Most of us learn early in life the business of becoming. We are taught to pursue success and to value fame and we are often engaged in this process of becoming something from our earliest years; a writer, a poet, an artist, politician, a musician or whatever else it is that our thoughts or those of our teachers are attracted to. That is what we have come to think that education should be about. Too often this does not promote a way of life that is focused on following a love of what we are doing. If we really loved to sing, or to paint, or to write poems it would not concern us whether we become famous or successful or not.
Our education system quite questionably teaches us to love success and not what we are doing, so we learn that effort is the main requirement of becoming something. We focus on technique at the expense of ignoring the heart. The result has become more important than the action. It is not such a bad thing to be content to keep your brilliance a secondary focus, to be anonymous, to love what you are doing and not to show off. A heart filled attentiveness that is in fact effortless will contribute to the development of a unique technique not as an intended goal but out a more healthy and whole process that is more powerful and more complete than anything that arises from effort and intent.
Unless effortlessness prevails we can not help making an effort.
