Book Review: The War Of Art – Break Through The Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield

TheBreakaway | BreakawayConciousness
Zy Marquiez
April 11, 2017

The War Of Art – Break Through The Blocks & Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield is a very innovative way to look at the resistance individuals face when attempting to walk the path of a creatively conscious life.

Because resistance is something that we all face in one way shape or form [i.e. procrastination], this book is a book that stands to help everyone in their own unique way.

Pressfield minces no words in his apt definition of what holds creative individuals back:  Resistance.

Resistance is what leaves most of us feeling like abject failures after we’ve lost multiple bouts with it.  The paradox of this conundrum is that Resistance isn’t as untouchable as it might seem at first blush.  Yes, Resistance is the paradise of procrastination on the creative path, it is the ultimate obstacle, the veritable Darth Vader.   As such, resistance is the epitome of self-sabotage.  But, therein lies the key to this curious conundrum: self.

Maraudering deep within our darkest realm, Resistance is the ultimate enemy which seeks to slay every one of our hopes, and cast limitations into each and every one of our dreams.

As Pressfield points out:

“Resistance is a bully.  Resistance has no strength of its own; it’s power derives entirely from our fear of it.  A bully will back down before the runtiest twerp who stands his ground.”[1]

In other words, if the percipient individual – guided by the self – is to overcome this ruthless opponent, they need to face it head on.  As the saying goes, fear is False Evidence Appearing Real.  Like the ego, it only grows when you feed it, so cutting Resistance of at the pass is crucial.  And this is where this book shines.

The War of Art is split into 3 parts.  In Part One, Pressfield shows a plethora of ways in which Resistance can be better understood.  Thereafter, Book Two features ways that the individual can tackle resistance in myriad ways, while Book Three goes beyond into deeper ruminations on invoking the ever-elusive Muse.  He also covers what separates amateurs from professionals, and an unorthodox – but refreshing – look at the artist and how the artist fits into the grand scheme of things.  The book yields more, but those are the core concepts.

As the author aptly notes, if Resistance couldn’t be overcome, the great works that humanity has wouldn’t be available these days.

If you are an individual who runs head on into Resistance daily – and who doesn’t? – or needs a healthy dose of inspiration, this book will definitely help you handle those in spades.  And if you seek to live a more creative life, whether by hobby or profession, then this is a must read.

Pressfield’s unorthodox approach to invoking the Muse is a breath of fresh air, and one that we can all relate too.  In his own words:

“When we sit down each day and do our work, power concentrates around us. The Muse takes note of our dedication.  She approves.  We have earned favor in her sight.  When we sit down and work, we become like a magnetized rod that attracts iron filings.  Ideas come.  Insights accrete.

“Just as Resistance has its seat in hell, so Creation has its home in heaven.  And it’s not just a witness, but an eager and creative ally.”[2]

After reading the book, my only regret was that the book was not longer.  That’s the sign of a good book.

If you want an active ally to accompany you in your personal battleground against Resistance and need a spark to light the tinder of action, get this book.
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Source:

[1] Steven Pressfield, The War Of Art, p. 99.
[2] Ibid., p. 108

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This article is free and open source. You are encouraged and have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Zy Marquiez and TheBreakaway.wordpress.com.
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About The Author:

Zy Marquiez is an avid book reviewer, researcher, an open-minded skeptic, yogi, humanitarian, and freelance writer who studies and mirrors regularly subjects like Consciousness, Education, Creativity, The Individual, Ancient History & Ancient Civilizations, Forbidden Archaeology, Big Pharma, Alternative Health, Space, Geoengineering, Social Engineering, Propaganda, and much more.

His own personal blog is BreakawayConsciousnessBlog.wordpress.com where his personal work is shared, while TheBreakaway.wordpress.com serves as a media portal which mirrors vital information usually ignored by mainstream press, but still highly crucial to our individual understanding of various facets of the world.

The Foundation Of Possibilities & Solutions

TheBreakaway
Zy Marquiez
June 19, 2016

Just had recent conversations with a few people via a few different modalities, and saw some other particular musings by some folks that made me ruminate about what makes us do what we do as individuals.

The subject matter/common theme of these posts was that of imagination.

To start of, am quite thankful that there have been many people pushing me to carry on the journey that’s been placed before me.  This has taken shape in a variety of forms.

One of the biggest drivers behind me doing this new blog is the work of Jon Rappoport.

Rappoport is an investigative journalist and researcher that does a lot of rather incisive work in exposing many issues that plague society as a whole.  Most importantly however, he has made it his personal mission to elucidate how important imagination is to the individual.

In his book, The Secret Behind Secret Societies, Rappoport sums up what has made these societies extremely powerful in more ways than most can fathom, and this is the tradition of imagination.  When used by these societies/institutions, this tool has been used deviously to carefully mold the current reality structure that we have that is quite detrimental in many surreptitious ways.

Rappoport attacks that notion from myriad angles and is quite right to reinforce the importance of imagination as it’s something that has been zapped from society at many junctures

This was even discussed by myself and a few folks in respect to how imagination is oft made to seem as something that only children do when nothing could be further from the truth.

Without imagination we have no poetry, no music, no ideas, no paintings, no education, absolutely nothing.  All of it couples directly to imagination. 

Imagination’s vital importance can be seen in some of the most salient quotes that have elucidated about this particular topic:

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.  For knowledge is limited to all we know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.”
– Albert Einstein

“Imagination should be used, not to escape reality, but to create it.”
– Collin Wilson

“The man who has no imagination has no wings.”
– Muhammad Ali

“Logic will get you from from A to Z, imagination will get you everywhere.”
– Albert Einstein

“Imagination decides everything.”
– Blaise Pascal

“Your Imagination is your preview of life’s coming attractions.”
– Albert Einstein

“Can you imagine what I would do if I could do all I can?”
– Sun Tzu

“They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night.”
– Edgar Allan Poe

“Imagination is the spark that ignites the fire of creativity.”
– Richard Laurence Peterson

“Conceive of it this way. Far up in the sky you have people, individuals, who are inventing the fulfillment of their most profound desires, making them fact in the world, no matter what—and way down below, miles under the earth, you have other individuals who could be doing what the sky dwellers are, but they’ve bamboozled themselves into thinking they can’t. Instead, they think they’re trapped in every little response they might have to any old stimulus that comes along. Both groups of people are creative, but they’ve channeled their imaginations and creativity in vastly different ways. Waking up may be hard to do, but you either do or you don’t.”
– Jon Rappoport, Notes for Exit From The Matrix

“Our first endeavors are purely instinctive prompting of an imagination vivid and undisciplined. As we grow older reason asserts itself and we become more and more systematic and designing. But those early [imaginative] impulses, though not immediately productive, are of the greatest moment and may shape our very destinies. Indeed, I feel now that had I understood and cultivated instead of suppressing them, I would have added substantial value to my bequest to the world. But not until I had attained manhood did I realize that I was an inventor.”
– Nikola Tesla

Even Tesla mentions how he would have acted differently in his choices had he known the importance of such an idea.

When arguably the greatest modern mind in the world mentions what he does above in the manner that he does it, one should at minimum take note of it.

What’s so important about imagination?

Its the engine of creativity.  It’s the road which leads you to the destination you desire.  It’s the key to every ordeal what we face.  Again, Einstein said: “Logic will get you from from A to Z, imagination will get you everywhere.”

If you can imagine anything, why not imagine a better world?  Why not imagine solutions?  Why not act on it?  Why not imagine a better path to yourself?  Why not invent the reality you wish to invent?

It all starts with you.

Its all a choice.

And the beauty of creativity is that it spawns more choices.  Which spawns more chances to be creative and use imagination, which spawns more choices which…

You get the picture.

Use the endless creative potential of your inner self – your consciousness – and gravitate to that which helps you the most in leading a new life, a better life, one that will make you truly inspired, whatever that may be.

That’s just it, imagination knows no bounds.  Everything is fair game because the possibilities are endless.

Some people hear the word imagination, and they give you a curious askance look, as if that’s something so bizarre, so outlandish, it should never be mentioned.

Others hear the word imagination, and instantly their minds  end up spawning tornadoes of creativity that go unleashing tsunamis of possibilities upon the world, leaving it a better place just by their mere actions.

Which one are you?

What is the leading edge of consciousness?

Source: NoMoreFakeNews.com
Jon Rappoport
January 31, 2016

Long ago, in another life as a student, the answer to that question was never clear to me, nor did I even consider the question, because I was busy trying to make sense of the history of Western philosophy.

But in the decade-long lead-up to authoring my three Matrix collections, the question became very important. It split into two parts:

Was the ultimate in consciousness something a person plugged into, like a cosmic lamp, a reality that was already sitting there, waiting to be discovered?

Or was it something a person invented?

The second alternative, of course, is not a popular position.

Herds and flocks and squads of people are on the move, searching for the cosmic lamp. Or they’re avidly plugging themselves into some familiar religion or spiritual system.

They’re looking for authoritative content, the way an archeologist looks for a lost city, or on a lesser level, the way a chef looks for the best recipe for gnocchi.

However, the primary fact about consciousness is that it is creative, and the next most important fact is that it isn’t really looking for answers that already exist.

Looking for answers which are already there is built on a misconception. (Refer back to the primary fact above.)

Consciousness imagines, creates, invents. It may delude itself into thinking that what it creates was already there, but that illusion can be seen through.

The “creative nature of everything” doesn’t mean there are limits on what can be created. It doesn’t mean there are hard and fast rules.

Most people are not up to contemplating the idea of consciously creating, much less spontaneously improvising, which involves a kind of merging with what they would create.

But for those who can grasp such an idea, the world and the universe aren’t any longer arbiters and rule makers and guides. They are inventions that are already here.

Continue Reading At: JonRappoport.wordpress.com

The Buried Factor That Influences All Life

Source: NoMoreFakeNews.com
Jon Rappoport
January 24, 2016

There is a profound factor that influences all human behavior, thought, and emotion.

It is boredom.

Often unrecognized and unacknowledged, it seeps in, as a person lives his life, as he repeats the same actions over and over, as he unknowingly focuses on the same thoughts colored by the same attitudes.

His space stagnates. It also shrinks. He becomes imprisoned in it.

He often fails to see this.

But what he once experienced as the electricity of being alive fades away.

If he is to renew himself, he will need to do it a number of times during his life.

But how?

What is the key?

The answer comes from understanding that what already exists in the physical world and in his mind does not supply inspiration forever. What already exists becomes tedious. Predictable. All-too-familiar.

Therefore, he is going to have to invent something new. It will not drop down to him out of the clouds.

Fortunately, although most people don’t perceive it, the individual is outfitted with an astonishing capacity to invent.

This capacity is at the core of what he is:

Imagination.

L Frank Baum: “The imaginative child will become the imaginative man or woman most apt to create, to invent, and therefore to foster civilization.”

Continue Reading At: JonRappoport.wordpress.com