Seek the Light that Rises in the West

Fear, doubt, insecurity, illness, loneliness, death . . . these are difficulties in every human life, from which we cannot escape and for which one’s worldview, science, or social life no longer seems to bring comfort.

For the Westerner, thinking is a big problem. With the development of science, there is a continuously growing body of factual knowledge, while for science faith is left behind, as well as certainty in knowing. If we look for consolation in times of doubt and loneliness, must we leave the realm of thinking and turn to different areas of our soul life, such as to be more in touch with our feeling life? Or is it possible in our time of rational thinking that thinking is precisely the key to attaining faith based on certainty in knowing?

In this book, we are summoned to experience this problem of the Westerner (the problem of thinking) ourselves in order to come from such gained experience to our own insight on a path that leads us away from the darkness of an exclusively rational intellect.

Just there, where twilight falls, we find the light that enlightens doubt and loneliness, but also illness and death. Knowing for certain is not modern, and one could say that this book revives outdated idealism. Such an objection can be made only if one overlooks the fact that this work takes a decisive step in this work, enabling old questions to emerge in a new light. It is the step of self-experiencing one’s thinking, through which self-knowledge becomes possible, adopting a scientific quality on the one hand, and on the other a pathway to a modern form of mysticism.

This book was originally published in Dutch as Zoek het licht dat opgaat in het Westen by Uitgeverij Occident, 2013.