War of Art - Steven Pressfield

 In the Foreword Robert Mckee writes; "When inspiration touches talent, she gives birth to truth and beauty". And when Steven Pressfield was writing The War of Art, she had her hands all over him. This was my 66th of 2021.

Author writes in What I know? "There's a secret that real writers know that wannabe writers don't, and the secret is this: It's not the writing part that's hard. What's hard is sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance. "

The Unlived Life begins with " Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.

It's the most toxic force on this earth. It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty, disease, and erectile dysfunction. 

A war piece in which the principles of resistance were expressed as the fear a warrior fears. 

Part 1: Resistance Defining the Enemy

The enemy is a very good teacher. - the Dalai Lama

Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet. It cannot be seen, touched, heard or smelled. But it can be felt. We experience it as an energy field, radiating from a work in potential. It's a repelling force. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work. Resistance is self-generated and self-Perpetuated. Resistance is the enemy within.

Any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health or integrity will create resistance. In other words any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower. 

Characteristics of Resistance are:

• Invisible
• Internal
• Insidious
• Implacable - Intractable, indefatigable : It understands nothing but power
• Impersonal
• Infallible - Higher when call of action is important
• Universal
• Never Sleeps
• Plays for keeps - aims to kill
• Fueled by fear
• Only opposes in one direction
• Most powerful at the finish line
• Recruits allies - if you try to overcome, try to sabotage

Symptoms:

• Procrastination
• Sex - Motive without love or lust
• Trouble - Ill health, alcoholism, drug addiction, proneness to accident
• Self -Dramatization : Twin to Santa Claus
• Self - Medication
• Victimhood
• Choice of a mate
• This book
• Unhappiness
• Fundamentalism - philosophy of the powerless, the conquered, the displaced & disappointed
• Criticism - Realized people don't criticize. It harms ourselves and others. Self-doubt
• Fear
• Love : Directly proportional. Opposite is indifference and not hate.
• Being a star - Grandiose fantasies. Sign of amateur. It comes as a by-product of work. 
• Isolation - We are afraid of being alone and is comfortable with our tribe
• Healing - Personal life needs it.
• Support - Believe in your own dreams
• Ratinalization - Right hand man. 
• Can be beaten

Of all the manifestation of Resistance, most only harm ourselves. Criticism and Cruelty harm others as well.

Those chasing vision are not aware of time or solitude. 

Writer for big ad agency. Come up with the disease, and we can sell the cure. 

Attention Deficit Disorder, Seasonal Affect Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder. These aren't diseases, they're marketing ploys. Doctors didn't discover them, copywriters did. Marketing departments did. Drug companies did. 

Instead of applying self-knowledge, self-discipline, delayed gratification and hard work, we simply consume a product. 

70% to 80% of Doctor's business is non-health-related. People aren't sick, they're self-dramatizing. Casting yourself as a victim is the antithesis of doing your work. Don't do it. If you're doing it, stop.

Fundamentalist hates and fears women because he sees them as vessels of Satan, temptresses like Delilah who seduced Samson from his power. 

Socrates "Truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery. While those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern over them."

Rule of thumb: The more scared we are of a work or calling, the more sure we can be that we have to do it. 

Tolstoy had thirten kids and wrote 'War and Peace'. Lance Armstrong had cancer and won the Tour de France three years and counting. 

Part 2: Combating Resistance - Turning Pro

It is one thing to study war and another to live the warrior's life - Telamon of Arcadia, mercenary of the fifth century B.C.

The conventional interpretation is that the amateur pursues his calling out of love., while the pro does it for money. In my view, the amateur does not love the game enough. If he did, he would not pursue it as a sideline, distinct from his real vocation. The professional loves it so much he dedicates his life to it. He commits full time. 

Resistance hates it when we turn pro. Qualities of a pro - as we are in our job are:

We show up everyday, no matter what, stay on the job all day. We are committed over the long haul. The stakes for us are high and real. We accept remuneration for our labor. We do not overidentify with our jobs. We master the technique of our jobs. We have a sense of humor about our jobs. We receive praise or blame in the real world. 

Aspects of a professional are ; he is a patient, seeks order, demystifies, acts in the face of fear, accepts no excuses, plays it as it lays, is prepared, does not show off, dedicates himself to mastering technique, does not hesitate to ask for help, distances from the instrument, does not take success or failure personally, endures adversity, self validates, recognizes her limitation, reinvents, is recognized by other professionals.

Be Myself.inc

Resistance yield to our turning pro because its a buly. 

Part 3: Beyond Resistance - The Higher Realm

The first duty is to sacrifice to the gods and pray them to grant you the thoughts, words and deeds likely to render your command most pleasing to the gods and to bring yourself, your friends, and your city the fullest measure of affection and glory and advantage. - Henophon, The Cavalry Commander

When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The muse takes note f our dedication. She approves. We have earned favor in her sight. When we sit down and work , we become like a magnetized rod, that attracts iron filling. Ideas come. Insights accrete. 

Resistance feeds on fear, We experience resistance as fear. Fear of the consequences of following our heart. Fear of bankruptcy, fear of poverty, fear of insolvency. Fear of groveling when we try to make it on our own, and of groveling when we give up and come crawling back to where we started. 

The self is our deepest  being.

The self is United to God.

The self is incapable  of falsehood. 

The self, like the Divine  Ground that permeates it, is ever-growing  and ever-evolving. 

The self speaks for the future.

That's  why the Ego hates it.

The Ego hates the Self  because when we set our consciousness  in the self, we put the ego out of business. 

The Ego doesn't want  us to evolve.  The Ego  runs the show right now. It likes things just the way they are. 

Each child came into the world as a distinct and unique personality.  

Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; 

The soul that rises with us, our life's star, 

Hath had elsewhere its setting, 

And cometh from afar.

Not in entire forgetfulness, 

and not in utter nakedness,  

but trailing  clouds of Glory do we come,

From God who is the home .

 ~Wordsworth

Artist only facilitates they carry. They are the willing and skilled instruments of the gods and goddesses they serve. 

Robert McKee says hack is a writer who second-guesses his audience. When the hack sits down to work, he doesn't ask himself what's in his own heart. He asks what the market is looking for. The hack condescends to his audience. In the hierarchy, the artist looks up and looks down. The one place he can't look is that place he must: Within. 

True Artists virtue should be 'contempt for failure'.

Birth is such a humbling experience. The new mom weeps in awe at the little miracle in her arms. She knows it came in out of her but not from her, through her but not of her.  That is the thought of whose orientation is territorial . The qualities of a territory are that they provide

• Sustenance
• Sustain us
• Can only be claimed alone
• Can only be claimed by work
• Returns exactly what you put in

An artist can't do his work hierarchically. He has to work territorially. 

Three ways to work (Orientation)

• Hierarchy
• Territory

Territorial vs. Hierarchical. If you're all alone on the planet, a hierarchical orientation makes no sense. There's no one to impress. So, if you'd still pursue that activity, you're doing it territorially. 

• Offering

Give the act to me.

Purged of hope and ego,

Fix your attention on the soul.

Act and do for me.

To efface all ego, to let the work come through us and give it back freely to its source, that, in my opinion, is as true to reality as it gets. 

Creative work is not a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor. It's a gift to the word and every being in it. Don't cheat us of your contribution. Give us what you've got.