Why a Catholic Should Study Eastern Religion

How do I love God and not a product? This is a very important question for those of us who live in the modern West, we who are deprived of organic culture and saturated in a materialist outlook. Those who are not content with what the world gives them are unfortunately by necessity forced to ground themselves in something of their own choosing: religion, philosophy, lifestyle etc. The problem this creates in the Catholic realm is that of a devotion to certain positions (liberal, traditional), schools (Thomistic, Nouvelle Theologie), or forms of liturgical praxis. As long as one assents to certain propositions of a system they have all they need, what goes along with this is usually a strong sentimental attachment to things that accidentally go along with the system, anything else is suspect or downright anathema.

These points of view are elegantly marketed to us in the form of religious products, and it seems like we have to subscribe to one of these endlessly multiplying products in order to be a “good” Catholic. We are no longer just consumers of goods, but now ideas and lifestyles are advertised and consumed in the same manner. Every package seems to think that it’s got it all. I think this phenomenon is inevitable in our individually driven society, but it’s a view that I think can be broken out of slowly.

Having been a devotee to a number of religious products in my life I have come to realize the inadequacy of all of them. Viewing everything through a specified system will inevitably blind you to some aspects of the truth that are better looked at from another perspective; and even worse than that, it will misplace your love. Once you realize that whatever Catholic brand you subscribed to wasn’t all that and actually misses the mark a lot of the time there can be the temptation just to leave altogether.

A benefit of having a wide breadth of knowledge is that you can see systems and perspectives in their proper place, As Rene Guenon so often pointed out, the greatest danger of a systematic worldview is that it has the tendency to exclude the possibility of any other forms of knowledge. Understanding what you can’t know from a particular point of view will lead you closer to the truth. I don’t know how people can spin their wheels in specific perspective their whole lives.

It has been through honestly trying to understand Eastern religion and philosophy that I have made progress in moving past a worship of a religious product to come closer to the Truth itself who transcends all systems. This is not a syncretic approach – it does not exclude the idea that some traditions and systems are more pure than others – but it is the Catholic approach that we see in action in St. Thomas who apprehended and synthesized truth whether it was found in Islamic, Pagan, Platonist, or Christian sources. When truth is understood in this universal manner, sentimental attachments grow less, and so do the unnecessary divisions which we draw between one another.

Reflecting upon Eastern thought has been a humbling experience: to discover that there is true wisdom in utterly foreign civilizations that you are not equipped to understand really gives you pause. If men in India and China centuries before Christ could come to some knowledge of God and produce great spiritual men, who am I to think that my personalized modern religious product is the be all end all of spirituality? Also, Since I lack the proper knowledge and methods for examining Eastern modes of thought I’ve entirely had to rely on other people, I can’t bs my way through Adi Shankara. This too is a humbling experience.

Most importantly, this study has caused me to think much more on what is at the heart of Catholicism. Unfortunately, it is easy to get lost in particulars and regard them as what we are aiming at instead of God. Since Catholicism and Eastern religions have little accidentally in common, my mind is then primarily focused on the greater themes of both: God, love, beauty, humanity, and so on. You can’t focus on issues of liturgical minutiae when engaging with Hinduism, such pointless discussions simply makes no sense in that context, the mind must be led higher. In a paradoxical way it is easier to grasp higher truths than more contingent ones, it is harder to keep up with the politics and material contingencies of any faith than to explore the core doctrines, this is because the doctrines are more metaphysical/universal and therefore simpler and more constant. After raising my mind in the attempt to understand the doctrines the Eastern civilizations I can then resume this exercise with greater clarity in the context of my own tradition. Not that my survey of Eastern philosophy has turned me into a pure contemplative, but it has at least reoriented my mind a little more towards the good.

This method is certainly not for everyone, as reading Eastern philosophy is not going to help one who is not at least a bit intellectually inclined, neither will it profit people who are prone to flitting between religion after religion. But for those who are more intellectually minded and firm in their faith, who feel a dissatisfaction with the various forms of Catholic products being peddled, a read through of the Bhagavad Gita, or the Tao Te Ching might help in gaining a faith that is more authentic and honest.