There are two directions of the effort. One can be called as positive as it is directed towards an aspiration for and cultivating divine forces in life such as Peace, Light, Harmony, Beauty, Strength. The other direction of the effort is getting rid of our negatives or shadows. The mistake we make is focusing too much on the negatives hoping that by doing so we will be good human beings. The subtle truth is that all our shadows derive from human positives. Until and unless the human positive is raised to its divine possibility the shadow continues to chase us as if as a pointer to the perfection we yet must make.
To take an example, human love which is no doubt a positive thing casts as its shadows lust and jealousy and hate and many other things. People who do not feel human love are also not chased by these shadows! The solution, therefore, lies in taking advantage of the shadows (to discover the weak spots) to work towards transmuting our human love into psychic and divine love. The focus should shift from removing negatives which should occupy 25 % of our efforts, to cultivating the positive with the major energy going in that direction. Otherwise, we start getting exhausted as the problem keeps recurring again and yet again fed by our own human needs arising from our human parts.
Grace and effort are not either-or in a mutually exclusive way. Effort on our part and Grace on the Divine part together do the wonders. Right effort, the sincere effort itself links us to the Divine Power through most often unconsciously because of the lack of faith and surrender. What works best is when we do our bit, push our will to whatever degree and offer it to Her Grace, leaving it completely in Her hands with total trust, ready to persevere and endure through the process of change then it works best. Only human effort is not enough since we do not even understand the way nature operates nor know the divine possibility hidden in the folds of darkness. Leaving it only to the Divine Grace may work, eventually does work but it takes longer since the Grace does not receive the needed support from us. Both are needed but the important thing to remember is that the direction of effort should be in a growth towards the Divine.
