The Problem with our "Quest for Otherness"

            The “Oriental Monk” is a powerful symbol in Western culture that can be seen in a number of different mediums. Clearly there is something about the monk, and the Eastern ideologies that it represents, which draw us in. Iwamura suggests that this attachment to the Oriental Monk represents a “disillusionment with Western frameworks, and the hopes and fears attached with alternative spiritualties of the East” (10). This “disillusionment” with Western society and frameworks, such as capitalism or Christian values, is solved by turning to outside ideas or symbols and appropriating them to Western society. The Oriental Monk is only one example of this attempt to take things of “otherness” and turn them into “ideological caregivers” (Iwamura, 10). Is this arguably superficial means of integrating foreign ideas into our society a detrimental practice?

            Iwamura certainly suggests that our attraction to otherness has been detrimental to foreign cultures, as it serves as a justification for the West to proceed with “its (imperialist) work with renewed vigor and purpose around the globe” (iwamura, 100). But what does it mean for Western culture and society? Is it a good thing that we continue to look outward to appropriate different cultural ideas? It seems that our fascination with the “quest of otherness” serves as a façade by which we avoid looking inward for realistic solutions to society’s problems. If we truly are disillusioned with imperialism, capitalism, commercialization, and other Western tenets, is going to a yoga studio once a week really going to solve our problems? On the cover of the January 2003 Time, the magazine suggests that the “mind can heal your body”. Is this offering a real solution to our problems, or is it simply an attractive, almost exotic band-Aid for much deeper problems.