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.