Chasing Descartes’ Ghost — Part 4: Eastern Thoughts > Hinduism

<p>The&nbsp;<a href="https://medium.com/@manarch/chasing-descartes-ghost-part-3-i-eastern-thoughts-buddhism-19359249a20b" rel="noopener">third part of Chasing Descartes&rsquo; Ghost</a>&nbsp;offered a very rough approximation of a Buddhist conception of mind from a superficial western perspective. It&rsquo;s a perspective that is a tension between the facts of the world in as far as we might be able to be know them, and a desire for what we think they are to have some certainty. Nowhere does this seem more apparent than in the pursuit of some kind of spirituality often loosely and inaccurately explained as &lsquo;Hinduism&rsquo;.</p> <p>To try to convey &lsquo;Hinduism&rsquo; in an eleven minute read is absurd but, I would argue, nonetheless plausible. At least with Buddhism the metaphysics are cleaner, neater. None of the basic metaphysical contradictions, such as the world and all in it being both thoroughly naturalistic and only physical (Indian Materialism &mdash; Lokāyata or Cārvāka), at the same time being both naturalistic and supernatural, and thoroughly mental (yes, pun intended). Let&rsquo;s call these &lsquo;material Hinduism&rsquo; and &lsquo;spiritual Hinduism&rsquo; for the sake of convenience, and observe the latter as the dominant metaphysical narrative (i.e. the story of reality).</p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/@manarch/chasing-descartes-ghost-part-4-eastern-thoughts-hinduism-8ee7643b585e"><strong>Website</strong></a></p>