The Great Struggle
Ken Drummond, 2004
Those
of us who have been SRF members for some time have learned from our
guru that "an easy life is not a victorious life." We may react with a
certain amount of shock on first hearing or reading this statement.
While still in shock though, we probably nod our heads in wisdom. And
eventually, to one degree or another, we return to our "comfort zones."
I
have found that gains on the spiritual path come through
self-motivation. Every time I make some effort I go forward. My habit
however, seems to be to make as little effort as possible, and still
get by.
Ah, but 'tis a joyous struggle. That's what's so cool
about it. We get the idea of making effort mixed up with thinking that
we are supposed to torture ourselves. That would be defeating our own
purpose--so we tend to give up.
Every day that we go forward we
have to redefine SRF for ourselves. One would like to think that one
has figured out certain things, done the work, and can now sit back and
reap the results. But it will never be that way, not really. The saga
(the work) continues--forever.
Did I scare you off again? Work,
forever? But it is joyous work. Have you ever done some work that you
really liked? If not, I pray that you will have the experience. In my
crazy and idealistic youth I held the idea for a time that work should
always be a dance, sort of like in some of the cartoons. You dance
around with a broom or whatever, joyously accomplishing whatever task
needs to be done, and singing the whole time too, if you have
breath enough for all three activities. Well I used to try this from
time to time. I also felt that you should follow your own inner
inclination as to what work you do. The main thing is to work.