The Head, The Heart, and the Space In Between
Resistance, professionalism, and the Muse are main themes in Steven Pressfields the War of Art: Break through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles. Pressfield takes a very easy way of writing to walk us through his own experience of resistance and how to press through this through professionalism and embracing the mystical idea of muses or angels.
When I read through book one on resistance, I related, a lot. Our own Kally Elliott said last spring “Butt in the seat”.[1] This was memorable, I looked, and it was the title of her very first blog! That is how much her comment resonated with me, in fact, I wrote it down and posted it on my bulletin board in front of my desk. Some of you live on that board for me as inspiration. I “stole like and artist”[2] as Kleon would recommend to us later in the semester. What both Dr Elliott and Pressfield hold in common is that most of the battle is just getting to the seat and start typing! A lot like how I approached this last blog…as I face the end of the semester slog.
Head
So, resistance is real, but I also would like to suggest that not all resistance should be pushed through without listening to the why? I suppose I’m making a case for resistance. Just today in a leadership meeting at work, we were discussing how deep and too serious Chaplains seem to get when we do what we call “groundings” in each of our meetings. (guys, we are talking poems and inspirational quotes with occasional discussions around grief, sounds reasonable, right?) Well, I was asked if we could mix it up and not be so serious all the time. As I like to do when being encountered with resistance, I turned to inquiry and wonder. I feel that sometimes the things we are resistant too are the things we need to actually listen to. We live in a world where we can compartmentalize and sometimes violently shove those feelings, stuff like groundings, are trying to bring to light. We fail to see that it is through the light we heal.
I also felt a little resistance myself when the author claims under “Resistance and Self-medication” he said “I once worked as a writer for a big New York ad-agency. Our boss used to tell us : Invent a disease. Come up with the disease, he said, and we can sell the cure. Attention Deficit Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder and Seasonal Affect Disorder. These aren’t diseases, they are marketing ploys.”[3] I’m not sure I followed what he was saying here, and having a child that has helped me as his mom by understanding his behavior as ADD. Now I understand that like a lot of things, there are a lot of over identifying and diagnosing, but it would take a lot for me to believe this is a marketing ploy. Did anyone else read this part? Did I misunderstand?
Heart
Pressfield moved into Professionalism and how that impacts our move into producing work. He gave a list of what makes us professional and not an amateur. “We show up every day; We show up no matter what; We stay on the job all day; We are committed over the long haul; The stakes for us are high and real; We accept remuneration for our labor; We do not overidentify with our jobs; We master the technique of our jobs; We have a sense of humor about our jobs; We receive praise or blame in the real world”.[4] Not a bad summary of what it means to be a professional, I would put this in high school classes and college classes to define what it means to have a career and what employers are looking for in their workers. This is the “why” we do these things of our life. It’s one thing to give this list to future employers, but unless it sinks into the heart where passion lives, I doubt many would make it through this list for very long.
One might ask, how do we go from the head to the heart?
The Space in Between
As in this book, it is suggested, that it is through the mystical or mysterious. While speaking on Jung and the Ego, Pressfield give the example of Tom Laughlin and how he works with those newly diagnosed with cancer. He speaks of when the diagnosis is delivered “What happens in that instant when we learn we may soon die, Tom Laughlin contends, is that the seat of our consciousness shifts. It moves from the Ego to Self.”[5] He goes on to contend that this is how Tom helps those go into remission, by bringing healing to the self. I agree. Not everyone gets cured, but I contend, that everyone can heal.
What I get from this book is to challenge myself and fellow doctoral students, when working through this doctorate our challenge is to go from the lofty head space and sink it into our hearts, as that is where transformation occurs. As Pressfield expresses, this can be done through embracing mystery.
Fellow students, what mystery do you embrace, or are beginning to embrace? How has the mystery of God’s grace got you through this doctorate so far? Tell me your miracles and I’ll tell you mine
[1] Elliott, Kally. “Butt in Seat” blog, January 13, 2023.
[2] Kleon, Austin. Steal Like an Artist: 10 things nobody told you about being creative.( New York: Workman Publishing Company, 2012, 2022.)
[3] Pressfield, Steven. The War of Art; Break through the Block and Win your Inner Creative Battles. (New York, Los Angeles, Black Irish Entertainment LLC, 2002) pg. 26
[4] Pressfield, Steven. The War of Art; Break through the Block and Win your Inner Creative Battles. (New York, Los Angeles, Black Irish Entertainment LLC, 2002) pg. 69-70.
[5] Pressfield, pg.134
About the Author
Jana Dluehosh
Jana serves as a Spiritual Care Supervisor for Signature Hospice in Portland, OR. She chairs the corporate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging committee as well as presents and consults with chronically ill patients on addressing Quality of Life versus and alongside Medical treatment. She has trained as a World Religions and Enneagram Spiritual Director through an Anam Cara apprenticeship through the Sacred Art of Living center in Bend, OR. Jana utilizes a Celtic Spirituality approach toward life as a way to find common ground with diverse populations and faith traditions. She has mentored nursing students for several years at the University of Portland in a class called Theological Perspectives on Suffering and Death, and has taught in the Graduate Counseling program at Portland Seminary in the Trauma Certificate program on Grief.8 responses to “The Head, The Heart, and the Space In Between”
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Joyful Jana! You are so deeply spiritual. I love how your words flow like calm stream over the stones.
You wrote, “I feel that sometimes the things we are resistant too are the things we need to actually listen to. We live in a world where we can compartmentalize and sometimes violently shove those feelings, stuff like groundings, are trying to bring to light. We fail to see that it is through the light we heal.” So how do I allow your words to penetrate my soul in order to be transformed? Listen to what causes resistance in me. Listen to my pain, my fellow man’s challenging but awkward words. Listen to what resistance is doing to my soul, my brain, my emotions.
Do I politely and unconsciously shove down my feelings or are there times I, like Jana has written, “violently shove those feelings?” Violence destroys, so am I destroying parts of me when I violently shove my feelings? How many years or decades have a shoved down certain feelings…and why?
Bringing all this to the light. Is it too deep to bring to the light on my own or do I need to allow others into my shadow to help me process all of this? Why did I write “this” instead of naming it?
Your post has given me a wonderful moment of introspection and wonder. Thank you, Jana!
Thank you Todd. I always feel seen by you. It has been hard to put yourself out into the world through these blogs and I go through a moment of …oh, did I just write that? And experience a moment of doubt, but knowing you “get me” is so reassuring. Thank you Todd for your words and support!
You asked, “Fellow students, what mystery do you embrace, or are beginning to embrace? How has the mystery of God’s grace got you through this doctorate so far? Tell me your miracles and I’ll tell you mine.”
Hmmm….I think I have been fixated on Deut 10:18 (orphans, widows, and the alien amongst us) for about a decade or so.
Working at a Refugee camp in Hungary I learned that I sucked at teaching and went for a Masters in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). The work made me better at helping refugees. After my missionary time in Hungary (10 years), I came back and found myself interning at World Relief…SHAZAM! I was hooked on working on refugee resettlement.
None of this was planned, but now this doctoral program allows me to go even deeper into addressing the polarization of US immigration and providing a small solution in my refugee resettlement app, Interlinkt.org.
On the horizon, do I see an impact towards “change?”
I am not sure, but there is a glimmer of “God” hope.
Shalom…
Shalom to you Russell. I am at awe of the passion you have for your calling and vocation. It is much needed work and having someone like you becoming “professional” at this through the doctorate…Keep going!
Jana,
I liked this book a lot the first time I read it (and continue to like it) BUT I agree with you that some of it is advice we need to hold loosely.
I love your take on resistance… sometimes it’s a friend. We need to approach it with wonder and curiosity.
And this… “We do not overidentify with our jobs; We master the technique of our jobs; We have a sense of humor about our jobs” What if we approached our academic work like this, too? I think it would help with our anxiety.
Thanks
Thanks Tim. I think I need to find a way to laugh at my doctorate a little bit. You are right. I tend to take myself a bit too seriously:) Even though I see fun in everything I tend to not give myself enough grace!
Christmas Blessings to you and yours. So grateful to be in this program together. Praying Jesus’ love on you into the new year.
“Do not be afraid. I bring you GOOD NEWS that will cause GREAT JOY for ALL PEOPLE” (Luke 2:10).
Hey Jana,
First – love that you used Kally’s post as a source!
Now – onto my reply.
I resonate with the idea that overcoming resistance often requires understanding its purpose and not blindly pushing through. Embracing resistance can lead to valuable insights. Regarding the author’s view on “marketing ploys” in diagnosing disorders, it’s a complex issue. While there’s overdiagnosis, real conditions exist. The shift from head to heart, as Pressfield suggests, is where profound transformation happens, echoing the importance of embracing mystery in our doctoral journeys.