You see
You aim
Would it hit ?
We humans, always have something to aim and to be achieved. It's fair to say that without no desire, our life will be kinda meaningless. Even to live with no desire and just simply 'go with the flow' is a desire by itself. But the desire to achieve is just an imagination until you realize it with your actions. And realizing is never an easy thing to do, especially because of the distractions in life which tend to block your commitment. I have a story about focus, one that should make you ponder..
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Not far from Fraziane di Numero, I met a Master Archer named Robin with his two students in practice. I'm not familiar with archery, so I was inquiring some basic questions while watching the scene of aiming and firing targets. It was pretty interesting though, before he ended the practice and announced that there would be a test the next day.
Filled with curiosity, I come the next day to see what kind of test he would present. The students and I follow his lead to walk into an unusual shooting place.
It was mainly a grassland, with a single tree in the middle of the sight. The view was indeed splendid, yet I have no idea why Master Robin selected this particular spot. The students clearly show similar responses as mine. Realizing all that, he introduced his intention, "Boys, today you will have a unique shooting test. This is the place where you need to show off your skills".
Confused, but more interested in the task given, the first student asked "Master, where should we aim ?".
"You will determine the target yourselves, this is the part of the test. You will only have one shot to hit your target. I will give you few minutes to prepare and set your mind.", replied Master Robin.
And so, few minutes last and they're ready to shoot. The first student is ready and step forward to do the test.
The Master asked, "What do you see ?".
"I see a big tree over there. I should hit it easily.", the first student said with confidence.
It really was a big tree all right. He should hit it.
"Ok, then shoot !"
After taking an arrow, he raised and drew his bow. He saw all parts of the tree, the bark, the branches, the leaves. His radius of vision was big enough, but he continued to pull the string and finally released the arrow.
It travelled fast, the distance to the tree grew smaller, but then an unexpected thing happened. It went above the bark, between the branches, penetrating the holes between the leaves, and it fell down beyond the tree, without touching any part of trees.
He missed by a few millimetres. It was pretty close. However, a miss is still a miss.
I could see a clear sign of disappointment in his face. But his turn was over and time for the second student to shoot.
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Filled with curiosity, I come the next day to see what kind of test he would present. The students and I follow his lead to walk into an unusual shooting place.
It was mainly a grassland, with a single tree in the middle of the sight. The view was indeed splendid, yet I have no idea why Master Robin selected this particular spot. The students clearly show similar responses as mine. Realizing all that, he introduced his intention, "Boys, today you will have a unique shooting test. This is the place where you need to show off your skills".
Confused, but more interested in the task given, the first student asked "Master, where should we aim ?".
"You will determine the target yourselves, this is the part of the test. You will only have one shot to hit your target. I will give you few minutes to prepare and set your mind.", replied Master Robin.
And so, few minutes last and they're ready to shoot. The first student is ready and step forward to do the test.
The Master asked, "What do you see ?".
"I see a big tree over there. I should hit it easily.", the first student said with confidence.
It really was a big tree all right. He should hit it.
"Ok, then shoot !"
After taking an arrow, he raised and drew his bow. He saw all parts of the tree, the bark, the branches, the leaves. His radius of vision was big enough, but he continued to pull the string and finally released the arrow.
It travelled fast, the distance to the tree grew smaller, but then an unexpected thing happened. It went above the bark, between the branches, penetrating the holes between the leaves, and it fell down beyond the tree, without touching any part of trees.
He missed by a few millimetres. It was pretty close. However, a miss is still a miss.
I could see a clear sign of disappointment in his face. But his turn was over and time for the second student to shoot.
The Master asked the same question, "What do you see ?".
"I see the eagle, perching on the tree. I will hit it, on its eye.", the second student responded.
I didn't even notice there was an eagle on that tree. This will be interesting.
"Good, now shoot !"
He took one arrow, raised his bow, and started to pull the strings. While doing so, his eyesight was set on the eagle. More exactly, the eye of the eagle. The concentration was supreme, it's like he didn't see anything besides the eagle eye, not even the big tree. After several seconds of total focus, he released the arrow.
I still don't know what feeling bugged me at that time, but it felt like there was an illusionary path that connects the student to his target. The arrow travelled as it had been pulled by a magnetic power towards the eye of the eagle, until it really HIT and killed the eagle instantly.
He had done it, superbly.
Are we often being the first student ? We see the bigger picture, yet we don't know where to aim. We want this, we want that, we want everything right. We have real aspirations and motivations, but not enough focus which leads to lack of perspiration and undesirable results. I don't know about you, but I'm willing to fix my attention and energy to one target at a time, focus on my goals and not on the surrounding distractions. Are you ready to focus & fire ?
With fixed eyes,
"Cis Harry"
Again wonderful illustration of an otherwise ordinary phenomenon of life =)
ReplyDeleteA good one, as usual. But remember, an archer still needs to pay attention on the winds and his surroundings. :)
ReplyDelete@Indra : haha thx, I tried to be specific and not getting out of context, jadi mungkin ada beberapa detail yang ga tertulis, but u should know which point I want to stress :)
ReplyDeletehmm... let's just say, hopefully..? :P
ReplyDelete