Today I pulled the book Zen in the Art of Archery by Eugen Herrigel off my bookshelf and decided to think about it. I have read the little book twice. I read this version from Amazon. You can now read a free PDF version of the book. The book describes how Dr. Herrigel, a western philosopher, learned archery from a zen master. It was a unique approach to archery, but there was more to it than the archery.
Let's think about the underlying influences of this work. For your benefit, here are the closing paragraphs of the book.
Every Master who practices an art molded by Zen is like a flash of lightning from the cloud of all encompassing Truth. This Truth is present in the free movement of his spirit, and he meets it again, in " It ", as his own original and nameless essence. He meets this essence over and over again as his own being’s utmost possibilities, so that the Truth assumes for him and for others through him ̇a thousand shapes and forms.
In spite of the unexampled discipline to which he has patiently and humbly subjected himself he is still a long way from being so permeated and irradiated by Zen that he is sustained by it in everything he does, so that his life knows only good hours. The supreme freedom has still not become a necessity for him.
If he is irresistibly driven towards this goal, he must set out on his way again, take the road to the artless art. He must dare to leap into the Origin, so as to live by the Truth and in the Truth, like one who has become one with it. He must become a pupil again, a beginner; conquer the last and steepest stretch of the way, undergo new transformations. If he survives its perils, then is his destiny fulfilled: face to face he beholds the unbroken Truth, the Truth beyond all truths, the formless Origin of origins, the Void which is the All, is absorbed into it and from it emerges reborn.
Let's consider the final sentence: "the Truth beyond all truths, the formless Origin of origins, the Void which is the All." It sounds inspirational, but I think it is empty. The fundamental point of the book is the exploration of the irrational, or non-rational: hitting a target without aiming at it.
I am a mathematician, engineer, and scientist, but I am also a philosopher, having written a book on Confucianism. I know what it is like to create mechanisms or programs that accomplish useful work. I am a man of action. I also believe we humans have souls and a purpose. I understand the romantics who chafe against the practical. Here are some of the lyrics to The Logical Song by Supertramp.
When I was young, it seemed that life was so wonderful,
A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical.
And all the birds in the trees, well they'd be singing so happily,
Joyfully, playfully watching me.
But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible,
Logical, responsible, practical.
And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable,
Clinical, intellectual, cynical.
...
Won't you sign up your name, we'd like to feel you're
Acceptable, respectable, presentable, a vegetable!
Look at the disparagement, calling logical people vegetables. Here are some lines from the song The Traitor by Leonard Cohen
Ah the dreamers ride against the men of action
Oh see the men of action falling back
Leonard Cohen pictures the dreamers in rebellion against the men of action. When people rebel against teaching or learning mathematics, they come from this place, this mind-set, this rebellion against the logical and the practical. Some dreams inspire us, uplift us. But some dreams, like basing a life on rebellion or a commitment to the irrational, are misleading and potentially harmful.
Robert
