What is the ‘War of Art,’ Anyway?

If I’ve learned two fundamental tenets of self-development, they are: you are the problem, and you are the solution. 

And sure, that’s fine and dandy and good until you get to the actual hard part of taking action.

Let’s say you intend to lose those extra five pounds or sit down to (finally!) write the Great American Screenplay. 

(Doesn’t last long, does it?)

You get tired, bored, miss eating Mint Chocolate Chunk in both endeavors, and decide that, well, today is not the day to do it. Tomorrow comes, and that day isn’t the day either. Days melt  into weeks, and pretty soon, losing five pounds and banging out a rough draft have been replaced by gaining ten pounds and falling down eight different YouTube rabbit holes. Self-loathing clouds over you.

Because if you are the problem and if you are the solution, then why can’t you move past yourself? Why are you getting in the way of you? 

Steven Pressfield, in his brilliant The War of Art, introduces a new take. He writes, “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 the sitting down to write. What keeps us from sitting down is Resistance.”

What is Resistance?

“Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet. It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty, disease, and erectile dysfunction. To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be…Its target is the epicenter of our being: our genius, our soul, the unique and priceless gift we were put on Earth to give and that no one else has but us.

“Resistance 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. It’s negative. Its aim is to shove us away, distract us, prevent us from doing our work.”

While Pressfield defines Resistance as being internal, to me, it almost feels like being on one of those circular carnival rides in which you stand and the ride rotates around, causing the centrifugal force to radiate outward, keeping you plastered to the metal support behind you. 

The older I become, the more I realize that Resistance is a true and evil force that thwarts so many dreams and passions (in myself and others). The internet, I believe, is a haven for Resistance as there is so much human negativity abounding and, if you so choose to avoid doing your soul’s calling, there are a billion different ways you can distract yourself and put it off. It is no wonder that Pressfield calls his work The War of Art because staying focused and summoning the gumption to create feels like an eternal battle of wills. 

I feel so strongly about understanding Resistance and its evils that I’m going to devote a new series of blog posts to Pressfield’s work. I believe that perhaps if we can understand the enemy a bit better, we can resist Resistance and birth the works we were born to create. The following excerpts are from The War of Art (which, in case you haven’t guessed, I highly recommend you pick up).

Resistance’s Greatest Hits

The following is a list, in no particular order, of the activities that most commonly elicit Resistance:

1. The pursuit of any calling in writing, painting, music, film, dance, or any creative art, however marginal or unconventional. 
2. The launching of any entrepreneurial venture or enterprise, for profit or otherwise. 
3. Any diet or health regimen. 
4. Any program of spiritual advancement. 
5. Any activity whose aim is tighter abdominals. 
6. Any course or program designed to overcome an unwholesome habit or addiction. 
7. Education of every kind. 
8. Any act of political, moral, or ethical courage, including the decision to change for the better some unworthy pattern of thought or conduct in ourselves. 
9. The undertaking of any enterprise or endeavor whose aim is to help others.
10. Any act that entails commitment of the heart. The decision to get married, to have a child, to weather a rocky patch in a relationship. 
11. The taking of any principled stand in the face of adversity. 

In other words, any act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity. Or, expressed another way, any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lower. Any of these will elicit Resistance. 

What are the Characteristics of Resistance?

• What is Resistance? Resistance is Internal: Resistance seems to come from outside ourselves. We locate it in spouses, jobs, bosses, kids. “Peripheral opponents,” as Pat Riley used to say when he coached the Los Angeles Lakers. Resistance is not a peripheral opponent. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. Resistance is the enemy within.
• 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. It will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine-millimeter in your face like a stickup man. 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 Fueled 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 from a lower sphere to a higher. It kicks in when we 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 and Procrastination: Procrastination is the most common manifestation of Resistance because it’s the easiest to rationalize. We don’t tell ourselves, “I’m never going to write my symphony.” Instead we say, “I am going to write my symphony; I’m just going to do it tomorrow.”
• Resistance and Procrastination, Part Two: The most pernicious aspect of procrastination is that it can become a habit. We don’t just put off our lives today; we put them off till our deathbed. Never forget: This very moment, we can change our lives. There was never a moment, and never will be, when we are without the power to alter our destiny. This second, we can turn the tables on Resistance. This second, we can sit down and do our work. 
• Resistance and Unhappiness: What does Resistance feel like? First, unhappiness. We feel like hell. A low-grade misery pervades everything. We’re bored. We’re restless. We can’t get no satisfaction. There’s guilt but we can’t put our finger on the source. We want to go back to bed; we want to get up and party. We feel unloved and unlovable. We’re disgusted. We hate our lives. We hate ourselves. Unalleviated, Resistance mounts to a pitch that becomes unendurable. At this point vice kicks in. Dope, adultery, web surfing. Beyond that, Resistance becomes clinical. Depression, aggression, dysfunction. Then actual crime and physical self-destruction. Sounds like life, I know. It isn’t. It’s Resistance. What makes it tricky is that we live our life in a consumer culture that’s acutely aware of this unhappiness and has massed all its profit-seeking artillery to exploit it. By selling us a product, a drug, a distraction. John Lennon once wrote “Well, you think you’re so clever / and classless and free/ But you’re all fucking peasants / As far as I can see.” As artists and professionals, it is our obligation to enact our own internal revolution, a private insurrection inside our own skulls. In this uprising we free ourselves from the tyranny of consumer culture. We overthrow the programming of advertising, movies, video games, magazines, TV, and MTV by which we have been hypnotized from the cradle. We unplug ourselves from the grid by recognizing that we will never cure our restlessness by contributing our disposable income to the bottom line of Bullshit, Inc., but only by doing our work.
• Resistance and Criticism: If you find yourself criticizing other people, you’re probably doing it out of Resistance. When we see others beginning to live their authentic selves, it drives us crazy if we have not lived out on our own. Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement. Watch yourself. Of all manifestations of Resistance, most only harm ourselves. Criticism and cruelty harm others as well. 
• Resistance and Self-Doubt: Self-doubt can be an ally. This is because it serves as an indication of aspiration. It reflects love, love of something we dream of doing, and desire, desire to do it. If you find yourself asking yourself (and your friends), “Am I really a writer? Am I really an artist?” chances are you are. The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death. 
• Resistance and Fear: Are you paralyzed with fear? That’s a good sign. Fear is good. Like self-doubt, fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. Remember our 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. Resistance is experienced as fear; the degree of fear equates to the strength of Resistance. Therefore the more fear we feel about a specific enterprise, the more certain we can be that the enterprise is important to us and to the growth of our soul. That’s why we feel so much Resistance. If it meant nothing to us, there’d be no Resistance. Have you ever watched Inside the Actor’s Studio? The host, James Lipton, invariably asks his guests, “What factors make you decide to take a particular role?” The actor always answers: “Because I’m afraid of it.” The professional tackles the project that will make him stretch. He takes on the assignment that will bear him into unchartered waters, compel him to explore unconscious parts of himself. Is he scared? Hell, yes. He’s petrified. (Conversely, the professional turns down roles that he’s done before. He’s not afraid of them anymore. Why waste his time?) So, if you’re paralyzed with fear, that’s a good sign. It shows you what you have to do.
• Resistance and Love: Resistance is directly proportional to love. If you’re feeling massive Resistance, the good news is, it means that there’s tremendous love there too. If you didn’t love the project that was terrifying you, you wouldn’t feel anything. The opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s indifference. The more Resistance you experience, the more important your unmanifested art/project/enterprise is to you–and the more gratification you will feel when you finally do it. 
• Resistance and Being a Star: Grandiose fantasies are a symptom of Resistance. They’re the sign of an amateur. The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work. The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not come, whatever they like. 

Next week, I’m going to begin to cover some of Pressfield’s mindsets on how to overcome Resistance. In the meantime, I’m open to your thoughts…

• Resistance Can Be Beaten: If Resistance couldn’t be beaten, there’d be no Fifth Symphony, no Romeo and Juliet, no Golden Gate Bridge. Defeating Resistance is like giving birth. It seems absolutely impossible until you realize that women have been pulling it off successfully, with support and without, for fifty million years.