The Relationship between Effort and Power

[silent thunder]

Water flows downhill without effort. 

 

It pulverizes stone into sand, without strain, generating immense power, able to wash away entire cities without skills or intent.

 

Winds, without trying, generate enough force to level forests.

 

 

What is the relationship between power and effort?  What is the source of power?  Listen to me, writing about power like it's a thing.

 

Anyway, this is on my mind rather obsessively since Friday night and I figure some of you possess some insightful responses. 

 

 

[Nungali]

For me, power and efficiency  ( ie, delivered power , not expended power )  results in an understanding of the forces in question and working with them as much as possible to achieve your ends.   They might be physical or psychological forces. 

 

In other words, you are using the inherent 'power' that already exists in things and processes ... or taking advantage of 'weakness' (as in the case of splitting wood .

 

Taking that example, I have learnt a lot. I need to split a fair bit as its my only  home heating source in winter  and I have back and hip and other issues, so I have to be very efficient .   Our firewood is not split with an axe but a 'block splitter'  as it is very hard dense and often has twisted grain in 2 directions.   The technique I us is to raise the splitter head in front of me about chest height and let it drop, this supplies downward moment which I can use to manoeuvrer behind me and up, to raise the head in the air above my head. Just before it reaches its zenith, I whip my arms down  ( keeping back straight and shift to a deep horse-riding stance ) , this makes the arc travelled  smaller (in a sort of spiralled in path) and speed and momentum increase and combine with the initial moment of the downward swing and now, gravity as well.

 

If I need to cross the river when flooded,  I just float along downstream and move across where the current allows, or it takes me there. Foresight and knowing the terrain and the 'ways of water' help.    .

 

... and when I want to get out of bed, I just roll to the edge and fall off         (not really )  .

 

So, when you add these principles to 'strong power'  a lot can be accomplished.   Without this knowledge power is wasted -  a lot expended for a little result.

 

Its a bit like the power of thought , which should come before actions  ; 

 

"Fixed thought is a means to an end. Therefore pay attention to the power of silent thought and meditation. The material act is but the outward expression of thy thought, and therefore hath it been said that “the thought of foolishness is sin.” Thought is the commencement of action, and if a chance thought can produce much effect, what cannot fixed thought do?

[dwai]

Real Power is effortless. As simple as taking a breath. It follows the natural course of things. 

[Boundlesscostfairy]

Power is the amount of force applied..

[windwalker]

Edited February 19, 2018 by windwalker

[windwalker]

9 hours ago, dwai said:

Real Power is effortless. As simple as taking a breath. It follows the natural course of things. 

 

The thing is taking a breath is not so effortless.  Ask anybody who has asthma or polio and has to be put in an iron lung to breathe.

 

Like fish we swim in a ocean of air. 

 

Balance might be a way of describing effortlessness

 

https://journeytoemptiness.com/2018/02/09/balance/

Edited February 19, 2018 by windwalker

[Boundlesscostfairy]

Power is the feeling of being able to do something

 

Success..

[joeblast]

11 hours ago, Apeiron&Peiron said:

Power is the work divided by time..

and water only wears down rock when its inexorably following the potential of the gravity well

 

where there's less potential, water's ability to wear down rock is lessened

 

a good reason to establish the vortex

 

Work, in physics, measure of energy transfer that occurs when an object is moved over a distance by an external force at least part of which is applied in the direction of the displacement.

 

ergo, by vectoring one's energies appropriately, and regularly, the scalar potential is enhanced, which is also the potential for Work to happen in other ways aside from vector building scalar

 

but adding force to the axe, if the blade's not coming down right....well, that's just like sword-form, and copious amounts of training imbues the nerves with sufficient familiarity of the motion so as to maintain balance and efficiency while power is applied in that split second or so

[Fa Xin]

A wise man once told me

TRY = To Resist Yourself 

[dwai]

10 hours ago, windwalker said:

 

The thing is taking a breath is not so effortless.  Ask anybody who has asthma or polio and has to be put in an iron lung to breathe.

 

Like fish we swim in a ocean of air. 

 

Balance might be a way of describing effortlessness

 

https://journeytoemptiness.com/2018/02/09/balance/

Very nice  

 

[silent thunder]

Trying, lately seems counter-productive,  an unnecessary added level of tension and resistance in a process that is not conducive, no longer helpful in the flow of being.  It seems to impede the force that naturally flows through my mind/body.  A good friend once said "don't try to do something, just do it, be it... TRY simply stands for To Resist Yourself.  Don't try to not spill the coffee as you cross the room... this adds a level of complexity to the process of being that is unnecessary and impedes the natural flow of energy to be the process, instead of 'do' it.

 

Kids enter samadhi, naturally, routinely in their play.  They do not 'try' to play, they dissolve into being the play.  This applies to my relationship to power and force.  Full being in presence, without the addition of 'trying', allows greater transmission of force and power through the system that I refer to as my self engaging in a process. 

 

When I am 'trying' it seems that part of the force generated, or that is always flowing through my process, is transfered into tension, which is actually impeding flow of being and reducing the power moving through the flow.  The tension of trying, creates a layer of resistance to the flow of energy through my body/mind, which reduces the effect of force on my actions.

 

Lately, instead of 'striving' or 'effort', it's rather amazing.  I go the other way, release into an unfolding, a very neutral non-attached 'being' and presence, rather than layering on another level of intent of mind and body tension with 'trying' to do things

 

Instead of 'doing things' I am simply being it.

 

Instead of approaching 'a task' which is separate from me, as something my body/mind will accomplish with intent forced focus... there is an unfolding and release into being all of it, me, mind/body and the process engaged in... all as one.

 

A space of being whereby once the intent to 'do something' manifests... mind becomes quiet yet still present for response to needed stimuli and changing conditions, without the layer of 'trying'.  This supports an internal space that cultivates full presence in being whereby my entire process becomes the process I'm engaging in.... and power flows unimpeded, effortless.

 

 

[doc benway]

On 2/18/2018 at 3:33 PM, silent thunder said:

Water flows downhill without effort. 

 

It pulverizes stone into sand, without strain, generating immense power, able to wash away entire cities without skills or intent.

 

Winds, without trying, generate enough force to level forests.

 

 

What is the relationship between power and effort?  What is the source of power?  Listen to me, writing about power like it's a thing.

 

Anyway, this is on my mind rather obsessively since Friday night and I figure some of you possess some insightful responses. 

 

My practice is rooted in releasing all effort.

Ultimately this leads to a place of unmatched power, the power of space, the power of openness, the power of emptiness.

There is nothing more powerful than open space, it is indestructible, it is able to host anything at all, it has infinite potential.

 

Of course, there are many types of power and we all need something unique based on who and where we are in our lives.

This is just one approach but I've never found a more powerful one in terms of its effects in my life.

 

 

[silent thunder]

23 minutes ago, steve said:

 

My practice is rooted in releasing all effort.

Ultimately this leads to a place of unmatched power, the power of space, the power of openness, the power of emptiness.

There is nothing more powerful than open space, it is indestructible, it is able to host anything at all, it has infinite potential.

 

Of course, there are many types of power and we all need something unique based on who and where we are in our lives.

This is just one approach but I've never found a more powerful one in terms of its effects in my life.

 

 

*deep bow*  your words resonate with clarity and power with me...

this opening... the release... i can see why I never approached it directly... it was counter-intuitive for me.

but when true exhaustion caused me to really release... then it, unfolded.  Awareness, spaciousness, as you say, able to host anything at all and forever unblemished, untaintable... one can't drive a nail into the sky and this release, this openess... as you say, all potential and all manifestation, yet it is never used up, never lost, can't be broken or fixed...

 

inexhaustible.

 

miracle of miracles!

[doc benway]

22 hours ago, silent thunder said:

*deep bow*  your words resonate with clarity and power with me...

this opening... the release... i can see why I never approached it directly... it was counter-intuitive for me.

but when true exhaustion caused me to really release... then it, unfolded.  Awareness, spaciousness, as you say, able to host anything at all and forever unblemished, untaintable... one can't drive a nail into the sky and this release, this openess... as you say, all potential and all manifestation, yet it is never used up, never lost, can't be broken or fixed...

 

inexhaustible.

 

miracle of miracles!

 

In Bön and Buddhism it is what is meant by the word wisdom.

[liminal_luke]

I agree with everything everybody has written about the usefulness of effortlessnes, of not trying, of getting out of our own way, releasing resistance.  All of this is true.

 

At the same time, it seems to me this is an advanced understanding.  A sign of mastery in any endeavor is the ability to make it look easy.  Easiness, effortlessness, grace -- these are qualities that a person develops over time, and almost always after putting in a great deal of effort.  

 

The highest spiritual practice is likely no practice at all.  One simply drops all the impediments to awareness and hangs out in the resulting clarity and bliss.  Why spend so much time doing anything -- following the breath, repeating the mantra -- when the point is simply to be? But if a few karmically-favored souls seem to slip effortlessly into effortlessness, most of us do not.  We strive and strive before the recognition finally dawns that the answer isn`t striving.  Yet it was only through our striving that the answer found us.

Edited April 13, 2018 by liminal_luke

[CloudHands]

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Edited April 15, 2018 by CloudHands

[dwai]

 

[Jonesboy]

The more you clear/obstructions. The more things flow through effortlessly.

[Boundlesscostfairy]

Yup that signals right effort..

 

If there are no blocks then things flow is correct..

 

So how do you remove obstacles in your life? Obstacles that impede flow..?

[silent thunder]

I  find simple presence and awareness very effective.

 

Acknowledge, accept and with simple, non judgemental awareness, sit with them and allow them space.

 

And Release.  Breathe through it.

 

Just like clouds they then soon dissolve naturally, without forcing, and then only awareness remains.

 

Like an empty sky.