Contrasting Cultures of East and West

There is a great difference between the cultures of the East and the West, both of them are ways apart, but each has its own pros and cons. The present times define the West as both the leader and the innovator, but it’s not so, the Eastern Culture is not behind. The people of the East had learnt the ways of living centuries before the West, whereas the West is a newcomer and has advanced rapidly in the recent past to overtake the East.

This variation is because of the difference in the focus of life: while the Eastern Culture has always kept spirituality as the primary aim of life, the Western Culture gave material comforts priority in their life. Today both are important for the overall progress of the society, just as a bird requires both its wings to fly, mankind requires both to lead a balanced life. Material comforts are important to live well physically while spirituality is essential to live soulfully. Then there are other differences which have widened with time- 

In Eastern Culture, family plays the central role in one’s life. People want to be with their close as well as extended family and always treat their neighbors as family, while in the Western Culture one usually likes to live along with his or her immediate family.

If you look at spirituality then, the eastern culture gives more importance to religion and faith, a lot more than the West, which is pro as well as a con. It is a pro as spirituality plays a crucial role in keeping our mind and body calm but there are many instances where religious fanaticism leads to intolerance.

The social status of the women is not the same throughout the world. In the West women are independent and make their own decisions whereas in the East, women who were given a high status in earlier times, are now fighting to get even their basic rights.

In the East, people remain engulfed in blind-faith, whereas in the West, people started questioning things scientifically which led to their advancement in Science and Technology.

Even the mindsets of the people are quite different, in East, people prefer to think intuitionally rather than logically while in the West, the way of thinking is mainly logical.

The main question still remains unanswered, which one is better. Well, if you are looking for a perfect answer then there is none. But, one thing is clear, while the Eastern countries slept during the last decade, the West rapidly urbanized and left the East way behind.