Greetings,
It's interesting that there are multiple types of _seeing_. There is _seeing_
as the sense of sight, and there is _seeing_ as to understand intellectually or
spiritually.
-------------
“_Right effort_ means simply being present. It means being here, staying
here, and to _see_ what’s happening in this moment. It’s not about trying to
control, trying to bring something about --- like straining to achieve
enlightenment. This is much like trying not to think of an elephant. _Right
effort_ is naturalness --- naturalness of movement, naturalness of becoming
this moment.
---
“This is not how we usually understand effort. Usually we make an effort to
control, or be different, or try something new, or improve the situation, or
ourselves. Human history is filled with this kind of effort.
“And here we are with our improved human world that we’ve spent a great deal
of time and energy working on. We’ve improved the rivers and the lakes and the
land and our society and our ways of living to the point where we now wonder if
the human race will survive.
---
“_Right effort_ is, first of all, cutting off the fragmented and fractured
states of mind that have already arisen in us. In these common states of mind,
the world appears “out there,” divided in various ways, with one thing set
against another. When we’re in such a state of mind, we _see_ things as
needing to be manipulated and controlled. The Buddha called such a state of
mind “unwholesome” because it doesn’t take in the whole scene that’s being
presented to us.
“We have to _see_ where we can effectively apply our effort and where we
can’t. When we’re not _seeing_ we’ll put most, if not all, or energy into the
areas where we have no control. We’ll try to control situations, people, and
things over which, in fact, we have little or no influence. Sometimes we’ll
try to control our own inclinations and impulses. But it’s all a lot like
trying not to think of an elephant.
“We must first _see_ what we can control and what we can’t. Otherwise we’ll
waste our effort in trying to do the impossible while ignoring what is easily
within reach.
(Hagen, Steve, ‘Buddhism: Plain and Simple’, pp. 95 - 96)
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