Only a window has to be broken, only a small surgical operation is needed. The future is already hidden in the present the whole possibility is here in the seed. We are already that which we will be, which we should be, which we are to be. You can break a hole in the wall, and suddenly you will look out.
Effortless effort windows#
The seer is already there, only windows are lacking. The moment the eyes are ready, the seer is hidden behind and he will begin to look from the eyes. A small operation may change the whole thing, because only the eyes have to be made all right. For a blind man, the world is a different thing. One man is born with blind eyes, diseased eyes. Notice what it’s like to spend just what’s needed, and not everything.Take another example…. Notice if your torso is tensed up, your jaw clenched, your temples tight. You can cook, wash dishes, talk to people, answer email, without needing to be tensed all the time, without needing to exhaust yourself. You can practice all day, if you keep “effortless effort” in mind. And then go back to relaxed upright posture, without needing to spend more. And if so, you try hard with that burst of energy. It’s like spending what you need for food, without needing to splurge on every bite. But we don’t need to spend more than the minimum required. We need to spend some energy to move around a room, or to sit upright. Of course, it takes some tension to move - otherwise you’d collapse on the floor in a puddle. Giving something your focus without spending all your energy. This is the essence of effort without extra effort. We can practice in meditation as well - can you have a relaxed upright posture and keep your focus on the present moment, without straining? Can you rest your attention gently on one spot, not forcing the attention but just resting it? Upright and relaxed, doing things without spending more effort than is needed.
Now try it while drinking a glass of water, or walking around the room. Notice what it’s like to give focus to the reading, while not tensing up. Breathe easy, feel peaceful, while reading. Now read a few sentences of this article, while keeping that upright relaxed posture. Try this experiment: Relax the muscles of your torso, neck, jaw, head … so that you’re sitting upright but relaxed. What would it be like to try hard while relaxing? An Experiment So “trying hard” and “relaxing” are seen as two opposite things. “Relaxing” is equated with “laziness” for a lot of people. If you talk to someone about “relaxing,” they will usually think of that as the opposite of “trying hard.” They think of lying on the couch, muscles relaxed, not doing anything. “Trying hard” is equated to being very tense, pushing hard with your body and mind, and putting everything you have into it. When you talk to someone about “trying hard,” they usually will put a lot of energy into something, and quickly exhaust themselves. We might call it Effortless Effort (similar to “wu wei” in Daoism) - the idea of acting without a huge amount of tension or extraneous physical effort. There’s nothing wrong with that, but let’s talk about the possibility of doing hard things without exhausting ourselves. I’ve noticed that a lot of us will be pretty wiped out at the end of a long day of work or social activity, to the point where we need time to recuperate from exhaustion.