Superiority of Eastern Philosophy/Mysticism (?) or India Is NOT a Poor Country

[Hello from Russia]

I was watching Sadhguru the other day and one student asked him: "How come we are so spiritually developed, yet we are so poor?". To which he replied and said, among other things, that only a few centuries prior, India was #1 wealthy country in the world and we were hyperdeveloped in all possible domains and that they were pretty much always a rich country

That made me want to dig on this and sort of "fact check" Sadghuru. And he was actually right, India INDEED was the richest country a few centuries ago and many years centuries prior to that

Then I found various statistics and it turns out that China and India were pretty much always #1-2 economies in the World and they were basically competing only with each other for #1 title. Even Roman Empire's economy was 2-3 times less as big. The only times where Indian's/China's economies sapped from #1-2 rank is when they got heavily oppressed by other countries (British Raj) or had huge civil wars (as in Communist Party/China's Republic war in 1927-1949). But even then, they were still developing at a steady pace and then quickly caught up 

I found a great video illustration of countries GDP in 1-2020 years (AD) and I found it super fascinating:

That all makes me wonder how eastern mysticism and philosophy, directly and indirectly, influenced this situation and could it be the proof that it is in many ways superior to the western one.

Of course, resources and environment all play a key role too, but we cannot deny that where it comes to intellect, Asian people on average tend to be superior and it shows especially well in Intellectual types of sports (like an emerging Cybersports, for example), where your physical shape & physical genetics play the last role and what actually matters is purely the power of your mind

Would love to get your thoughts on this topic, guys, I feel like it is all super fascinating and worthwhile to study/think/contemplate about! 

Edited September 1, 2021 by Hello from Russia

[TheSomeBody]

india was the richest country till the british fucked it up, they exported 20% of good in the world

[Stovo]

They were number 1-2 mostly because of massive populations. They only dropped in recent history because the west's industrial revolution put them so far ahead of the east technologically that much smaller European countries managed to overtake the economies of India and China temporarily. 

In terms of average living standards, this has varied. In some parts of history, Chinese & Indian people have been relatively wealthy, in other parts relatively poor. 

I don't think eastern education is superior, or they are smarter, it's just different. They tend to perform better at tests but then lack certain important life skills. Western education teaches critical thinking far better, for example. There are pros and cons to both approaches. 

I'd also be interested to hear more about India, it's not a country I am overly familiar with. My hunch is, however, that they're really a stage blue country overall, but their traditions have enabled many much higher developed people to emerge. 

 

[asifarahim]

The only thing west is better than east is their military technology, exploitation and their policies that suck the talent out of each country.Leos ass belong to russia.but US sucked that motherfucker into their country

[gettoefl]

real simple, if you're awake you no longer crave the mega bucks that you needed before

you found something better

[Stovo]

1 hour ago, blueberries said:

In what way/why do you think Western education does a better job of teaching critical thinking? Do you think it's directly related to formal education or more of a cultural thing?

I don't know anything about Eastern education, but I'm curious because I often hear people criticize Western education for not teaching critical thinking/logic enough, and that's something I'd echo. But maybe we're still better?

@blueberries By the fact, we actually prioritise and teach critical thinking, encourage debates, give students the independence to think for themselves. 

Eastern culture has more emphasis on hierarchies and discipline. Questioning authority is less acceptable. 

 

[Dryas]

Nah I’d be very cautious with labels such as “superior”. It just feels like a bias. 
 

best to synthesize the western and eastern philosophical traditions; this results in a much more comprehensive understanding.