West meets East: Towards Seeking of Self-Identity

The aim of this paper is to analyse the interest in Europe towards Eastern teachings in terms of the problematized self-identity of the contemporary European. This identity is formed by many diverse processes and opposite tendencies such as: traditionalisation and detraditionalisation, secularisation and desecularisation, cosmopolitanism and sense of uncertainty and instability, openness and closeness to the otherness, individualisation and new opportunities for communication and so on. This is a time of change, dynamic and new seeking of the meaning of life. The analysis reveals the intersection of the peculiarities of the contemporary “spiritual” European situation with the peculiarities of “Eastern religions”. Among the peculiarities of Eastern religions that fit into the European situation are their clear practical side offering methods of self-development, their connection with other aspects of spiritual life as e.g. art, weak institutionalisation, some features of their worldview that might be interpreted as being more adequate to the contemporary scientific worldview. Moreover, they give different views about the essence and interconnections of the self, others, nature, and Ultimate reality. The paper argues that the possibility to be exposed to such different views is very important because self-identification as a process and self-identity as a result include attitude to the self, to the other(s), to the nature, to the Absolute. Are these new views undermining or enriching the self-identity of the contemporary European? The analysis of the East-West interaction raises many open research questions concerning understanding of the self and perception of otherness, which need discussion.