Linear Thinking to Wavy Thinking

The other day while reading The Way of Zen, I learned that things are only complicated because of our restricted way of thinking. In the western world, our way of thinking is so linear, as if it is a straight line.

If we even waver from it, things become complicated, complex, and frustrating. I am inclined to agree with what was said in the book; that language is a major factor in how we understand things. Our language and thought- processes don't allow us to understand things without describing them first. When I think of something being complicated, I imagine a line with sharp curves. At the dips, our minds are struggling to understand something. 

However, there is a way to understand. All you need to do is learn how to think outside of your normal linear way. Think without the straight lines! If you open your mind to other possibilities of comprehension, maybe complex things won't be so anymore. Even if something is not describable, does not mean that it is not understandable. Things are only complicated because of our way of thinking. Nevertheless, it is not completely our fault that our way of thinking is so limited. Our language limits our understanding. The English language, even with all its adjectives, can not describe some things. When something is not describable, we become frustrated. We have been raised to believe that we can rely on our language for everything, forgetting that there are other ways of understanding. In the Chinese language, and other languages that use characters instead of words, this is not as likely to happen. It is hard to fathom that their way of thinking can be so much different from ours, but it is. Those languages are represented in pictures, and you know the saying, "a picture speaks a thousand words". Imagine if when you come across something complicated you can see a way of understanding it without words. If someone says something to you that is hard to understand, try to find another way of interpreting what they said.