About

In his short book Zen in the Art of Archery Eugen Herrigel writes about what is required to master Japanese archery:

… it is necessary for the archer to become, in spite of himself, an unmoved centre. Then comes the supreme and ultimate miracle: art becomes ‘artless’, shooting becomes not-shooting, a shooting without bow and arrow; the teacher becomes pupil again, the Master a beginner, the end, a beginning, and the beginning perfection.

Like other literature on the subject of zen, the book describes the author’s experience with striving to achieve a seemingly impossible task. The description of the task is quite simple but the act of doing is akin to grasping at the unknown. Under the tutelage of master Awa Kenzô, who demonstrates the possible, Herrigel begins to understand and eventually experiences the ephemeral balancing act of shooting an arrow, without shooting.

Leonardo da Vinci is quoted as saying “One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself” and I believe this is only possible through exertion towards becoming a more complete being. By experiencing and harnessing the light and darkness we all possess but few of us really know. Harmonizing the human potential for both creativity and destruction is something of a lost Way in our time but it doesn’t need to be.

My personal interests in mastering pursuits in technology and the arts (both martial and creative) are ultimately a journey of self discovery and mastery of myself. I strive to be the unmoved centre of my own Great Work and what is shared here is an expression of that pursuit.

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EmergentMind - January 1, 2022