Everything is additive, or: 'Why the War of Art is bullshit'
#80: A brief case for optimism and acceptance, ft. new links and photos from the archive
There’s a prevailing attitude in creative work, which roughly translates to any other type of work, that there are demons to beat, a resistance to overcome. Call it what you want — laziness, the devil on your shoulder. This idea has been popularized by Steven Pressfield’s book, The War of Art. A typical passage reads like so:
“Resistance will tell you anything to keep you from doing your work… If you take Resistance at its word, you deserve everything you get. Resistance is always lying and always full of shit.”
After previously subscribing to this outlook on creative work, until learning it didn’t work for me, I’ve gotta admit — I now have some disdain for the need to deify something so futile. Capital R resistance? Damn. Why must we make everything into war? War mentality pervades so much of our culture — because we must win, yes. But isn’t the idea of winners and losers kind of shitty in the first place? I can hear an old man yelling at me, “Get real, man. That’s life.”
War mentality pits us against everything. Destructive thinking instead of constructive thinking. The book has good intentions — it aims to move you forward. But framing the work with the mindset that there is an ever present force against you, may I posit, isn't the most helpful way to go about it.
I like to believe that life is on my side. That resistance is actual propulsion, or a sign of something greater…not just something trying to tear you down. Taking detours or accepting a signal that you need rest, for example, adds to your creative work in the long run. Listen to your body and mind; feel out what your soul needs and tend to it!
Even when we’re doing the stuff we don't want to do, it’s making space for what we do want to do. Spiritual, creative, and career direction comes from everywhere. Read the room, make a personal case for optimism, and accept what is really going on. Don’t fight it. Think in terms of beauty. Re-frame your circumstance as poetically as possible.
Photos from the archive 🍂
I’ve been rummaging through my archive for weeks in preparation for a new website. Today I’m sharing some favorite photos from what will likely be a lifelong project I’ve always called Looseleaf — which follows a theme of solitude through discarded anythings, and shows affection for that which becomes overlooked in the process of taking a new form.
True miscellanea
🎧 Some good thoughts on habit and ego (skip ahead for minutes 17-38ish) from The Knowledge Project
📜 This is Water, from David Foster Wallace — a commencement speech worth a read
💭 The Subtle Look and Overwhelming Feel of Today’s Misogyny
🎶 Dijon’s new album, Absolutely, has been on repeat this week (think: some wonderful sort of mash of Bon Iver, Frank Ocean, 1975, etc.)
“Over and over, what I thought was the work was a distraction, what I thought was a distraction turned out to be the real work.”
JAMES RICHARDSON