Awareness Delivers…

“Silence is so accurate.”  -Mark Rothko

I first realized the transformative power of awareness in a practice session. (The 50 yard line of the Bianchi Cup’s Practical Event: three shots each on two targets in 15 seconds, shot from the prone position.) 

After I stopped shooting, it took a few seconds for my visual world to “reappear.” 

As I stood from prone, what I’d normally see as individual objects appeared as one homogeneous perception. It took about two or three seconds for my vision to return to “normal.” It felt like I had changed dimensions.

It was truly stunning, unlike anything I’d ever experienced.

(If you’ve seen the 60’s TV show “Star Trek”… At the beginning of each episode they went into “warp drive.” Visually, it was like the reverse of that.)

I’d also completely lost track of time. Normally, for that string of fire, I could have guessed my time to within a tenth of a second. But for that string, I couldn’t say if I had been shooting for 15 seconds or a minute or more. 

BE at 16 on Christmas day with his first blaster, a 12 ga. Remington 870.

Robbie Leatham and I walked down to check the targets, and all 6 shots were well inside the 4” x-rings. The overall group was tighter than that pistol would shoot off sandbags at that distance. In that moment, I knew there was more to shooting—possibly more than I could imagine—than equipment, ammunition, or technique.

From that—it was more like a “non-experience”—I learned, more and more, to rely on awareness itself.

Awareness delivers perfection. 

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Comments are welcome, and all questions will be answered.

I’ll post a new topic each Friday afternoon, in one of two categories. One will be on shooting, and the other will be on living. Or: how I learned to live from what I learned by competing.

Thanks for coming in.