Presby-Musings

Stephen Pressfield writes in the War of Art  that "Rationalization is Resistance's spin doctor ." It's true.  Whenever the opportunity presents itself for us to fulfill our calling, to seek the higher purpose, to make our art to write that novel... We rationalize a million different reasons why it won't work, we can't start, we have other, more important things to do. And sometimes these reasons seem so valid and on point. This week I experienced a bit of that rationalization.  I am working on my doctoral degree , which means that twice a year I go into learning/paper writing/going to school mode.  It means that I am away from home for two weeks at a time in June and then again in January.  It means that I will be reading  a ton of books and doing assignments before I go, and then reading a ton of books and writing a paper or three after I get back. And the further I get into the process, the harder it has been to maintain it. This week the r...

I am reading and reflecting on the excellent book by Stephen Pressfield , The War of Art .    I actually read the manifesto Do The Work by Pressfield some time ago, and many of the ideas within War of Art  were being fleshed out there.   Sadly, I think I read Pressfield's manifesto when I was on one of my "read a book a week" kicks, and didn't really absorb the straight up truths that he was laying down about creativity, art and the pursuit of calling. Pressfield writes novels.  His most famous, The Legend of Bagger Vance  was made into a movie.  His most recent novel was about the battle of Thermopylae . Pressfield speaks a great deal about what he calls Resistance--that which keeps us from pursuing our true calling, being our true selves, producing the art that we were born to produce. He offers a list of the activities, the callings, the art that most commonly cause Resistance to rear it's ugly head.  See if you can find one that reso...