5/21/2023 0 Comments The war of art resistanceResistance is the ever-present enemy of people who do work they’re passionate about, the work they’re meant to do. The thesis of Pressfield’s book is as follows: Fortunately, this enemy is vulnerable, assuming you understand its nature…and your own. Resistance must be defeated anew every single day. Unlike Sun Tzu’s enemies, Pressfield’s enemy can never be destroyed. Sun Tzu also recommended (and I’m paraphrasing from memory) complete annihilation of your enemy, otherwise he could come back to torment you once he regains his strength. Or put another way, this is a struggle between the Self and the Ego. Their enemy? Resistance, the internal struggle we face to create something that goes beyond fulfilling our immediate needs. Is the act of making art a war? Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art (also of The Legend of Bagger Vance and several historical novels), says so.Īccording to Pressfield, anyone who creates anything is engaged in a perpetual struggle. In The Art of War, Sun Tzu coined the famous phrase ‘know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster.’ Today I’m doing a review of The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. Normally I leave the book reviews to the critics, but I saw this book in the library and thought the subject matter would be quite useful for readers of this fine blog.
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