I heard a podcast this morning where the guest, Stephen Pressfield, was speaking on the topic of "Fear of Failure" - which I can identify with.
And it made me want to reread his book, The War of Art.
That book is all about every human's battle against what Pressfield calls Resistance - that force which strives with all its might to keep men and women from doing the important things which they are created to do and from becoming the people they were meant to be.
While listening this morning, I started thinking of some generally unpleasant scenarios which I find myself enjoying on some level:
- Cleaning the kitchen
- Getting snowed in
- Power outages
- And even being sick
And I realized something: the part I enjoy is the reprieve from wrestling with Resistance. For each scenario, I am off the hook, at least temporarily.
That's because nothing consequential can be accomplished when the dishes need attention or when I can't leave the house or when I have no electricity or when I'm flat on my back with a fever. The lack of the opportunity to progress on something of value means Resistance has nothing to oppose.
And so the mind goes quiet for a time.
That is such a pleasant change that it is almost worth having the flu for.
As a man of faith, the following question occurs to me: Is a similar escape from Resistance something a proper Sabbath could bring about?
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