It requires no effort to make no noise, or at least in theory it shouldn't require effort. In theory it should also require no effort to be still. And no effort should be needed just to be aware. But the world is topsy-turvy. It seems that we need to exert effort to do nothing, to be still and to remain alert. If you consider meditation, a common aim is to do nothing, to remain alert, still and steady. Really this should require no effort, but it can seem like hard work trying to keep still for a length of time.

Truly it doesn't require any effort to be still. The nature of being is perfect stillness and clarity. It requires no effort just to be. But when there is identity with the body it seems that 'we' need to do something to reach this natural state of effortless enlightenment. It seems to require effort to keep the body quiet, still and alert. The body is so used to moving about, making noise, being distracted and falling asleep. The aim in meditation then is to bring some peace to the body-mind. Even when the body sits still and comfortable the mind will wander.

But all this apparent movement, activity and change is okay. That's how the world appears. It doesn't change the nature of being, which remains unmoving and alert. Being doesn't move about when the body goes for a run or travels in a plane. Being is placeless and timeless. It has no location. Its stillness is effortless. It's not something that we can reach. It's where we would be reaching from, and it is where we are reaching through. It cannot be grasped, in the same way that silence cannot be heard.

So this is why enlightenment is effortless. Enlightenment is the natural state of aware being. It is right here now. It is Aware Being that is the heart and whole of all experience. It seems to be at the heart, but within the heart it is the whole, because it has no form and no limits. Imagine a sheet of paper with many circles drawn on it. Each apparently separate entity is like the circles, and the heart of each circle is the whole paper in which the circles appear. Beingness is shared by all seemingly limited separate beings, and it is in the heart that we find the limitless Being that pervades all.

Take this insight with you into meditation and into daily life, knowing that you are already That. What the body-mind does or thinks is not you. You remain timelessly effortlessly as you are throughout the appearance and disappearance of the world. You don't talk and walk. You don't fall asleep. You perceive the movement from the eternal place of Stillness, Aware Being.