Imagine a life-game whose only “technology” is your own Being. Just as a smartphone gives instant access to the world, IFS can provide direct, effortless access to the End of Suffering simply by resting into what is already here.
In Effortless IFS, the Self doesn’t do, analyze, understand, or even unburden.
The Self sees, and what it sees is an essential fragrance of Being:
Innocence.
Beauty.
Radiance.
Perfection.
Four qualities with no opposites, and no opposites is the key. They point to flavors of Self-essence, complementing the 8 C’s of Self-energy of our beloved Classic IFS.
Of course, please replace these four words with your own descriptors of what naturally shines through when perception is no longer filtered by burdened parts.
Whenever my experience of me or another falls short of seeing these four flavors of Self-Essence, I know a part has stepped in front of the lens and is obscuring True Seeing.
And the game is profoundly simple:
Be with the obscuring part, in whatever effortless way moves through you, until Self reappears and the world is seen clearly again.
(Why emphasize effortless for the game? Because effort can often come from a burdened part, and efforting can provoke an equal-and-opposite burdened part reaction, creating a polarity. This is how we can find ourselves “healing in slow motion with the parking brake on.” See EffortlessIFS.com for more.)
In my own system, it often looks like this:
• Awareness of the obscuring part,
• Effortlessly sinking into it,
• Feeling an intimacy beyond intimacy,
• And allowing Self to reveal itself on its own.
Crucially, this unfolds with no agenda.
If the part softens and reveals Self, beautiful. If the part remains forever, this too is fully welcomed and loved exactly as it is. (This is the hardest move in the game.) Yet either way, the result is the same: either Self shines through, or the unconditional loving of the part as it is opens the system back to essence.
No fixing.
No forcing.
No pushing toward transcendence.
Just sinking into, loving, or welcoming whatever obscures, until it softens, or doesn’t, in the warmth of your presence.
In this game, the End of Suffering is found both when Self shines through and when the part continues to obscure while being fully loved as it is.
If you choose to play this End-of-Suffering game (this may sound harsh, but it is essential):
Avoid whenever possible the exit door of blaming another person, the world, or life itself.
This is a false exit door.
Step through it, and the container of the game somewhat collapses.
But if you can stay in the game,
the alchemy will unfold.
Suffering will unwind itself and the radiant Truth of our intrinsic ever-present Self will effortlessly shine through.
