Effort vs no-effort

[roger]

Effort is probably necessary imo, and I know that I've put great effort into my path.

 

But I think that love and success have more to do with integrity and intention than with effort.

 

It usually doesn't require effort to be kind, or to give a big tip to a waiter.

 

There are instances in which effort is appropriate, but many of the most important aspects of life only require willingness and love.

[dwai]

dwai, thank you for the videos, but I cannot find the relevant material in them. Any chance you could summarize in your own words or with a few quotations, along with posting the video?

 

The point I was trying to make is that "realization" requires as much effort as is needed to "listen" to these lectures (videos posted) -- but the duration of such effort is 24x7 (or at lest as much as possible)

[Prasanna]

Effort is probably necessary imo, and I know that I've put great effort into my path.

 

But I think that love and success have more to do with integrity and intention than with effort.

 

It usually doesn't require effort to be kind, or to give a big tip to a waiter.

 

There are instances in which effort is appropriate, but many of the most important aspects of life only require willingness and love.

Roger, you are 100% correct. You are right, here in spirituality the effort is not physical effort but the willingness to pursue spirituality sincerely even though we don't have a full grasp of the subject. In the beginning or initial stages we simply start and proceed in the path with more of faith and interest without understanding or wisdom. The effort here is the same willingness you defined. the main thing is fixation of a higher selfless ideal like self realization, following it up with dedication, perseverance and consistency of purpose till the ideal is achieved. This is the effort in spirituality which are all again dependent on our persistent willingness to continue in the path.

Edited March 11, 2017 by Prasanna

[taoteching99]

Irrelevant...

Edited March 15, 2017 by taoteching99

[3bob]

because I don't think we would not be here talking about it otherwise, and as demonstrated in different scales of nature and through related universal laws of cycles.

[Mark Foote]

• Bicycles have the same right to use the road as cars do. 
• Bicyclists are required to obey traffic rules, signs and signals; and like motorists, should not operate a bike while under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
• Riders under age 18 must wear helmets.

?

Edited March 14, 2017 by Mark Foote

[3bob]

...and what if you take a riding lawnmower on the street?  (I think as long as you don't hit anyone or anything the cops should let you have your fun  ) 

[Bindi]

Pretense cannot solve the problem of egoism. Acting humble does not make us humble. Non-egoism cannot be added on from the outside: it must be subtracted from us, from within.

 

Casting our ego as the enemy in a holy war and winning that battle is an exceedingly difficult proposition, primarily because the ego proves to be a most subtle adversary. In fact, the ego will even join the battle against itself. It will take it on and say “this is wonderful, I’m going to battle against ego, I will become free, I will be wonderful, I will be better than I am now, and I will be better than other people, because I will be a highly evolved spiritual being.”

 

The ego happily joins our forces in the great battle. As an enemy, it infiltrates our lines, wearing our own uniform, its soldiers and officers indistinguishable from ours. How does one fight a battle against such a devious and resourceful enemy? For most of us, it comes to nothing but another heap of suffering as we merely fight ourselves in the name of spirituality and sink more deeply than ever into the morass of self-centeredness. Only the rarest of souls find a way through this conundrum.

 

An alternative, but also traditional view casts ego in an entirely different perspective, not as an enemy, but as an illusion, and invites us to see our ego for what it is: an empty, ephemeral sham, a hall of mirrors, a self-referential and insubstantial web. The rise of Buddhism in the West is, in no small part, due to this kinder yet no less incisive and perhaps more tractable formulation of the problem of egoism.

 

Our ego, this illusory pattern, however, endures with remarkable resilience and persistence. Complete freedom from ego comes only at a very high station of spiritual development, something to which we may aspire and work for with diligence. The best approach lies somewhere between the two outlined above. Seeing and letting go can only work insofar as we are able to see. The depth and subtlety of our seeing must increase. For this, efforts of various kinds are necessary. These efforts may include grappling with some of the propensities of our separate self. Doing so can illumine the tentacles of egoism, while creating energy for seeing more. Only we must not have the idea that such struggles will, by themselves, reform our recalcitrant self-centeredness. A project of reform by force is doomed to fail. Efforts at reform can only be useful to the extent that they help us to see.

 

http://www.innerfrontier.org/Practices/IllusionOfEgo.htm

[silent thunder]

effort, ease

strain, relaxation

 

always up goes with down

bottom with top

there is no selling, unless simultaneously there is buying

 

 

there are no waves with only crests

no sticks comprised of only tops

 

the action of dao is as a bellows

the drawn bow settles in balance... or snaps.

Edited April 1, 2019 by silent thunder
spelling

[silent thunder]

echo post

Edited April 1, 2019 by silent thunder