Dear Friends,
Gil’s fifth talk on viriya looks at “effortless effort.”
https://www.audiodharma.org/talks/11105
He describes the progression of effort as “deeper layers of letting go.”
- With initiating effort, we are letting go of something we’re doing – reading emails or whatever – to practice. And in the practice, the initiating effort helps us to let go of whatever thought stream we are caught in.
- Right endeavor helps us discern what is helpful and what is not, and then we can let go of the unhelpful – the clinging or pushing away.
- With persistent, relaxed effort, we are letting go what wants to pull us out of that continuity. Gil says, It’s possible to notice a thought arise, and to be so attentive that you begin to see an interest in it, but the mind says, “No thank you.” And you stay in the flow of awareness.
- The “dharma energy” that we reviewed yesterday has some momentum to carry us along. We let go of what interferes with that – the idea that I have to do it. “We make space for something to move.”
Effortless effort is a continuation of this flow of effort in a profound way. There is equanimity, non-reactivity, non-attachment.
An analogy Gil shares is that of something tethered outside with a rope. Over time, the rope will start to weather, and gets thinner and thinner, until there’s just the tiniest thread left. Eventually that too will wear away, and then “effortless effort takes on a whole different quality. In a certain profound way, the psycho-physical system recognizes that nothing more needs to be done.”
And then, we come back to initiating effort again, letting go into deeper and deeper spirals.
Poem:
The analogy of the rope wearing down reminded me of this poem from Dorothy Hunt. I won’t type in the whole thing – you can read it full here:
Tendrils of Mind
https://www.dorothyhunt.org/tendrils-of-mind
Reflection:
Gil shares his experience with running, that at first he would experience a lot of resistance at the start, but he would keep on going. At some point, he would get in the groove, and it was effortless, as if running was happening on its own. Do you have a sense of a time when you felt in the flow, attuned, in harmony, in the groove – such that the activity you were doing felt effortless? Perhaps that can inspire a little faith that you might be able to find this in your meditation practice too!
Meditation:
Phillip Moffitt leads a longer meditation on letting go (about 43 minutes, including preamble and some closing comments, and a lot of silence in between):
https://www.dharmaseed.org/talks/67333/
Feel free to listen to the start of the talk, where Phillip shares some wisdom on letting go from his teacher, Ajahn Sumedho, and then set a timer for how long you want to practice.
With good wishes,
Andrea