Week 9 Assignments - Towards a New Synthesis

Can I synthesize East and West:

I am going to follow suit here, and start with the easier of two writing assignments (!!!). Strictly speaking and only in my own experienc, I personally do find that it seems to be my work to find a way to synthesize these two approaches to life and consciousness - and so yes, it is my hope that I will be able to eventually find some middle ground between these two philosophies.

I actually have a background in Western medicine, having been a medical assistant from 1994 - 2007. I still find myself thinking with a Western medical mind when it comes to disease/pathology, and in particular in the area of diagnosis. To be perfectly honest, even though I am learning TCM philosophy and treatment, I don't really ever see myself losing completely my Western mind when it comes to these things...but where I do find that I am most comfortable with Eastern philosophy is when I consider the underlying causes for disease/pathology. I have long been comfortable with the ideology that we are complete and holistic beings, and that our physical well-being is directly tied to not only physiological processes, but to our emotional and conscious processes as well. A holistic approach has always made more sense to me, and in that regard I have long been at odds with the Western medical approach to health and well-being.

The upshot here is that yes, I think I am well on my way to synthesizing East and West.

My E-Prime Day:

I awoke today to what appeared to be a sunny and slightly breezy day. I went to a place where food is cooked and served for a fee with my partner and we requested food be cooked for us and then brought to our table, which we ate - in my present mixed state of culinary education, the food seemed to taste good and I subsequently felt full.

I then got into my personal mode of transportation that is sometimes called a car with my partner and we went to a place full of electronic equipment which can be taken home for a fee, where my partner bought a machine which purports to play music, and we transported it back to his apartment.

I am now sitting in a place where coffee and tea and snack foods can be purchased for a fee, tapping away at my laptop attempting to fulfill an assignment.