Understanding Effort

Every day, we exert ourselves, we strive for success and to achieve something.
We struggle with a goal in mind: to attain fulfillment, and we continuously push ourselves to become something, whether positively or negatively.
But we must recognize that, whether it’s worth it or not, effort only generates antagonism, opposition, resistance.
And how can we be happy, feel fulfilled through these negative sensations?

We fight to acquire material possessions, to accumulate.
Or, if we settle for minimal material needs, we may seek to gain power, status, and success.
The security provided by essentials isn’t enough; we always want more, especially through power—whether social or psychological—over others, as this gratifies us, increasing within us the desire to strive for success.
But gratification is just a feeling, so: we make efforts to achieve increasingly intense sensations.

An Endless Cycle

What we fail to realize is that once gratification is achieved at one level, we move to the next, and then to the next after that, sparking a pursuit of ever-greater rewards.

But this is an endless process that will never resolve the inner conflict within us—that is, our antagonism.
This will never lead us to happiness.

All we do is run away from the emptiness inside, even if some are better at hiding their unhappiness and thirst for power than others.
And what has this brought to today’s society? We use each other for mutual gratification.
Our society’s structure today is based on need and use.

I need votes to gain power; thus, you use people to get what you want, and they need what you promise.
I need followers to become a social icon and earn money; so, I use people to reach my goal, and they need inspiration.
But as long as I use another person for my own gratification, there will only be fear, mistrust, and opposition.

Is There a Solution?

Psychological need gives rise to the quest for power, and all this is destructive.
Each of us desires our own outward manifestations, as does everyone else, and from this conflict arise hatred, fear, and violence.
Trusting people, offering genuine love, and not seeking to dominate others for personal gain could be a starting point.

Easier said than done, but before even reaching that stage, we must stop trying to appear and start to be: simple nobodies.
And let’s not make the mistake of thinking that my individual effort doesn’t impact the world.
Let’s not assume it would take an infinite amount of time for the entire world to change.

We need to start close to go far, and you must begin your transformation.

The world is you; you are the problem; the problem is not separate from you; the world is a projection of yourself, and the world cannot be transformed until you are transformed.

Stop strive for success, and start with one step at a time, one person at a time.