Pressing On~
Steven Pressfield is an American author of historical fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays. He has authored many fictions such as Gates of Fire, Tides of War, Last of the Amazons, and many non-fiction such as The War of Art, Do the Work, and Turning Pro. In his book, The War of Art, Pressfield writes to investigate and explore the psychology of the mind in creating art. The book encourages through its motivational writing to overcome the inner barrier of creativity. The book is divided into three sections: Resistance, Combating Resistance, and Beyond Resistance, and Pressfield uses all of his creative mind, genuineness, and personal imaginations to help the readers to break through the creative blocks and overcome the inner battles of resistance. Stephen King is also an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, and crime novels. He is a legendary writer known worldwide for his works – The Dead Zone, The green mile, misery, Salem’s Lot, The shining. On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft opens up with an autobiography that tracks his life memories to present his writing journey. Then, Stephen King writes to give practical tips and guides for creative writing.
Pressfield’s first line of the opening grabbed my attention, “Most of us have two lives. The life we live and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”[1] As I read through the two books assigned for this week, I contemplated the idea of inner resistance and overcoming the internal battles for the emerging youths these days. Pressfield’s description of resistance can be used to describe the current crippling mental state of deforming and defeated young minds. “Resistance is the most toxic force on the planet. It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty, disease, and erectile dysfunction. To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we are and were born to be.”[2] I am certain that both writers had to wrestle through and grit through dark tunnels of resistance of their own. At least, that was the sense I felt as I read through their works. They felt and experienced what everyone else goes through – “unhappiness, feel like hell…bored and restless…get no satisfaction…want to go back to bed…feel unloved and unlovable…disgusted… hate our lives…hate ourselves.”[3] Yet they found a way out of their dark and endless tunnel of petrified graves of death and defeat. Walking through the valley of the shadow of death and the fiery flames of hell, you don’t stop walking and get stuck there. You have to keep walking until you pass through onto the other side of light and safety. King encourages, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There is no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.”[4] Practice, perseverance, and grit in creative writing will open up a channel and platform to encourage and inspire others who are caught amid struggles and resistance~
[1] Steven Pressfield, The War of Art – Break through the blocks and win your inner creative battles, (New York: Black Irish Entertainment, 2012), 1.
[2] Pressfield, The War of Art, 2.
[3] Pressfield, The War of Art, 31.
[4] Stephen King. By Stephen King On Writing A Memoir of the Craft Twentieth Anniversary Edition, (Generic, 2012), 145.
About the Author
Jonathan Lee
President of Streamside Ministry Lead Pastor of EM @ San Jose Korean Presbyterian Church in Sunnyvale, CA9 responses to “Pressing On~”
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Jonathan – I’m interested to know if the readings this week gave you an ideas of how to increase or incorporate more reading & writing components into the youth discipleship curriculum you’re looking at developing in your NPO?
Jonathan: I thought a lot about Pressfield’s notion on resistance, too. Standing right in the center between my life and my potential life. The way Pressfield talked about it made me feel the weight of what is at stake with how we spend our hours and days. We can’t afford to waste time! What areas of your life do you feel resistance? I try and write every days and I feel it sometimes then. Great post.
Thanks Jonathan. I remember that you were most concerned about writing for this doctorate. In what ways have these books given you more tools or encouragement?
Jonathan,
In your work, what requires the most creativity regularly? How do you find time for creative flow? What are your biggest challenges to this time, and how have you learned to adapt?
Jonathan, I like how you relate the issue of resistance to the challenge youth wrestle with today, especially the need for perseverance in a culture that’s so inclined to laziness, excessive enjoyment, lateness, shortcuts and “free lunch.” What advise might you have for Christian parents struggling to help their kids overcome resistance?
Jonathan, I appreciate reading your reflection on the books.
How might your compare their reflections on resistance with what Friedman says? What scriptural ties do you make?
Hi Jonathon,
Thank you so much for your reflection on these books. I was particularly drawn to the following statement you made, “current crippling mental state of deforming and defeated young minds.” I am curious as to how you might use Pressfield to help the young people you work with. What are some ways you might be able to bridge the hopelessness they experience into a victorious life with Christ?
Hi Jonathan. Thank you for your thoughtful post. I really appreciate the connections you make to journey many young people face. I’m curious where you see sparks of creativity within and/or among the young people you most closely relate to? What do you find most inspires them in their creativity?
Jonathan, great points drawn from the two books. It seems like you connected the most with Pressfield’s work, especially the idea of resistance. Do you see a parallel between his definition of “resistance” and Walker’s metaphor of the front and backstage?