For the challenge of the last Full moon, Zven felt that we are in dire need to act; he came up with the idea to have a new perspective into our instinctual animal and perhaps help ignite its presence within our lives for an enhanced way of seeing.
"Let's try Archery" he said
... and indeed we did.
We made our way to a local Archery range, which at first came along with it's set of complications. Dates were fully booked and the actual path to the location was a real treasure hunt to locate .. even with our pocket computers giving us an eagle eye view to guide us in the right direction; we still faced the challenge. After a short phone call and the guidance of a human / cartoonish like accented Scottish fellow, we made our way to the entrance.
The place was tucked away in a valley, right beneath a very busy main road, totally not visible to the eye of the onlooker, who does not know of its existence ... and even those of them who'd known of it. Different species of birds welcomed us, the sunshine was mild, yet still strong to get your liquids flowing out of your skin. As we walked in to the range; we met Lorry; our tutor. He explained to us about the safety rules and precautions one should take not to get hurt or to hurt anyone else. Of course the covid rules were also important in an outdoor space. The second part was the positioning of our body. Then we were informed on how to hold our arms, with the bow in your hands, take on the middle three fingers and pull the elastic rope that will send the arrow cutting through the air. Right into the other direction you thought you were aiming it at đ
As we went along our little adventure, we learnt about the dominant eye. We all have it, and automatically the mind cancels out the weaker eye to use its full instinctual power / precision to aim at the target in front of you. Upon observation, Lorry realised that my left eye is more dominant and he guided me on how to switch sides to look through and aim using the left eye.
After this experience and a search into the net, something got caught to enlighten the knowledge acquired through it. This article about the Vedic; Arjuna and Krishna popped up:
"Arjuna asked Krishna for advice. Krishna simply said, âYogastha Kuru Karmani,â which means, âFirst establish being in yourselfâand then, and only then, perform action.â
What this meant was that when we take any action, it cannot be from the mind in the world of âright and wrong,â emotion, or judgement. We must act from that place of beingâdeep silence and knowingâwhere there is no âthis or that,â no âshould or shouldnât.â
Once he was able to remove his mind and emotions and establish himself in being, he was able to act and perform the action without attachment. His action ultimately brought balance back to the kingdom."
Upon reading this one can understand the full meaning of "Beginner's Luck", when one tries out something for the first time. Usually at this point, the mind is not in possession of the action - but the bodily instinct is. This is one of the most powerful things that we have access to and that we must observe and use; when trying new things our body takes the action and most times our mind is given the back seat to relax and enjoy the ride. Zven's first shot at the bow and arrow in fact was actually a 1000% bull's eye. Lorry looked at him in awe; "You have done this before!!..?" he asked. He didn't, but he was letting his body take command until the mind started adjusting in, and from then on the precision was not as close.
We shall not forget breathing. Our tutor Lorry did not mention this during our short session, but it instinctively felt of great importance. Not just in archery and while shooting at a target, but in every life situation. Breath connects us with our heart and our inner feelings. Different decisions, paths and adventures will follow.
To conclude one must be aware on how to use his instinctual power to hunt and know when he or she is being hunted. The dominant eye is a way to let your body know if something in front of you is truly there or not. The illusions we are presented in our everyday life need our own intuition to be told apart from the realities that affect our real essence. Fear and safety have been some of the greatest illusions that we are met with in our current era. We do our utmost to have securities, even screw one another in the most barbaric yet politically correct and clean way. The only way to see through these nets of conflicts and confusions is to let your instincts show you the path, even if you are not sure if that is the right thing to do, one must trust in his own essence to develop it gradually. Only then the beginner's luck becomes a common trait within one's journey to total freedom.
" When you fully draw a bow back in an attempt to shoot the arrow, you must bring the bow and the arrow back fully, up to your lips. You must hold and establish that arrow and bow string into a state of absolute stillness or silence.
The slightest movement of the bowstring will create an exponentially distorted flight of the arrow. To create a profoundly transformational shot, you must establish yourself, the bowstring and arrow in being, silence or total stillnessâand then, only then, shoot the arrow or perform the action.
Pulling back the bow fully is a metaphor for pulling the mind back into a total state of non-thinkingâas if you were in a meditative state while fully engaged in the world or action. Holding the bowstring and arrow in a state of stillness requires mastery of the mind to avert distraction from the outside world, the targetâor, as the Gita put it, âthe fruits of his actions.â
Comments