Orientalism?

I just joined the Jay Shetty coaching school. I wouldn’t say I’ve been a “fan” but I’ve thought he has good stuff to say. Ironically, just before I joined another internet “controversy” came around, this time about Shetty and the accuracy of his past statements. You can google it. But, today I can across this article that mentions the Shetty controversy but focuses on Orientialism - the West’s infatuation with the East or something. I’ve read other stuff in similar spots and it’s really bugging me.

Why can’t the West be interested in the East without it being something negative? In The Mountain of Silence - a wild book about some monks in Greece - on my book list - it talks quite a bit about the East and the West and the need for BOTH viewpoints - gasp!

Christianity, a Catholic bishop in Maine once told me, has two lungs. One is Western, meaning rational and philosophical, and the other Eastern, meaning mystical and otherworldly. Both, he claimed, are needed for proper breathing.

So, I don’t know about Shetty and his past. I do know that just because he’s talking about Eastern philosophy and the West is “into it” does not mean it’s Orientialism. It might just mean we are properly breathing.