Right Effort Feels Effortless

“Effortlessness means attention is placed on the object and stays there because there’s nothing trying to draw it away. Then, and only then, is there complete pacification, meaning diligence, effort, and vigilance can cease.”

Culadasa (John Yates PhD), Matthew Immergut PhD, Jeremy Graves. “The Mind Illuminated. A Complete Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science.” Dharma Treasure Press, Pearce, AZ, 2015.

Most of us naturally try hard to succeed at anything we do, wanting to reach goals as quickly as possible. We want to feel competent and efficient. We idealize having perfect control over our environment, others and ourselves (which isn't even theoretically possible).

Naturally, we bring this same effortful egoic striving into our meditation practice. During meditation, it becomes very clear that this approach is frustratingly counterproductive. The mind requires much kinder, more refined approaches to examine itself.

There are many layers to Culadasa's advice. Perhaps the easiest way of understanding it is by remembering how we feel while watching our favourite sport, listening to our favourite music, or engaged in our favourite hobby. We embrace it with all our senses, welcoming it into our open heart-mind. We thrive on every detail. There is no sense of effort whatsoever, just happiness that we're able to engage. Every detail about the activity is lodged deep in the marrow of our bones, readily accessible any time. I think that this is a form of immersive learning, based on natural loving engagement - it's simply being authentic, being true to our own nature - there's no effort to being natural. This entire process is completely, qualitatively different from trying to memorize information about a topic or activity, that we hold at a distance with negative emotions.

With meditation practice, we learn to release egoic striving, and in doing so, we learn to trust our other intelligences, trust & relax into our true nature. Only then can we explore the depths of stillness, silence, spaciousness, openness & effortlessness, that are beyond the reach of default egoic (personal–verbal, linear discursive) thinking.

"Meditation is not trying to attain the perfect anything: feeling, emotion, thoughts, silence or stillness. The quicker we let go of that understanding, the better.

Meditation is a direct encounter with what is, underneath all our preconceived ideas."

Adyashanti