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Introduction

Good morning, and happy to be here with you and spend this time exploring the Dharma^[1], both in the teachings but also in our practice. It's in our practice that the teachings are really found.

For the talk after the sitting, the topic is effort. And I get the impression that for many people—and it certainly has been for me at times—even hearing the word "effort," just mentioning the word effort, can make people tired. There can be some subtle, maybe a great, resistance because it seems like that implies work. And work doesn't seem like necessarily a good thing to do. It implies self-conscious effort, striving, pushing something uphill. But effort is an extremely important part of this practice we do.

For this meditation, I would like to suggest that if we use the idea of work for effort, there are things that work without our doing them. For example, if you open a faucet, the work of the plumbing, because of the pressure the water is under, the water flows out. We don't make the water flow; we release it so that the natural working of the pressure can let the water flow. If we're in a cold, shady place and we go stand in the sun, then the working of the sun will begin to warm up our body. We don't do the warming, but something is working.

Much of our life, things are working all the time to keep us alive. But it doesn't involve our effort^[2]—that we have agency over, that we're doing, that we're working at. Something as simple as the heart pushing our blood around our body; we generally don't work at that. It works generally, and so it's there in the background, but it's such an important part of life. Generally, most people don't have to work at digesting their food; it just is a natural process that works, that we have to allow for. Maybe there are ways of supporting it to happen well. We don't usually work at breathing. There are times in life when it's work, but it's working sometimes in the background, or it's kind of like when we're sleeping, we still breathe. So generally, all this stuff goes on, it just happens.

So what I'd like to suggest for this meditation is that a part of meditation is to allow for the natural working of awareness. There is an aspect of awareness that operates without our self-conscious agency applying ourselves. If a person who has eyesight walks into a dark room, but then the light is turned on, the person doesn't have to work at seeing. The natural functioning of the eyes allows for seeing. There might be the work of studying what's in the room, but just simple seeing—it just arises, it's there.

So the idea of opening the faucet, or pulling the blinds so the sun can come in, is to get out of the way of our capacity to be aware in the present moment. So that part of awareness that doesn't involve us doing it, but rather allowing it. That way of really allowing the vitality of our psychophysical system to flow through us. Because we have pulled the blinds, we've opened up to really allow ourselves to feel our body, the vitality, the sensations that are there. There is a kind of natural flow, even maybe a slight kind of pressure like that of the plumbing. If we get out of the way, what is it that is? We're really in the present moment, which requires being present. But we don't work at being present; it's more like allowing, getting out of the way, and then resting^[3], sensing, feeling what comes as a result. And then doing it again, and doing it again whenever we need to.

So that's the instructions if you'd like for today. And if it doesn't make sense for you, you're welcome to continue the way you usually meditate.

Guided Meditation: Effort to Allow

So, gently close your eyes.

And then without much more, just allow yourself to feel and sense maybe the energies of your body. And what happens if you don't work at being mindful, but you allow yourself to be aware? Allow yourself to really be in the present moment by relaxing and opening.

If you find yourself thinking and you're no longer open and present, what does it take to allow for awareness to be in the forefront? If the nature of water is to flow downhill unless there's something blocking it, the nature of awareness is to be aware unless we're caught up in thinking, wanting, and not wanting. If you release what blocks the flow of awareness, even just for a moment, to allow for the silent vitality of the body to reveal itself, to have space for our aliveness, to have time in the sun of the present moment.

It's allowing things to be, the natural workings of things. To allow the thinking mind to become quiet enough so it doesn't predominate, it doesn't interfere with the grace of awareness. That is not something you have to do, but something we allow.

There is part of you that can make effort, and for this meditation, the effort is to step aside. Take kind of a break, making only enough effort to not make much effort. Making the effort to make room, or make it possible for who you are in a deeper way than the part of you that makes effort, to allow that deeper part of your psychophysical working to show itself, to have space to flow or be. Including the beingness of awareness, sensing, and feeling the aliveness that flows through being aware.

Goodwill and Loving-Kindness

And then as we come to the end of this sitting, is there also a way to pull the curtains or let go of the obstacles to your capacity for goodwill, for your warm-heartedness? Even if it's the slightest kind of warm-heartedness, or kindness, or love, but to open to it, allow for it to be here.

And to consider how wonderful it would be if all the people who are meditating along this morning, all of them could have a day where they were happy and safe, at ease, had good health, and experienced in new ways capacities for inner freedom. What a good thing that would be. And perhaps you can also then wish this for all the people meditating together this morning:

May all of you be happy.
May all of you be safe.
May all of you be at ease.
May all of you be peaceful, healthy, and free.

And then consider that there's well over 500 people perhaps today, in these last minutes, bringing goodwill thoughts to all of us here. That there are over 500 people who are wishing you well-being, each individual one of you. Imagine being the recipient of the goodwill of 500 people wishing you well, and that you're sitting in a web of over 250,000 forms of goodwill spreading outwards. 500 times 500—500 people wishing 500 people well. And all these people are supporting you, are behind you today, wishing you well, encouraging you, being cheerleaders for you.

And that as you feel support for your own happiness, well-being, for your own safety and freedom, and support for the efforts you need to make today to get through the day, that perhaps you also then will be in a better place to expand and continue the spread of goodwill out into the world.

May it be that on this day, our mutual well-wishing is a foundation from which we live for the benefit of others. May our own capacity for well-being be a natural support^[4] for the natural wish to benefit all beings.

May all beings be happy.
May all beings be safe.