Chuang Tzu says that when Nie Xié asked his master Wang Ni if he knew something that all creatures agreed on, his answer was, “How could I know that?” To illustrate his point, he mentions that humans and animals could never agree on these three things: what is the best place to sleep, what is the best food, and what is the thing that attracts them the most.
At the end of the passage, Nie Xié is interested in knowing whether, since Master Wang Ni is unable to give a definitive answer, he would be the “perfect man”, the greatest of all capable sages? It would be logical to think that a wise man would have a type of knowledge that ordinary people do not have. However, Wang Ni points out that the difference between a sage and an ordinary person is that a sage is like a spirit, capable of “riding the Sun and the Moon” and “wandering beyond the four seas”, and would likely also have an outlook that would be fundamentally in line with his way of being.
Every time I complete a show or a new recording, I spend a lot of time trying to understand what good decisions I made and what could be improved. And it’s not like there aren’t always important insights into whether to take things in a new direction or simply let them stay as they are. However, I am increasingly convinced of the need to take into account how much of the experience of music is ineffable and how difficult it is, perhaps even impossible, to fully understand the impact that each piece of music has on each particular listener. Like the “perfect man,” ordinary humans and animals have particular worldviews. That’s why it’s important to remember to forget the entire analytical process before returning to the stage or recording room. Instead, trusting that what is possible to deliver at each moment will have a myriad of unpredictable reflections.
José Crúzio
