East and West have always had different ideas and cultural values and the societies and individuals developed themselves accordingly. In modern times the two have started to merge with each other and globalization as well as enhanced connectivity through the internet and other means have caused a huge exchange between the two cultures. Still, there are and will be some major differences in the values and in the way of thinking between western and eastern people. This is very true for psychology and the models used and applied in the cultures of East and West.
The western model of psychology is mainly based on the findings and research of Siegmund Freud and later C.G. Jung. Most of the psychological standards are centered around the theory of the sub- and unconscious mind that Freud explored and described in the 20th century. Jung further explored the unknown territories of the sub- and unconscious and found the collective unconscious mind. According to these findings, human beings act and think mostly without being in control of their thoughts and actions and the motive power behind their doing is mostly unknown to them. These models are used to describe all kinds of dark and hidden motives that drive people in their pursuits and influence them deeply. To explore and describe these levels of the mind, Freud and Jung exclusively worked with mentally sick and deranged people. During the therapy, they found out about the reasons why people start to act in an abnormal way and what makes them do wicked things. So their findings and theorems are based on studying abnormal minds. Accordingly, the western model states that so called normal behavior, where the sub- and unconscious motive powers are mostly under the control of the conscious mind, is the ideal to reach.
In the East on the other hand the sub- and unconscious mind is only mentioned but not described in detail. The eastern model of psychology takes a diametrically opposite approach to deal with the mental states of the human psyche. The conscious mind or the level of the personality and its associations and identifications is the starting point and also the place to leave behind. While in the West psychology describes the levels below the conscious mind, in the East the levels above this state are described in detail. Further, the whole scope of eastern psychology is concentrated on the higher conscious mind and how to reach these levels. According to the eastern model there are three levels above the conscious mind:
- Higher conscious mind
- Superconscious mind
- Cosmic conscious mind
All the teachings and techniques of Yoga and Meditation are tools to reach these levels of the mind and leave the conscious state behind to develop one´s character and abilities far beyond what we normally view as standard. As the East found out about a cosmic conscious mind, they also state that there is a cosmic unconscious mind which will be discovered by psychologists sooner or later. While in the West the subjects of the study were mentally deranged and unhealthy, the East found its role models and subjects in the Meditators like Buddha, Vivekananda and other Yogis and Monks.