A comparative study of the problem of abstraction versus experience between East and West (as exemplified in selected Eastern and Western sages)

• Main Author: Zeff, Leo Jacob
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1958
• Subjects: Abstraction; Experience; Suffering; Wisdom; Sages; Psychology; Arts and Humanities; Comparative Methodologies and Theories; East Asian Languages and Societies; History of Religions of Eastern Origins; History of Religions of Western Origin; International and Area Studies; Religion; Social and Behavioral Sciences; Sociology
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/1388; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2387&context=uop_etds

This thesis is a comparative study of the teachings of a number of Eastern sages and a representative of modern Western depth psychology in connection with the problem of abstraction versus experience (or, thinking about instead of experiencing}. This problem is considered by the writer as the central cause in the suffering of mankind everywhere. The introductory chapter will present the problem being investigated, why and how it is considered significant, and how it will be dealt with in this study. The second chapter will contain a presentation of the various sages to be considered here, how and why they were selected, and some biographical and historical data about each. In the succeeding chapters the discussion will include what each of these sages claims to be the nature of: A. The human soul. B. God and the. universe. C. The problems of mankind (how they developed, what man can do about them; how he can do it .) Following the Bibliography is an appendix which contains comparative statements from each of the sages about a variety of universal themes.