The Mind’s Effort Versus Being’s Effortlessness

"You spoke about the conscious effort of being to override personal structure. But isn’t being inherently effortless? Where does the impulse to override the appearance of duality come from? Rupert says: ‘Being is inherently effortless – it cannot make an effort. The conscious effort is made by the mind, not being. The mind makes the effort to overcome the apparent evidence of sense perception, the appearance of duality. You have to make the effort to overcome that appearance and realise it’s just an appearance, not reality. The impulse comes from the desire to live your understanding. When you understand you’re not separate but it seems you are, there’s a contradiction. The impulse is: how can I resolve this? I don’t just want to understand intellectually – I want to live it. The impulse comes from the desire to live this understanding, to live the truth that at the deepest level we are one.’"

From event 05 - 12 October, 2025 Seven-Day Retreat at Garrison Institute, 5–12 October 2025

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