"'I'm afraid I don’t understand anything more at all,' I answered, ‘even the simplest things have got in a muddle.’ Is it “I” who draws the bow, or is it the bow that draws me into the state of highest tension? Do “I” hit the goal, or does the goal hit me? Is “it” spiritual when seen by the eyes of the body, and corporeal when seen by the eyes of the spirit - or both or neither? Bow, arrow, goal, and ego, all melt into one another, so that I can no longer separate them. And even the need to separate has gone. For as soon as I take the bow and shoot, everything becomes so clear and straightforward and so ridiculously simple…” “‘Now at last,’ the Master broke in, ‘the bowstring has cut right through you.’”
Eugen Herrigel, “Zen and the Art of Archery
The Precision of Discipline is a new project by haegeum performer/composer Jeonghyeon Joo and harpist/composer Melissa Achten. These fully improvised pieces explore the simultaneity of the aimer and the aim as well as the interaction between gesture and result. Precise actions morph into entropy, disorder, and ultimately - understanding.