Posted on 28 Apr 09:57 am
Zen Quote
From “Zen in the Art of Archery” by Eugen Herrigel. This is Herrigel’s Master speaking to him:
“I must only warn you of one thing. You have become a different person in the course of these years. For this is what the art of archery means: a profound and far-reaching contest of the archer with himself. Perhaps you have hardly noticed it yet, but you will feel it very strongly when you meet your friends and acquaintances again in your own country: things will no longer harmonize as before. You will see with other eyes and measure with other measures. It has happened to me too, and it happens to all who are touched by the spirit of this art.”
Filed under: Quotes
You become a different person in the course of EVERY year. Not to do is to do, and not to change is also to change. Life has many moments of meeting friends again, returning to one’s country, and finding it/them/ onself different. Our eyes and our measures drift, if only with the passage of time. Sometimes we can choose experiences that are more, or less, likely to influence the path we follow, but, while we can guess in advance what the effect will be, we don’t know. Experience says we’re often wrong, often surprised. The surprises include some of the best things, and some of the worst. Being surprised that there has been any change at all is often one of the bad ones. Trying to hold fast against any change is almost always disappointing.
Not everyone even tries to steer a course. Those who do, often find their efforts are insignificant compared to the gusts and breezes of fate. And those who get to just where they were steering to may be the most surprised of all.
[…] te when I am in my 60’s, this is Russian Vladamir Budin In one of my earliest posts, I used this quote from the Book Zen in the Art of Archery, somehow, today, this makes more sense to me than it d […]