I thought I should start a series on books that have inspired me, especially when many of us are stuck at home now and need some nourishment.
I came across this book, The Path of Least Resistance: Learning to Become the Creative Force in Your Own Life, while wandering in the Eslite bookstore in Hong Kong. After reading it, I cannot understand why this book is apparently known by so few. I have read it ten times and the back cover has worn.
The idea raised in the book that has struck me the most is that everyone has an inborn desire to create. Creating is driven by love. It is not a responsibility, but a choice.
“Painters paint not because they consider a blank canvas to be a problem to solve.” － Robert Fritz
(I translated this quote from the Chinese translation, so it may not be 100% accurate.)
I had always had a very strong sense of responsibility and was totally struck by this quote. I asked myself: if Cézanne or Beethoven created their paintings and music due to a sense of responsibility, would their creations be as brilliant? Probably not.
So why the title “the path of least resistance”? According to this method proposed by the author Robert Fritz, we should first find out what we want to create, and then evaluate the current reality objectively. The difference between the two gives rise to tension and tension always resolves itself. It is physics. An interesting example given by the author is that according to legend, when little Mozart did not want to leave his bed in the morning, his mother would play the piano, leaving the ending tonic note out. Mozart would not be able to resist walking to the piano to finish the piece.
Before this book, my life orientation was problem-solving. With this orientation, success is short-lived and does not lead to more success. A classic example given in the book is: one tries to lose weight and goes on a diet; when one gets less fat, one eats more again. It repeats and repeats.
Finding this tension between your goal and current reality is not enough. We also have to make some fundamental choices, including being true to oneself and becoming or staying healthy.
Similar to the ideas advocated in the book The Courage to be Disliked, conflict and competition has no place in this creating orientation and method. A “peace warrior” demonstrates conflict, not peace, as explained by the author. I always remind myself of this. I have always pondered the relationship between the thoughts promoted in these two books. After all, creating and social interactions should be the two most important elements of our lives.
I have only laid out 10% of what I have learnt from this book here. I highly recommend it to all. This school of thought or method is also coherent; all components are consistent or even add to each other. Let us all start creating right now, practise with a small creation every day and gather momentum. These blog posts are such small creations of mine.
Having finished this book, I took the author’s online course, which has further inspired me. I have also read Identity, a book co-authored by Robert Fritz and Wayne Scott Andersen, a doctor. The main argument in that book is that whether you like yourself or not is irrelevant to your creations. This thought has guided me as well.
Chinese version of this article is available here.
