The Resistance is powerful and it stops us from being creators. It distracts or seduces us from being the masters of our destiny.
Rational Thoughts, and our Family and Friends are the other contributing factors that burden our struggle.
What are rational thoughts?
Rational Thoughts are intimately connected to our ego. They are rational and that is the problem. In order to create something great, we need inspiration and it does not come from within. The Greeks and Romans believed in the Muse who would whisper things unseen into the poet's ears. Living a good life is human domain. Creating Art is divine. Just listen to any exceptional singer songwriter like Neil Young or Bob Dylan, and the process is almost identical. They never take any credit for creating the music. They all say the same thing. They were only the vehicle that let the songs out.
Genius doesn't live on the inside. She is found on the higher plain and it is our responsibility to look for her.
What about our Family and Friends? Surely they would not resist us?
It is clear that our family and friends loved us. They love as for who we are, but they want to keep us the same. It starts when we are babies. Our mothers don't want us to grow up. We are so cute that they wish we could stay like that forever. It would cripple us and destroy us if we did.
Family and friends don't like change. It is sudden, and feels uncomfortable. It awakens the resistance hiding inside of their being. That sudden fear and anxiety will not be beneficial to our dreams and ventures.
Steven Pressfield is in no way suggesting that our personal relationships with those we love are not important or central to our lives. He is talking about their usefulness to us as artists. My boss will never consult my wife or children, so why should we consult them either? Only you can draw the non-existent map and reach your unrealized potential.
Our family and friends do not understand the artist that is trying to awaken inside us. We are truly unborn to even ourselves. Our only option is to face our destiny and assume our rightful part of the sculptor. We need to take charge and chisel out our own new life.
We are not responsible for the marble. God is. It is clear that we are the only ones capable of executing masterful strokes with immaculate precision. We alone can shape ourselves into who we wish to become.
No one can lift wights for you. No one can stop you from lighting up your next cigarette or pillaging your children's Halloween candy. Nobody will pick up a pen for you. No one will tell you what you should photograph next.
Read The War of Art.
Prepare for battle.
The world needs new warriors!
