is more about being than knowing. In this way, Hinduism was the first Eastern movement to prioritize the direct experience of spiritual truths over the rational or empirical inquiry often associated with Western thought.
Buddhism
Buddhism emerged from Hindu roots in the 6th century BCE and introduced key concepts (and many more) like emptiness (Śūnyatā), no-self (Anatta), and the idea that suffering comes from desire.
The Buddha’s teachings emphasize that all phenomena are empty of inherent existence; everything we experience is transient and interdependent. To put it mathematically: X ≠ X.
Take the device you're reading this article through—let’s say it’s a phone. You label it a phone. But is it the same as other people's phones? It might be an iPhone 10, or a Samsung, or a cough cough, Android. They're all vastly different, with no fundamental essence connecting them, and yet we call them such because our species on our tiny rock in the Universe has universally decided that this conglomeration of atoms, chips, and metal shall be named using a human-made alphabet as “phone.”
That’s wild.
Ultimately, this phone is empty of inherent existence—we project meaning onto it because that’s what we do. We project meaning onto everything. Everything we perceive is a projection, like some cosmic film, and The Buddha was trying to teach us to confront our self as the projector.
Speaking of selves, this notion of emptiness is closely tied to the idea of no-self, which challenges the belief in a permanent, unchanging identity. According to Buddhism, the self we cling to is an illusion, and suffering arises from our attachment to this false sense of identity and the desires that feed it. You don't have full control over your sensations, feelings, and thoughts. The only thing you can prove is absolutely, fundamentally you, is the awareness behind everything. If there was no awareness able to reflect on awareness then you wouldn't be able to read this article. Trippy.
Finally, suffering (dukkha) stems from craving and attachment, as we continuously seek satisfaction in an ever-changing world. Let’s say you want a cookie—I know I do. You get your cookie. But as so often happens, one cookie leads to another, which leads to another, and pretty soon it’s 3:00 a.m., and you're sitting with an empty cookie jar wondering why God, why did you put me on this planet? The Buddha realized fulfilling desires like eating a cookie, or reaching a goal, or whatever will never lead to enlightenment or even happiness. It’s the detaching from desire, and the love of the journey itself, that is pursuing enlightenment.
Zen Buddhism.
Zen Buddhism emerged as a distinct school in China during the 6th century CE and later to its greatest popularity in Japan during the 12th century CE.
Central to Zen is the idea that one’s inner Buddha nature is always present, meaning that enlightenment isn’t something external to be achieved, but rather a realization of something already within. You can see it in yourself; you can see it in mountain peaks and flower petals; and in “the circuits of a digital computer or the gears of a cycle transmission”--even in your failed sourdough starter ([[Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance|Pirsig, p. 16]])[1].
This insight strips away the illusion that enlightenment is a distant goal, emphasizing that every moment offers an opportunity to awaken. You can build towards enlightenment by sweeping the floor, sipping tea, or even playing video games (yay, that’s good for me). There’s no separation between the mundane and the spiritual.
Like Hinduism, and Buddhism, Zen Buddhism sees enlightenment as a state of being, not something to be intellectually understood. Zen practitioners are especially skeptical of words as a means of spiritual growth. Words are misleading because they give form to things that are inherently empty. They are always interpreted through someone’s unique experiences, beliefs, and more. Yes, I’m aware that makes the writing of this article a little paradoxical, but hey, perhaps the simmering of these ideas in your being will lead to enlightenment down the road.
Confucianism
Confucianism, emerged in China around the 5th century BCE by—wait for it—Confucius!
Confucianism may be the most similar to Western notions of enlightenment as it places a strong emphasis on learning, reflection, and self-improvement. Confucius believed that education and the continuous pursuit of knowledge were crucial for cultivating virtue and moral character. Rather than encouraging detachment from worldly concerns, Confucianism advocates active engagement with society through intellectual development and ethical behavior. This intellectual curiosity isn’t just about personal growth; it’s also seen as a way to contribute to a more harmonious and just society.
A key Confucian idea is that building love in the world begins by building love in yourself. Personal transformation comes first, starting with self-discipline and moral development. As you cultivate virtue in yourself, that goodness naturally extends outward, affecting your family, your community, and eventually the world. Confucianism sees this inner development as a lifelong process, where becoming enlightened is about improving your character, learning to live ethically, and fostering harmony in all your relationships.
Taoism
Taoism, emerged in China around the 4th century BCE from the teachings of Lao Tzu.
It emphasizes living in harmony with the flow of the universe, or the Tao. A central concept is Wu Wei, often translated as "non-action" or "effortless action," which encourages going with the flow of life rather than forcing things to happen. Yes, a lot of procrastinators resonate with Taoism.
Another core Taoist idea is Yin and Yang, the principle of balance. Taoism recognizes that everything has its opposite—light and dark, action and stillness, good people and Fortnite players.
The trick is to put these things in balance. Crucially, balance, in this case, does not necessarily mean halfway—it means prioritizing things differently in a way that accords with nature. Jumping into a lake to save a drowning child is courageous. Doing so amid stage five rapids is another special word: stupid.
Like most other Eastern spiritual movements, Taoism is highly skeptical of words as a means for enlightenment with one of the famous lines of Lao Tzu’s seminal Tao Te Ching, going: "The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao."
Through looking at Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism, we can see Eastern notions of enlightenment are all about transcending the self, transcending desire, avoiding overly intellectualizing, finding our Buddha nature in the everyday, building love in ourselves to build love in the world, and living in harmony with nature. Keeping this in mind, let’s pop into the completely different world of Western enlightenment.
What Does It Mean To Be Western Enlightened?
If there were billboard titled, the quintessential Western enlightenment figure, it would say: Daniel Kahneman.
Daniel Kahneman was a Nobel Prize-winning psychologist and author best known for his work on behavioral economics, particularly his groundbreaking research on cognitive biases and decision-making. His book Thinking, Fast and Slow highlights how human judgment is often flawed due to systematic errors in thinking. Kahneman’s research challenged the traditional economic view of humans as fully rational beings, showing that people often rely on heuristics that lead to irrational decisions.
His ability to interrogate his own thinking was legendary. Daniel believed in “no sunk costs” when it came to iterating on ideas, especially in writing. Sometimes he didn’t even track changes. Every draft served a purpose—to inspire a better one—after which it was no longer needed. Ego was irrelevant. It sometimes meant hours, weeks, or years on one paper or project, only for him to change it immediately after getting sufficient evidence to the contrary.
Kahneman embodies the ideals of Western enlightenment, valuing rationality, science, and a skepticism for birthday wishes. He had a relentless fervor to search for the truth, spending most of his time in scientific observation and experimentation to uncover deeper and deeper insights about the world. The insights he came to regarding human psychology have been applied in countless fields to make the world a better place (and unfortunately, sometimes a worse one).
That being said, let’s go through each major movement on Western enlightenment and summarize its key insights.
Plato and Aristotle (4th century BCE)
If there were three foundational figures in Western enlightenment, it would be Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
Socrates basically represented the idea of epistemic humility—the notion that fundamentally none of us know much about the world. He questioned everything, walking up to random people and trying to get into a Socratic dialogue, asking them why why why over and over to the most basic of questions.
Plato, his disciple, focused on ideal forms—perfect, abstract concepts that exist beyond the physical world, guiding everything we see. His philosophy emphasized the pursuit of truth through reason and introspection, arguing that true knowledge transcends sensory experience. He encapsulated many of his beliefs not in philosophical treatises but in dialogues, because he believed knowledge wasn’t something simply transferred but brought out in the dialogue between people, things, and ideas.
Aristotle, on the other hand, was a bit more grounded. His work focused on empiricism and logic, teaching that knowledge comes from experience and careful observation of the natural world. He established formal systems of logic and scientific inquiry that still influence how we approach reason and evidence today. While Plato looked to the abstract, Aristotle brought philosophy back to Earth, asking us to study the world as it is.
Together, Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle encapsulate a balance between idealism and realism. As you can see, some Eastern ideas are embodied in these Western philosophers. The point is not that all Western enlightenment is against Eastern notions; the point is, in general, there is a clash.
Christianity (1st century CE)
Christianity profoundly influenced Western notions of enlightenment by introducing ideas of salvation, moral responsibility, and a connection to the divine. At its core, Christianity added the notion that enlightenment isn’t just intellectual but also spiritual—a process of transcending sin and aligning oneself with God’s will. The concept of heaven as a realm of eternal enlightenment gave people something to aspire toward, but this enlightenment was based on faith, moral living, and divine grace rather than empirical or rational inquiry.
Christian thought, particularly during the Middle Ages, merged with Greek philosophy through thinkers like Augustine and Aquinas, who argued that faith and reason could coexist. Aquinas famously believed that the rational mind, a gift from God, was meant to help us understand the divine order of the world. Christianity contributed a moral dimension to enlightenment, focusing on the individual’s responsibility to live virtuously and selflessly in alignment with a higher power.
The Scientific Revolution (16th-17th century CE)
The Scientific Revolution marked a turning point in the west, where rationality and empirical evidence truly took center stage. It was kickstarted when the scientific method was invented by none other than Francis Bacon. Legendary name. Figures like Galileo, Copernicus, and Newton used the scientific method to bring about entirely new ways of thinking. This movement shifted focus from the faith based knowledge of Christianity to one where truth is discovered through systematic inquiry. This era turned humans into the new God. Using the scientific method, we can not only understand the world through reason but also control and manipulate it through technology and innovation.
The Enlightenment (17th-18th century CE)
Finally, the Enlightenment itself—often referred to as the Age of Reason—saw thinkers like Descartes, Locke, Voltaire, and Kant continue the tradition of rational inquiry while expanding it to the realms of politics, ethics, and human rights. Descartes’ famous statement "I think, therefore I am" encapsulates the Western emphasis on self-awareness and the power of reason as the foundation for all knowledge. Locke introduced ideas of natural rights and democracy, arguing that individuals have the capacity for rational thought and should be free to govern themselves. Meanwhile, Kant pushed reason to its limits, advocating for moral autonomy—the ability to determine right and wrong through rationality alone.
Rationality became the Western worlds new religion. The scientific method, logic, probability, game theory, signal detection theory, and more became cornerstones of Western enlightenment ideals (some of these emerging in the modern era). Curiosity, open-mindedness, and a hunger to experiment on the weekends rather than playing video games became the virtues of the Western world.
Connecting Eastern And Western Notions Of Enlightenment
Does my mushroom experience have a place within both Eastern and Western notions of enlightenment? Is it possible to connect the two? Or are we doomed to choose one or the other?
I believe both notions of enlightenment can be connected, even complementary. Not in all contexts. But in some none the less. Let's explore three ideas for how I think the two can be connected.
Balancing Rationality With Emotionality
The religion of Western enlightenment is rationality. In an ideal rational world, most of the time, we would act with logic, probability, and reason in mind. Here's the thing: we don't live in a fully rational world.
I have over 10,000 hours in video games. Some people believe in crazy theories like the Earth Is Flat, Extrasensory Perception, and billions still follow traditional religions. Donald Trump, exists...
In a world chock full of irrationality, it's irrational to be perfectly rational.
Balancing Eastern and Western enlightenment means aspiring for rationality but being open to following your intuition, your body, and emotions, which can sometimes hold more wisdom than formal logic or probability. Trying to be rational all the time is paramount to cognitive suicide. The amount of variables we would have to pay attention to is combanatorially explosive. We literally must rely on intuition, or we wouldn't be able to exist.
My mushroom experience isn't fully rational--it's not scientific. But the insights I took away feel incredibly meaningful, and I would argue, have made me a better person. What's so wrong with that?
However, we should be extra careful with following our emotions in situations where they are likely to lead us astray. I like to summarize these situations using the acronym HALT Silly--hungry, angry, lonely, tired, or stressed. When we are any of these things, it's tougher for us to do the hard thing when it's the right thing to do. In fact, Sapolsky explains in [[Behave By Robert B Sapolsky|Behave]] that "increasing cognitive load [tends to] make people more conservative" (Sapolsky, Pg 448)[2]. We are less willing to change from the norm.
So balance is key. It's impossible to say when to veer toward either. The understanding you should try to balance is a step in the right direction.
Finding Truth
Eastern notions of enlightenment emphasize truth as coming to deeper and deeper insights about the distortionary nature of our mind and desire, our true self, and how we can live in accordance with nature and others harmoniously. Western enlightenment says, sure, but can we measure it in pounds? Western notions of enlightenment tend to emphasize truth as coming to deeper and deeper "factual" observations and theories about reality and having the curiosity and open-mindedness to change these as new evidence comes up.
Echoing an earlier analogy, if we were looking at reality through a window, Eastern notions of enlightenment focus less on finding deeper “facts” about reality outside the window and more on the distortionary nature of the window we use to look at reality.
At first glance, it seems these notions are impossible to balance. Eastern notions of enlightenment peel back layers of reality, whereas Western notions immerse us further inside it. The way to balance them is to pursue both with awareness of the other.
When pursuing Eastern notions of truth, realize no matter how much you tear back the layers of reality, you still exist in a reality bound by limits. Your mind might be able to convince itself you are above the law or getting hit by a car, but if the reason police break-in, you, unfortunately, can't escape by saying: "I am the void." You might tout the bombing of Hiroshima as just an illusion, but in the minds of others, it's as real as snow or Taco Tuesdays, so acting like it doesn't exist does you no favors. Rationality and the scientific method might not be useful for understanding all facets of reality like the distortionary nature of desire, but they can be incredibly useful for navigating the biases, heuristics, and emotional tendencies of the mind.
When pursuing Western notions of truth, realize scientific truth is only one facet of the truths to discover about reality. In fact, science is by nature, untruthful. All scientific theories must be falsifiable meaning if sufficient evidence arose, they could be proven false. Newton's laws of motion were practically gospel in the scientific community until Einstein came along and sucker-punched them with relativity.
Science can help us uncover truths that tend to be consistent across time, space, and in the minds of others. But fundamentally, Eastern enlightenment is about truths that are above science. The truth is that the very reality we are observing is chock full of projections from our mind, so none of us can ever fully observe it. The truth that no fulfilled desire will make us happy, only the journey can do that. And the truth that some things can't be put in words or scientific laws--they are above truth--like the Tao, Buddha Nature, or Quality from Zen And The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Participatory Knowing vs. Propositional Knowing
Eastern traditions often emphasize participatory knowing—the knowing about what it's like to exist from a certain agent arena relationship. I have a participatory knowing for what it feels like to exist as Aidan in the arena of Cornell and every other place in my life. This type of knowing can't be gained purely propositionally, it must be experienced.
It’s the type of understanding you gain from being fully present, whether in meditation, mindful activities, or spiritual practices. In Eastern enlightenment, enlightenment isn't an abstract concept but a lived reality. It’s something you become through your actions, not something you understand intellectually.
Western thought, in contrast, tends to emphasize propositional knowing—understanding the world through concepts, language, and logical reasoning. It’s about accumulating facts, understanding theories, and logically deducing truths about the world.
These two ways of knowing don’t have to be at odds. You can cultivate both. There’s value in knowing something propositionally—like how the brain works, why you procrastinate, or how atoms function—and there’s equal value in participating in that knowledge—experiencing presence, letting go of intellectual control, or recognizing the flow of reality beyond words.
You can embrace participatory knowing through experiences like my mushrooms trip or meditation, while also utilizing propositional knowing to refine how you understand yourself and the world. It’s about using both hands.
Finding A Balance
In the end, maybe enlightenment isn’t about choosing a side—East or West, reason or experience, mind or spirit—but rather learning to navigate the space between. It’s not about finding all the answers, but learning how to ask better questions. Can we live in a world where scientific truth and spiritual insight coexist, where rationality guides us through the chaos but doesn’t suffocate the wonder of being alive? Perhaps the most enlightened path is one that knows when to let go of control, when to hold on, and when to simply be—trusting that in the tension between these two forces, something deeper is waiting to be revealed. So, I leave you with this: what if the real journey to enlightenment begins when we stop seeing these paths as opposites and start seeing them as two sides of the same coin?