Does presence requires effort?
Being present doesn’t need effort. If you have understood what is being present, then what is needed is to remember it (remember being present). That’s why Gurjieff named Self-awareness as Self-remembrance.
But this is not so easy (especially in the beginning, - depends also on the maturity of the aspirant) because due to the habit and the power of the egoic tendencies we fall quite easily in self-forgetfulness and we identify with the mechanical thinking, emotions, sensations, objects, our ego and body. Because of this an effort is needed to stop or to impede identification (with thoughts, emotions, sensation, the body and objects) to happen and remember being present. It is needed an effort to stop the compulsive movement of our ego (if it is possible in the very beginning of its movement, before it takes a full manifestation) to identify with thoughts emotions etc.
I would like here to mention that there is a difference between being present and being aware of the source of the presence. The important thing regarding to this, it is that when we are present we can very easily lose the state of presence and identify with the mind, emotions, objects etc., but if we are more deeply in the source of presence then it is not easy for the ego to bring our consciousness down to the level of body, mind and perceptions and make us fall in forgetfulness. But being in this deeper state it is possible only for advanced aspirants and also when we are not engaged in external activities; it is not possible to focus our attention deep within and function through senses properly.
Although presence doesn’t need effort due to habit and the rajasotamasic nature of our ego, the ego very easily ‘steals’ our attention and makes us fall in forgetfulness and identify with thoughts, emotions, sensations, perceptions etc.. So, it doesn’t needed effort to be self-aware but it is needed a very subtle effort (this is called effort without effort) to remember it, and some kind of effort (a little or greater, according the circumstances) to impede identification to happen (identification happens due to the activation of some egoic tendency) or it is needed an effort to disidentify from the mind, objects, emotions etc. (if we already are in the state of identification) and return into the state of presence.
The whole process of spirituality in two words is detach-attach.
We must moment to moment detach from the thoughts, imaginations, emotions, the objects and the ego itself and attach to the Self within. By practice gradually decreases the power of the ego to make us identify as well as the time we are identified with the ego and the egoic tendencies and increases the time we remain present and Self-aware.
In order to accelerate this process and remain more and more aware of our true nature, we must follow a daily discipline and work with the dissolution of the egoic tendencies.
In order to accelerate this process and remain more and more aware of our true nature, we must follow a daily discipline and work with the dissolution of the egoic tendencies.
Om peace