Effort is not something a lot of people associate the process of meditation with. Meditation is often mistakenly believed to be synonymous with relaxation, letting go, just being, observing and all those not very well understood concepts. True meditation requires tremendous effort. It is a display of your will over your physical body, over your mind and emotions. It is a state of alertness. My guru would say it is like a tight rope walker walking 300-feet above the earth without a safety net. He is not day dreaming, is he? He is totally focused. In an absolute state of concentration. So is the meditator. Such is the concentration and willpower that is needed to harness awareness and direct it gracefully through the various states of mind into the very refined superconscious areas of the mind. Here, in this refined realms, awareness is held steady in prolonged states of concentration which then turns into meditation. Out of prolong states of meditation new insights, knowledge and experiences burst forth unbeckoned.
