Tuesday, July 24, 2012

The Law Of Reverse Effect


When you can’t fall asleep and you try to force it you will accomplish the opposite because any effort is against sleep.  Sleep is a relaxation.  You cannot do anything for it to happen, you cannot force it, you cannot Will it. 

When you move into the unconscious, into the depth of yourself, that fragment which is consciousness, that fragment which is Will, is left on the surface.  You cannot take your surface to your depth, you cannot take your circumference to your center. The mind cannot go there.  It's a place beyond the mind.

When you make efforts to go to sleep, it is self-destructive, you will push it further away and become more awake.   That’s called the law of reverse effect, the oldest sutra of Taoist and Zen. 

The only way to fall asleep is to do nothing.  Just relax and wait.  You cannot Will it. Will is against the unconscious because Will requires force.   That’s why willpower and promises don’t work except make you feel miserable, guilty and ashamed when you can’t keep them.  That’s why New Years resolutions fail. 

Let things happen, don’t force them.  There are things which can be forced – all that belongs to the conscious mind can be forced. But there are things which cannot be forced – all that belongs to the unconscious, to your depth, cannot be forced.

Will cannot bring anything out of your depth. Only surrender brings it, only when you let go, when you are relaxed.  

Doing nothing is the hardest thing to do.  Doing pushes everything further away.

You go through rituals but there is no ecstasy.  You look for technique, it keeps you cold; because you are in your mind you cannot go into the depth of yourself. 

Everything people do is to satisfy their minds. That's what all the rush is about.  In the end they have nothing.  As long as you are trying to understand you will not go anywhere.  The mind keeps you from yourself.

When the inner world is taken care of the outer world will follow.


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