How do you discern between the natural forces of resistance that show up when we pursue our potential vs. resistance that might come from being out of alignment with the Tao?
Pressfield says "Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”
I think Ram Dass said something like "the lions guarding the temple gates roar louder as you get closer"
When we pursue our potential can be met with challenging events and thoughts... it is tough to know when this "resistance" is coming up because it's something we are meant to endure as part of our highest calling vs. a sign that we're trying to climb the wrong mountain
Moreso natural forces of resistance that are challenging such as the resistance Steven Pressfield describes in the War of Art such as fear, doubt and unforeseen events
I totally know what you are talking about. I think ultimately we all have to build this discernment in ourselves, but one distinction I've noticed is whether something is a one-off experience that is life reflecting a learning opportunity vs. a prolonged sense of discomfort/disenchantment. The latter to me is absolutely an alignment thing. Usually the call is to take both the learning and realign in my experience
That is a great question. I seem to intuitively know when I'm resisting my own happiness (i.e. procrastination), but I'm not sure "resistance" is what we experience when we're out of alignment, because we're not actively misaligning, the way we might resist something in pursuit of something else. Can't wait to hear the answer!
I think inner and outer resistance are two seperate things. Outer resistance / or things not coming together easily, is a call to go inward and see if we are out of tune.
Inner resistance to me is much more indicative of our patterns and an opportunity to see why we are closing our hearts to something. Learning to open the heart to something does not imply we need to keep doing it. There is a separation of inner response and aligned action
Last year I set out to write a novel about a specific social issue that has been bubbling up in American society to the detriment of numerous young people. It felt like the most cathartic form of expression given how intense and life-altering this issue has been for so many, would be a work of fiction. As I researched the issue deeper, and deeper, I hit a depth of realization that this issue is in fact the offspring of a much more all-encompassing, and in some ways more sinister, line of thought that numerous powerful elites subscribe to. And just like that, the story shifted. Metamorphosed into a completely different narrative, a different genre, with different characters.
It never occurred to me to fight it, to insist I continue the path on the original novel I had set out to write. If you want to tell a story that resonates, listen to your characters, to the narrative that wants to be told.
I sense this is along the lines of what you're talking about Scott.
Novel not finished yet, but as soon as it is you'll be one of the first to hear :) There was another entity that needed to be born in recent months and that is The Cacao Muse (which had originally begun as an idea for an Instagram account, and look how it's blossomed!)
My question regarding how accomplishment changes as awareness expands: what does the point of accomplishment become? What are alternate motivating factors? Also - how does the tension between serving others and serving one's self get reframed?
In response to your question: "I would like to write something more substantial about this and am curious what questions people have?"
This is just stream of consciousness -
- When do you pull the weed out of the thought pattern that is blocking you, vs facing it directly and accepting it, and moving past it?
- When you don't have a fear based motivation to achieve, how do you balance a "buddhist mindset" of just accepting things as they are vs creating?
- Your thinkings around - Where is the motivation and continual drive come from if it's not achievement based?
- Who are thought leaders in the space who have achieved/created in this context and what do they say/share about the experience?
- What are your own personal stories, anecdotes shifting between the two? What struggles or areas did you catch yourself falling back into old patters?
- How did your goals / priorities change as you made this shift?
It's still really rough and early, but it's my attempt to explain my experience of some of this in a more overarching framework. I think rather than answer all these one off, I'm going to try and incorporate the as a part of this body of work
Who are thought leaders in the space who have achieved/created in this context and what do they say/share about the experience? - I really like Joe Hudson here https://www.artofaccomplishment.com/
Hi, sorry to butt in. I think there’s a slight but significant misunderstanding here. The “buddhist thinking” of accepting things as they are is NOT the same as being passive or resigned. Creativity and drive for achievement are not opposed to what Scott is outlining; the stance he’s proposing, inspired from taoism and buddhism, is just to step back first to sense the flow of the things, and then act accordingly. Act. Create. In other words, hold still, connect with your intuition, before you act. That’s all.
I definitely have falling into the trap at a point of my journey confusing surrender etc with passiveness. I agree with your characterization here and would also decouple the distinction of moving towards things and how we react. Reactions are where we can see inklings of things like attachments and patterns, but they mostly happen as we move towards things
I think we needn’t think too much about those who seem to be so successful in a life-by-me posture; first, we cannot know how that really feels to them, and then, maybe their success is in fact largely part of the flow of things, and their own efforts are only the visible tip of the iceberg. I like your suggestion very much, and think (in response to some of the questions that were asked here) that there are no recipes and distinctions to rely on when trying to figure out what is what. We simply need to let those doubts, fears, frictions carry on for a while until we get more clarity as to whether they are our own selfmade obstacles / predictable in the nature of things, or whether our course “doesn’t feel right”. The answer I guess is always in the balancing act, not in the hard labels, or bans.
These are great points Zoe. My friend Mark Krassner calls the success without seeing the inner space - counterfeit success. We get shown it all the time in our society.
I do agree that giving something time to unfold without trying to hard to figure it out, usually results in increasingly clarity if we remain open and aware of all the inner and outer signs around us
It’s like starting a business in business school. While you go through the mechanics, it’s not a natural process. Many successful, non-applauded, business owners were professionals in their field before venturing out on their own. Their clients, partners, environment, were literally asking them to start something on their own.
Great call out. So many examples of this. I love when ppl start things because they almost couldn't not start it based on how strong the feedback was coming from around them
This is beautiful; thanks for explaining it so well. I've recently become interested in the power of our vibrational energy, and when I'm feeling out of sorts, I sense that this is when I'm vibrating at a lower, more animal level, versus the higher vibrations of love and authenticity. But it's all words to describe the same message, which is "get out of the way of creation," which made me laugh when I finally got it!
Every time I try to plan or control the outcome of something, I'm interfering in my own happiness. That thought alone brought an immense relief, which told me that I was, in fact, trying WAY too hard to BE the creator, versus listening to what was needed in the universe. Our egos are incredibly persistent, and it's hard to get out of my own way, but when I do, everything starts to happen and fall into place like magic, with threads appearing everywhere. Follow the threads. It's unbelievably beautiful when this happens.
I would appreciate a meditation or morning ritual that helps ground me in "non-interference," if any of your readers (or you) has any suggestions. It's too easy to get away from flow and back into flog.
I know exactly what you re talking about Lorrie. It is indeed, one of life's best secrets when you finally see the bigger picture of how we get in our own way and the goodness of what happens when we start to learn to flow in harmony life.
That is a cool idea re: meditation or ritual. I don't know of any beyond simply the increasing refinement of noticing throughout each day. Maybe I can create a little meditation or something
How do you discern between the natural forces of resistance that show up when we pursue our potential vs. resistance that might come from being out of alignment with the Tao?
Do you mean natural forces of resistance as the type that is helpful? Curious to understand how you are defining this more
Pressfield says "Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.”
I think Ram Dass said something like "the lions guarding the temple gates roar louder as you get closer"
When we pursue our potential can be met with challenging events and thoughts... it is tough to know when this "resistance" is coming up because it's something we are meant to endure as part of our highest calling vs. a sign that we're trying to climb the wrong mountain
Moreso natural forces of resistance that are challenging such as the resistance Steven Pressfield describes in the War of Art such as fear, doubt and unforeseen events
I totally know what you are talking about. I think ultimately we all have to build this discernment in ourselves, but one distinction I've noticed is whether something is a one-off experience that is life reflecting a learning opportunity vs. a prolonged sense of discomfort/disenchantment. The latter to me is absolutely an alignment thing. Usually the call is to take both the learning and realign in my experience
That is a great question. I seem to intuitively know when I'm resisting my own happiness (i.e. procrastination), but I'm not sure "resistance" is what we experience when we're out of alignment, because we're not actively misaligning, the way we might resist something in pursuit of something else. Can't wait to hear the answer!
I think inner and outer resistance are two seperate things. Outer resistance / or things not coming together easily, is a call to go inward and see if we are out of tune.
Inner resistance to me is much more indicative of our patterns and an opportunity to see why we are closing our hearts to something. Learning to open the heart to something does not imply we need to keep doing it. There is a separation of inner response and aligned action
Very curious about this question as well... thanks for asking it!
See above ^
Last year I set out to write a novel about a specific social issue that has been bubbling up in American society to the detriment of numerous young people. It felt like the most cathartic form of expression given how intense and life-altering this issue has been for so many, would be a work of fiction. As I researched the issue deeper, and deeper, I hit a depth of realization that this issue is in fact the offspring of a much more all-encompassing, and in some ways more sinister, line of thought that numerous powerful elites subscribe to. And just like that, the story shifted. Metamorphosed into a completely different narrative, a different genre, with different characters.
It never occurred to me to fight it, to insist I continue the path on the original novel I had set out to write. If you want to tell a story that resonates, listen to your characters, to the narrative that wants to be told.
I sense this is along the lines of what you're talking about Scott.
That's exactly it. What a cool example. Did you end up publishing it? I'm intrigued
Novel not finished yet, but as soon as it is you'll be one of the first to hear :) There was another entity that needed to be born in recent months and that is The Cacao Muse (which had originally begun as an idea for an Instagram account, and look how it's blossomed!)
My question regarding how accomplishment changes as awareness expands: what does the point of accomplishment become? What are alternate motivating factors? Also - how does the tension between serving others and serving one's self get reframed?
Great question Jonny. I actually just wrote this piece that details my perception of this as, as part of a larger framework. You can check it out here if you'd like https://helpthisbook.com/scott-britton/conscious-accomplishment/23503f84-3264-4cb4-93fd-0d44856e6c2d
Thanks!
In response to your question: "I would like to write something more substantial about this and am curious what questions people have?"
This is just stream of consciousness -
- When do you pull the weed out of the thought pattern that is blocking you, vs facing it directly and accepting it, and moving past it?
- When you don't have a fear based motivation to achieve, how do you balance a "buddhist mindset" of just accepting things as they are vs creating?
- Your thinkings around - Where is the motivation and continual drive come from if it's not achievement based?
- Who are thought leaders in the space who have achieved/created in this context and what do they say/share about the experience?
- What are your own personal stories, anecdotes shifting between the two? What struggles or areas did you catch yourself falling back into old patters?
- How did your goals / priorities change as you made this shift?
- Are there scholarly articles on this?
Hey man - this is a meaty set of questions. Thank you for taking the time to share them. I am very much in my own exploration of this. You might find this interesting https://helpthisbook.com/scott-britton/conscious-accomplishment
It's still really rough and early, but it's my attempt to explain my experience of some of this in a more overarching framework. I think rather than answer all these one off, I'm going to try and incorporate the as a part of this body of work
Who are thought leaders in the space who have achieved/created in this context and what do they say/share about the experience? - I really like Joe Hudson here https://www.artofaccomplishment.com/
Hi, sorry to butt in. I think there’s a slight but significant misunderstanding here. The “buddhist thinking” of accepting things as they are is NOT the same as being passive or resigned. Creativity and drive for achievement are not opposed to what Scott is outlining; the stance he’s proposing, inspired from taoism and buddhism, is just to step back first to sense the flow of the things, and then act accordingly. Act. Create. In other words, hold still, connect with your intuition, before you act. That’s all.
I definitely have falling into the trap at a point of my journey confusing surrender etc with passiveness. I agree with your characterization here and would also decouple the distinction of moving towards things and how we react. Reactions are where we can see inklings of things like attachments and patterns, but they mostly happen as we move towards things
I think we needn’t think too much about those who seem to be so successful in a life-by-me posture; first, we cannot know how that really feels to them, and then, maybe their success is in fact largely part of the flow of things, and their own efforts are only the visible tip of the iceberg. I like your suggestion very much, and think (in response to some of the questions that were asked here) that there are no recipes and distinctions to rely on when trying to figure out what is what. We simply need to let those doubts, fears, frictions carry on for a while until we get more clarity as to whether they are our own selfmade obstacles / predictable in the nature of things, or whether our course “doesn’t feel right”. The answer I guess is always in the balancing act, not in the hard labels, or bans.
These are great points Zoe. My friend Mark Krassner calls the success without seeing the inner space - counterfeit success. We get shown it all the time in our society.
I do agree that giving something time to unfold without trying to hard to figure it out, usually results in increasingly clarity if we remain open and aware of all the inner and outer signs around us
It’s like starting a business in business school. While you go through the mechanics, it’s not a natural process. Many successful, non-applauded, business owners were professionals in their field before venturing out on their own. Their clients, partners, environment, were literally asking them to start something on their own.
Great call out. So many examples of this. I love when ppl start things because they almost couldn't not start it based on how strong the feedback was coming from around them
This is beautiful; thanks for explaining it so well. I've recently become interested in the power of our vibrational energy, and when I'm feeling out of sorts, I sense that this is when I'm vibrating at a lower, more animal level, versus the higher vibrations of love and authenticity. But it's all words to describe the same message, which is "get out of the way of creation," which made me laugh when I finally got it!
Every time I try to plan or control the outcome of something, I'm interfering in my own happiness. That thought alone brought an immense relief, which told me that I was, in fact, trying WAY too hard to BE the creator, versus listening to what was needed in the universe. Our egos are incredibly persistent, and it's hard to get out of my own way, but when I do, everything starts to happen and fall into place like magic, with threads appearing everywhere. Follow the threads. It's unbelievably beautiful when this happens.
I would appreciate a meditation or morning ritual that helps ground me in "non-interference," if any of your readers (or you) has any suggestions. It's too easy to get away from flow and back into flog.
I know exactly what you re talking about Lorrie. It is indeed, one of life's best secrets when you finally see the bigger picture of how we get in our own way and the goodness of what happens when we start to learn to flow in harmony life.
That is a cool idea re: meditation or ritual. I don't know of any beyond simply the increasing refinement of noticing throughout each day. Maybe I can create a little meditation or something
Scott, I too am taking an enhanced focus on the Tao this year. We will see where it leads. D
Exciting! It is fun to rest in the uncertainty of it : )