"The real archer's paradox is the archer themself."
A coach and I were discussing what qualities make a good archer. Ideally a few easy words or lines.
I thought about it. I realized that what makes a skilled archer is never a single quality, but a matrix of opposing ones in balance. The real archer's paradox, I think, is the archer themself. I failed at the assignment, because paradoxes are brief in their brilliance, but endless in their reckoning with.
Goals are only met when expectations are abandoned; but the transcending of expectation is tactical and intentional and towards something. Our wandering has a direction.
We are perfectionists, meticulous, exact; we’re pragmatic and flexible enough to know when not to be. We have to push ourselves and our limits, and we have to take care of ourselves. Sometimes we have to push ourselves to take care of ourselves. We have to know what is pain and what is hurt.
We are academics, researchers, scientists, but a mystery that hits the center beats a theory that gets us any less.
We find power in gentleness. We move with purpose to maintain stillness. Our draw hand is a mudra of interdependent tension and ease.
We have to know ourselves completely, well enough to trick ourselves. We have to follow our intuition and feelings but know when to not believe ego, habit, or fear. Self awareness is not always believing your self, but always believing in yourself.
This is being an archer.
I don’t believe skill and awakening always go hand in hand--those who reach greatness in their trade are not always beacons of wisdom, and the philosophers ideas don’t always lend themselves to success in our competitive arenas. But the more I think of it all, the more I think where the two meet there is something to know and keep.
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