In writing about effort here, we are not suggesting that one should become physically lackadaisical or extremely lazy. One must act in life, and not merely react (like a robot). Effort is part of this cause-and-effect world that we live in. Effort, of course, has its place. You need effort to go to the doctor; you need effort to do your job. However, have you ever considered “going beyond effort”? Effort, in the psychological sense, may be different than effort to get to the doctor. We often employ and use effort even when we are not consciously aware of doing so. We are immersed in effort. We are effort. Effort is necessary, but is it the only way in which to exist?
Perception can occur effortlessly, and in doing so, what seems like effort is — in a big way — effortless. Then there is action, and not merely reaction after reaction. Immense clarity and insight do not take time. That absence of time is effortless; effort takes time. One thought after another, in (and “as”) consciousness, takes time and involves psychological effort. To perceive deeply, beyond the symbolic, virtual, sequential nature of “thinking” may involve an intelligent effortlessness that is not merely part of an endless, gross cause-and-effect continuum. That depth does not come about through effort. Many of us are so robotic, conditioned, and programmed that we go from effort to effort endlessly, without any depth beyond restrictive, limited, knee-jerk, mental reactions.
Greed takes time. Anger takes time. Foolishness takes time. Fear necessitates time. Interestingly, they all require effort. There is an effortless innocence that does not depend upon time. That effortless innocence is real spirituality, and it is not caught in all of the mindless mumbojumbo that most people accept as spirituality. Psychological effort takes time. A mind stuck in endless psychological effort is a mind of sadness and misery. It may be that a mind that is stuck in (and “as”) the realm of symbolic words is marooned in endless effort. Such a mind may claim that it is happy, but it may be like a duck that has never swum; it may be like an eagle that has never flown. Please look into the possibility of being beyond what endlessly reacts as psychological effort. Please look into the possibility of being beyond what endlessly strives to exist as symbolic words. To psychologically exist effortlessly is to live beyond mere reaction, strife, and sorrow.
