Resistance

So, I got as far as clearing away my previous project (creating a junk journal for “seasonal gifting”). I even got as far as donning paint-spattered apron in readiness – only to remove it again.

What the hell is my problem?!

Naturally (for me) I turn to wiser heads than mine via a good book on the subject of Procrastination, and its close cousins, Fear and Resistance. “The War of Art” (Pressfield. 2002) is more than just a clever title. Steven Pressfield attempts to condense these issues with creative resistance into bite-sized, easily digestible mini-chapters. This attractively slim volume is less intimidating than other heftier tomes on the subject. Chapters can be accessed at random (between tentative stabs at what we artists “ought to be doing” with our time) without harming the underlying message.

I flip through the book and pause at a catchily titled section, “Resistance and Fundamentalism”.

“Who am I?”, “Why am I here?”, “What is the meaning of my life?”

Huge questions.

Humanity, Pressfield argues, was not designed to exist independently. Therefore the concept of “Freedom” is incomprehensible to us.

Is it not the case then, that in our pursuit of happiness, we equate this feeling with being free? Hence, this constant craving for satisfaction, equates to an attempt to locate the gold at the end of the rainbow.

Perhaps then I am asking too much of myself to create satisfying outcomes in isolation? That “spirit of independence ” over which I am so protective, is the very thing that prevents me from achieving my goals?

I need my hand held, then?

Or, do I need a partner in crime as a witness to my creative endeavours. Perhaps, in the absence of said partner, I could choose to create under the watchful gaze of a lens?

References:

Pressfield. S. 2002. The War of Art. New York. Grand Central Publishing