Next week, I will be wrapping up the segment I started on role models. Today, I just want to share some nuggets with you from a book I’m reading that’s inspiring me to keep my head above water. It’s called The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.
Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet. It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty, disease, and erectile dysfunction. You know Hitler wanted to be an artist? At 18, he took his inheritance, 700 kronen, and moved to Vienna to live and study. He applied to the Academy of Fine Arts and later to the School of Architecture. Ever saw one of his paintings? Neither have I. Resistance beat him. Call it overstatement, but I’ll say it anyway: It was easier for Hitler to start World War II than it was for him to face a blank square of canvas.
Resistance is fuelled by fear
Resistance has no strength of its own. Every ounce of juice it possesses comes from us. We feed it with power by our fear of it. Master that fear and we conquer resistance.
Resistance only opposes in one direction
Resistance obstructs movement only a lower sphere to a higher. It kicks in when we seek to pursue a calling in the arts, launch an innovative enterprise, or evolve to a higher station morally, ethically, or spiritually. So if you’re in Calcutta working with the Mother Teresa Foundation and you’re thinking of bolting to launch a career in telemarketing... relax. Resistance will give you a free pass.
Resistance is invisible
Resistance cannot be seen, touched, heard or smelled. But it can be felt. It’s a repelling force. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.
Resistance is insidious
Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work. It will perjure, fabricate, falsify; seduce, bully, cajole. Resistance is protean; it will assume any form, if that’s what it takes to deceive you. Resistance has no conscience. It will pledge anything to get a deal, then double-cross you as soon as your back is turned. If you take resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get. Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.
Resistance is impersonal
Resistance is not out to get you personally. It doesn't know who you are and doesn’t care. Resistance is a force of nature. It acts objectively.
Resistance is infallible
Like a magnetized needle floating on a surface of oil, resistance will unfailingly point to true North – meaning that calling or action it most wants to stop us from doing. We can use it as a compass. We can navigate by resistance, letting it guide us to that calling or action that we must follow before all others. Rule of thumb: The more important a call or action is to our soul's evolution, the more resistance we will feel towards pursuing it.
Resistance plays for keeps
Resistance’s goal is not to wound or disable. Resistance aims to kill.
Resistance is most powerful at the finish line
The danger is greatest when the finish line is in sight. At this point, resistance knows we’re about to beat it. It hits the panic button. It marshals one last assault and slams us with everything it's got. The professional must be alert for this counterattack. Be wary at the end.
Especially as an artist, I suggest reading this book to learn both to identify and to counter resistance.
Thanks Mika…
