"Western interest in Eastern religion (as well as supposedly non-religious practices like yoga and meditation) has everything to do with the reaction against Western religion"
I think this is only true among people who don't actually understand what religion is, which admittedly is probably the vast majority of Americans. There definitely are though a lot of people in the west who are interested in yoga, meditation, psychedelics, etc. specifically because of their religious nature. Even among most of these people there is a lot of orientalism, but this isn't the same as a reaction against religion per se. If you watch the documentary about Ram Dass or else that new movie Crazy Wisdom that just came out, you'll see though that these movements definitely did start because people were seeking primary religious experience rather than fleeing from it.
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"Western interest in Eastern religion (as well as supposedly non-religious practices like yoga and meditation) has everything to do with the reaction against Western religion"
I think this is only true among people who don't actually understand what religion is, which admittedly is probably the vast majority of Americans. There definitely are though a lot of people in the west who are interested in yoga, meditation, psychedelics, etc. specifically because of their religious nature. Even among most of these people there is a lot of orientalism, but this isn't the same as a reaction against religion per se. If you watch the documentary about Ram Dass or else that new movie Crazy Wisdom that just came out, you'll see though that these movements definitely did start because people were seeking primary religious experience rather than fleeing from it.