The War of Art -Steven Pressfield

"Only you can do your work. It has nothing to do with anyone else."

This book is for you if you:

• Have ever felt that creative spark
• Are interested in the creative process
• Have ever experienced writer's block
• Need some motivation to do work

The War of Art is geared toward writers. Steven Pressfield is an excellent author that has composed fantastic novels such as: The Gates of Fire and Tides of War. He is exceedingly knowledgeable in the area of Spartan society, which is what turned me on to him in the first place. After reading Gates of Fire, I stumbled onto this wonderful little book that could almost pass for a pamphlet. Although writing is the focus of the book, the process that is put forth is easily applicable across most facets of life that have to do with just getting something done. 

Overview

The book is separated into three sections:

1. Resistance
2. Combating Resistance
3. Beyond Resistance

1. This section is dedicated to outlining this idea that Pressfield has deemed "Resistance." There is no better way to explain this idea than use a quote straight from the author himself:

"Resistance is that thing that keeps us from being the person we are meant to be; the thing that stands between the person we dream of being and the person that we really are."

Resistance is this ethereal idea that there is a force of nature, not unlike gravity, that keeps you from fulfilling your true potential and accomplishing those things that you want to accomplish. It is the thing that makes you want to watch ESPN instead of writing that article that you wanted to get done or forget yourself in Facebook in the time that would be better used by studying.

This is a very important concept to grasp because it allows you to begin spotting when Resistance is trying to affect you. Upon completing this section of the book, you are well prepared to identify when the Resistance is rising and learn to quickly squash it and accomplish your goals. Understanding this concept is essential to moving forward in the book.

2. Combating Resistance is the action step of the sequence. Pressfield defines the skill of suppressing the Resistance as "turning pro." With that, here is a quote that embodies the section:

"There's no mystery to turning pro. It's a decision brought on by an act of will. We make up our mind to view ourselves as pros and we do it. Simple as that."

This is the most difficult part of the process. This is no surprise, for any intelligent person can formulate an idea. It is putting that idea into action that separates the great men from the ordinary men. The ironic thing is that it is the most straight-forward and simple parts to do because all you have to do is just that, do it. Build some character and force yourself, through pure will, to just do what you know is necessary. For us writers, it is sitting down in front of the keyboard or taking the journal out to a park and putting pen to paper. The magic is in the doing, simple as that. 

Decide today that you are going to put in the work. Everything that you desire will follow that, guaranteed. 

3. In the final section of the book, Pressfield attempts to search and identify the deeper reason that this Resistance and the forces that oppose it exists. He believes that all creativity comes from the Muse. This is the section that I consider superfluous. To attest to this belief, here is a quote straight from the author's pen: 

"Before I sit down to work, I'll take a minute and show respect to this unseen Power who can make or break me."

I am not entirely convinced of the Muse existing. However, there is absolutely some kind of overlying consciousness that all of us humans just tap into. Call it the Muse, or Gaia, or God, that is up to you. Albert Einstein subscribed to the latter:

"I believe in Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fates and actions of human beings."

By orderly harmony of things, Einstein is referring to the thing that makes everything fall in place like it has. The thing that has shaped this Universe in the manner that it has been shaped. That same Shaper is what we humans tap into when we strive to do something creative. The glimpse of creativity provides just a small portion of that greater consciousness. I know it sounds hippie, but its just plain true. 

Here is a great short interview outlining why Pressfield wrote this book!

It took me roughly two hours to blow through this book, so it is easy for me to say that the knowledge gained is well worth the time. I gained some great information, but some even greater motivation. Once I realized that all that needed to be done to work toward my dream is just sit down and write, things became exponentially clearer and easier. 

To close, a concise and well aimed quote should do the trick: 

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, magic , and power in it. Begin it now." -Goethe

Awakening to Your Life's Purpose -Eckhart Tolle

"In the background, there is the awareness. In the foreground there is the voice, the thinker. You are not that voice but the one who is aware of it." 

Awakening to Your Life's Purpose is a book that would not have made my Amazon wish list solely from my own research. A good friend of mine suggested it and claimed that it made her see the world in a different light. Any work of art-especially books- that have the power to expand my perspective are of great interest to me; once I found that this was one of those things, it did not take much to convince me to dive right in. The title and general air of the book are a bit on the hippie side, so I was apprehensive at first. But, I made a pact with myself to read with an open mind and not make a judgement on the content until I understood it thoroughly. Upon reaching this point, I can make the decision about whether to assimilate the information into my paradigm and way of living or not. With that being said, I read this book searching for truth; I was not disappointed.

The real goal of Awakening to Your Life's Purpose is to give the reader the tools that it takes to really find out who he/she is at the core. It addresses many of life's greatest questions, such as:

• Who am I? 
• How do I know who I am? 
• What is this thing we call life? 
• How do I cope with existence and make the most of it? 
• and many more.

A quote to introduce the main idea of the book: 

"Most people are still completely identified with the incessant stream of mind, of compulsive thinking, most of which is repetitive and pointless."

The main premise of the book is the idea that to find happiness and figure out how to truly live in the Present, one must become aware of the ego. Tolle spends a large amount of the book defining what the ego is; one of its main components is the "incessant stream of mind" mentioned in the above quote. His idea is that you can become aware of the stream of thoughts that compose your mind and that awareness provides a sort of separation between the mind and the true self. Tolle goes on to define the thing that is aware of the ego-self as the thing that we truly are. We are the awareness that perceives the content that fills our head every day.

The remainder of the book is mostly further definitions of separate components of the ego and the repercussions of  becoming conscious of the awareness that has the ability to shape, and minimize, the ego. The latter part becomes very important; Tolle identifies this as the "path to enlightenment." Many of the teachings in this book align very closely with Buddhism, but the author often uses Jesus and his teachings to convey his ideas.

Ultimately, Eckhart Tolle hopes that his ideas will be propagated and used throughout humanity. His backing by Oprah has helped that to begin, but that is far from the current situation. I just learned of him   two weeks ago. What he calls this mass osmosis of consciousness is A New Earth. He believes that if everyone adopts this way of living, the world as we know it would experience a shift toward peace, unity, awareness and happiness. After reading the book and attempting to apply the principles contained within, I am inclined to believe him. 

Here is an interview with Tolle that gives a good peak at the main premise of the book:

The odd thing about this book for me personally is that many of the ideas that it conveys are ones that have been bouncing around my head for a while now. Eckhart Tolle managed to polish those ideas up and then present them in a clear and concise manner. It is evident that he has spent much of his life contemplating consciousness and he has managed to develop a system that has the potential to bring about his idea of A New Earth. My wish is to do my part in aiding to spread these ideas and encourage the reading of Tolle's book. Any small step toward enlightenment is worth even the greatest struggle to attain. Applying the principles in this book to your life has the potential not just to be a small step toward enlightenment, but a great stride.