It is easier in life to choose the path of lesser resistance, the ‘natural’ (natural to the temperament) alternative. Let’s see what this means. There will be repetitive phrases in this writing- I hope that this does not divert the reader from the main objective of the writing, for it is important.
It is easy to accept the first available alternative than it is to look for the not so obvious ones and to think them through, and to make the mental and emotional effort to look for other alternatives.
It is easy to hit back whereas it might be better to hold back and wait and make an active effort to reframe it all- but it (that reframing) needs effort and patience- and these two don’t come naturally, they come by training in forbearance.
It is easy to ‘just do it’, - whatever that ‘it’ is, without waiting to think it through. (Even as important a matter as investment in stocks- people ‘just do it’, and repent!)
And, now, it is easiest to only think about something and not do it – not do anything at all- and feel okay about it while in reality one is just being complacent.
It is so easy (and is so very evident everywhere) to let ourselves be fossilized in our thoughts and behaviours – than it is to make the effort to remain mentally, physically and emotionally supple and agile. In other words, it is so easy to degenerate – let the degeneration creep in speedily- than it is to be able to marshal one’s energies to remain fresh. Aging is okay, degenerating with the passage of time is not. It is important to think this through and act upon it than to just pay lip service to it, write about it and then let it pass by silently.
It is easy and effortlessly inevident ( though it is there out in the open for all to sense it) to let the mind take the path of least difficulty and be unaware about it- not only so- but to be insolent and arrogant about the appropriateness of what one is doing and bringing about in the following of the easiest and the first available path of thinking and action. This causes considerable damage and loss of opportunity – in growth- in all senses. It is easy to let the guard off and yet to continue feeling secure about being watchful and on guard! It is the natural thing to be blind to it but not quite acceptable to be so once one knows what is happening.
It is easy to write a diary of scattered thoughts and feel satisfied about one’s contribution (to the field of writing) than it is to gather one’s energies, apply them and come out with a focused piece of writing! (I don’t denigrate the importance of diary writing for giving oneself the space to one’s thoughts, and its therapeutic potential in personal growth)
It is easy to be something, or even, be nothing, than it is to just be. The first two are appearances- studied ones- and the latter is the reality of how it all is. ‘Just be’ hides within it a state of intense application which when persisted with leads to deliverance – the ultimately worthwhile effort.
It is easy to let the habits and habitual ways of thinking hold sway over our days and to let life pass by, enslaved to these habitual ways- than it is to be aware, and then to act upon and against the flow of the force of the habits. It is easy to accept the inevitability of the force of the habit than it is to even catch oneself being captivated and enslaved by the snare of the habit. It is very easy to accept the hypnotability of the habits than it is to be aware of them and act in better ways.
It is easy to live on auto-pilot, and paradoxically surprising to see that one’s flight lands some place else just because a set of habits (auto-pilot) took over while the pilot slumbered away.
Remember, this piece is not about achievement in the outer world, it is about inner mastery and deliverance. The outer world most likely will benefit, though it might just not, but the inner world will certainly be free of the snare of ‘Maya’. That is no small a thing! A non-thing, actually.
