The War Of Art
Is Fear Of Success Killing Our Creativity?
Steven Pressfield says that Resistance feeds on fear. But fear of what?
Fear That We Will Succeed
That we can access the powers we secretly know we possesses
That we become the person we sense in out hearts we truely are
Because the most terrifying prospect a human being can face, because it ejects him at one go from all the tribal inclusions his psyche is wired for and has been for fifty million years
How can anyone be doing things that are self destructing? Is the burden ( or anxiety ) of success too high that people wish for bad things to happen — or we are just stuck with the our current laborious routine work that an unknown future scares us.
Self-sabotaging is preferred than doing something extraordinary -as that might gain a great deal of attention of others
“The War of Art” by Steven Pressfield meets “The Artist’s Way” in this no-nonsense, profoundly inspiring guide to overcoming creative blocks of every kind.
- The enemy of creativity is resistance, which is about self-deception and self-sabotage. What writers know is at “block”.
- Turning “Pro” is the solution to the enemy of creativity. It is about laying out your day-to-day plan and step-by-step activities — with order, preparation , patience and no excuse , no BS.
- Inspiration — The Higher Realm, when you sit down each day and work, power concentrates around us and ideas come to us for our success.
Power of Mundane Acts
Somerset Maugham recognized another, deeper truth: that
by performing the mundane physical act of sitting down and starting to work, he set in motion a mysterious but infallible sequence of events that would produce inspiration, as surely as if the goddess had synchronized her watch with his.
Steven Pressfield identifies the enemy that every one of us must face, outlines a battle plan to conquer this internal foe, then pinpoints just how to achieve the greatest success. The War of Art emphasizes the resolve needed to recognize and overcome the obstacles of ambition and then effectively shows how to reach the highest level of creative discipline.
Turning Pro
The professional keeps his eye on the doughnut and not on the hole.
He reminds himself it’s better to be in the arena, getting stomped by the bull, than to be up in the stands or out in the parking lot
By sitting down day after day — a process is set into motion — by which, unseen forces comes to our aid; serendipity reinforces our purpose
Inspirational Forces
Consider these forces a gravity. May be they are. A force that exists in every grain and seed to make it grow.
As resistance works to keep use from becoming who we were born to be, equal and opposite powers are counterpoised against it. These are our allies and angels
Just as Resistance has its seat in hell, so Creation has its seat in heaven. It’s not just a witness, but an eager and active ally
Noble Effect of Heaven-sent Madness
“Here’s Socrates, in Plato’s Phaedrus, on the “noble effect of heaven-sent madness”:
The third type of possession and madness is possession by the Muses. When this seizes upon a gentle and virgin soul it rouses it to inspired expression in lyric and other sorts of poetry, and glorifies countless deeds of the heroes of old for the instruction of posterity. But if a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the Muses, believing that technique alone will make him a good poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman.
No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness ― Aristotle
The Artist’s Life
The Kabbalah describes angels as bundles of light, meaning intelligence, consciousness.
Every blade of grass has an angel that bends over it and whispers, “Grow! Grow!”
I believe that above the entire human race is one super-angel, crying “Evolve! Evolve!”
Creative act can not be a selfish act or a bid for attention on the part of the actor.
