Beyond Thinking
Luc Dewinter is a Zen master and composer. He always emphasises that deepening and awakening (enlightenment) – as they are cultivated in Zen Buddhism – are not limited to a single tradition. They are part of our humanity. Thus we also find this mystical practice of transcending personal existence in various religions and spiritual practices. Virtually all Luc De Winter’s music is inspired by this universal, transcendental experience. He offers his unique perspective on the festival theme, Moments of Truth.
Truth is one of those concepts that evokes many things. In this short text, I only intend to talk about what we might call the truth. The truth about our existence, the ultimate truth that you can seek, which would be the answer to our most fundamental questions.
Don’t give up on me yet, dear reader. Let me reassure you: I’m not claiming to have a monopoly on this truth. And neither do I have the intention to philosophise about it or debate it.
What I would like to propose is a way of dealing with the search for this truth: an old path that we find in various cultures and traditions.
The classical Chinese text Tao Te Ching, attributed to Lao Tse, opens with the words:
The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The ultimate truth cannot be captured in words. Not because it’s so complex or elevated, but because our human thinking – as useful as it is, and as proud as we sometimes are of it – is extremely limited. Anyone who wants to go deeper will need to leave it behind, the way you leave your bicycle behind if you intend to climb Mount Everest.
That enables us to achieve direct sight, an immediate insight into what is. An experiencing, without translating that experiencing into words. At most, words can act as signposts, such as: “Brussels, 10 kmâ€. Don’t confuse the signpost, this word, with experiencing the city itself.
When we are fully present, with heart and soul, in this existence here and now, without conceptualising, wanting to understand or hold onto it – not as a brief experiment, but again and again until we genuinely feel at home in it, might the truth manifest itself then? As what is the way it is? Without needing the label ‘truth’?
Would it then become possible to unmask the question itself – what the truth is – as a dream produced by thinking? Would that ‘unask’ the question, as it were? Might it turn out that it was based on all kinds of subconscious assumptions?
Clearly answering these questions is not part of this path. Small questions deserve clear answers; it’s best not to silence big questions with big answers. Let the question resound within yourself, and let this resonance take you to the clarity beyond all thought.