"Progress" in meditation

To go for "progress" in meditation makes enlightenment a receding horizon. Effort works against us. Sit and wait. Grace may come.

This issue of progress in meditation comes up often. Students tell me that they are not making any progress at all. But, the problem is that meditation is not about progress - it's about giving up control and surrendering to what is. What is, is what is - both outside and inside. How can there be progress in the realm of surrender. True surrender is giving up control. So there may be no progress in the sense that the ego is controlling how things will go. If the ego must control - that is not meditation. If the ego steps aside - the very idea of progress goes away! That is meditation.