why you do dryland
“Far from wishing to awaken the artist in the pupil prematurely, the teacher considers it his first task to make him a skilled artisan with sovereign control of his craft. The pupil follows out this intention with untiring industry. As though he had no higher aspirations he bows under his burden with a kind of obtuse devotion, only to discover in the course of years that forms which he perfectly masters no longer oppress but liberate. He grows daily more capable of following any inspiration without technical effort, and also of letting inspiration come to him through meticulous observation. The hand that guides the brush has already caught and executed what floated before the mind at the same moment the mind began to form it, and in the end the pupil no longer knows which of the two-mind or hand-was responsible for the work. “
from Zen in the Art of Archery, by Eugen Herrigel
Filed under: Quotes
Very appropos. Also works when you are having a day off and you don’t want to come up with something new.
ha ha, mom, I can come up with “something new” every day, I write like I breathe, its nourishing and easy… but I think people get sick of just my words, and there is a blog I really admire, www.outerlife.org, and he is about 25% quotes, so I throw a quote in now and then…
That link doesn’t work
It’s .com, and a very nice read. Thanks for posting it. I hope all is going well in the land of dry air.
Do you know how long he studied with the Master before releasing his first arrow???
relooking at the book, he was firing arrows almost immeadiately, but for the first two years, he fired at a large bundle of straw about 10 feet away, it was not about aiming, it was about proper drawing and releasing, only when he drew and could relese the massive tention of a japanese bow correctly, did they let him fire at an actual target..