Quotes by Eugen Herrigel

Eugen Herrigel

Assuming that his talent can survive the increasing strain, there is one scarcely avoidable danger that lies ahead of the pupil on his road to mastery.

Assuming

Lying

Mastery

By letting go of yourself, leaving yourself and everything yours behind so decisively that nothing more is left of you but a purposeless tension .

Leaving

Letting Go

Tension

Don’t think of what you have to do, don’t consider how to carry it out! The shot will only go smoothly when it takes the archer himself by surprise. It must be as if the bowstring suddenly cut through the thumb that held it. You mustn’t open the right hand on purpose.

Archer

Cutting

Thinking

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.

Artist

Teacher

Wish

He grows daily more capable of following any inspiration without technical effort, and also of letting inspiration come to him through meticulous observation.

Effort

Inspiration

Meticulous

I must only warn you of one thing. You have become a different person in the course of these years. For this is what the art of archery means: a profound and far-reaching contest of the archer with himself. Perhaps you have hardly noticed it yet, but you will feel it very strongly when you meet your friends and acquaintances again in your own country: things will no longer harmonize as before. You will see with other eyes and measure with other measures. It has happened to me too, and it happens to all who are touched by the spirit of this art.

Archer

Art

Country

In the case of archery, the hitter and the hit are no longer two opposing objects, but are one reality.

Archery

Reality

Two

Often nothing keeps the pupil on the move but his faith in his teacher, whose mastery is now beginning to dawn on him …. How far the pupil will go is not the concern of the teacher and master. Hardly has he shown him the right way when he must let him go on alone. There is only one thing more he can do to help him endure his loneliness: he turns him away from himself, from the Master, by exhorting him to go further than he himself has done, and to “climb on the shoulders of his teacher.”

Loneliness

Teacher

Teaching

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.

Hands

Mind

Two

The man, the art, the work–it is all one.

Art

He Man

Men

Follow The Behaviour University in order to get the greatest quotes from the greatest people of all time so that you can tap into your own greatness.

Archer

Archery

Art

Artist

Assuming

Buddhism

Country

Crafts

Cutting

Effort

Failure

Fall

Goal

Hands

He Man

Ifs

Independent

Insecure

Inspiration

Knowing

Learning

Leaving

Letting Go

Lightning

Loneliness

Lying

Mastery

Mean

Men

Meticulous

Mind

Needs

People

Perfection

Perseverance

Reality

Reflection

Self

Success

Surprise

Teacher

Teaching

Tension

Thinking

Trying

Two

Waiting

Wish

The Future Blueprint

Tool

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

Tool

The Autobiography

Tool

The Behaviour Diary

Tool

The Dating Diary

Tool

The Relationship Therapist

Tool

Quotes by Eugen Herrigel

Eugen Herrigel

Assuming that his talent can survive the increasing strain, there is one scarcely avoidable danger that lies ahead of the pupil on his road to mastery.

By letting go of yourself, leaving yourself and everything yours behind so decisively that nothing more is left of you but a purposeless tension .

Don’t think of what you have to do, don’t consider how to carry it out! The shot will only go smoothly when it takes the archer himself by surprise. It must be as if the bowstring suddenly cut through the thumb that held it. You mustn’t open the right hand on purpose.

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.

He grows daily more capable of following any inspiration without technical effort, and also of letting inspiration come to him through meticulous observation.

In the case of archery, the hitter and the hit are no longer two opposing objects, but are one reality.

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.

The man, the art, the work–it is all one.

Get Social with TBU

Topics by Eugen Herrigel

Popular Tools

The Future Blueprint

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

The Autobiography

The Behaviour Diary

The Dating Diary

The Relationship Therapist

Menu

Menu