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Blank wall in dim light, a Zen practice image for Peter Gabriel’s Face the Wall.

Face the Wall: Peter Gabriel, Death, and Zen Practice

Peter Gabriel’s “Face the Wall,” from the new album o\i, is a song about looking death in the face. For anyone who has sat zazen, the title is also an instruction. This essay reads the song through Zen practice: why we sit facing a wall, how the song’s darkness compares with Zen’s emptiness, and why the most hopeful figure in the lyric may be the witness.

Andrew H. Housley

2 days ago4 min read