ABSTRACT
One part of the answer to the question of how exactly the Easternization of the West has occurred was identified earlier; for as we saw in chapter 2, Eastern ideas and practices have penetrated the West to an unprecedented degree in recent decades, and there can be little doubt that this process has contributed to this revolutionary change in its civilization. Yet it is not suggested that this could be the principal cause of such a dramatic event. In that respect to argue for the Easternization of the West is not to claim that the West is in the process of being colonized by the East. Rather this influx of foreign cultural material should be seen as more of a symptom of Easternization than its cause, indicative of the fact that traditional Western beliefs and values were in crisis, and hence that a widespread predisposition existed to seek out an alternative worldview. Indeed, the sheer rapidity with which the sea change from a predominantly Western to a predominantly Eastern outlook has taken place argues against this being the result of external forces alone. Rather it suggests the presence within Western civilization of a preexisting Eastern-style tradition, one that could provide an indigenous basis for such a portentous change. For the presence of such a tradition would help to explain both the considerable success enjoyed by Eastern missionaries in persuading Westerners of the validity and relevance of their messages, as well as the rapidity with which long-held Western beliefs have either been abandoned or consigned to a minor role. It is therefore important to examine this possibility, and to consider the part played in the ongoing process of Easternization by the presence of an Eastern strand within the civilization of the West itself.
