“Most of us have two lives. The life we live and the unlived life within us. Between the two lies Resistance.”
Steven Pressfield knocks IT out of the park in his revolutionary book : “The War of Art”. If you haven’t picked this up yet- well it’s time that you did! It is EPIC. A short read, compact, Yet packing super adrenaline laced power in it’s 163 pages that overflow with pure, inspiring, motivating, creative truths! Clearly Pressfield knows what he is talking about and lucky for us decided to write it down and share it with the world!
Any creative who has not read this art Bible is cheating themselves, because the core message gives us art people the mental tools we need in order to combat, maim, and ultimately kill RESISTANCE! Only then will you be able to pursue your dream, your “Vein of Gold” – as Julia Cameron, author of another artist Bible “The Artists Way”, defines it, in spite of the naysayers, the threats, the enemies of distraction and procrastination attempting to thwart your passion, your path, your power.
DONT. ALLOW. IT.
Pressfield lays it out so clear, so concise, so real. He has lived it, learned it, earned it, and loves it. You will read this book many times, until you get it and then you will read it again just to confirm and inject some needed art plasma into your vein. Of Gold.
Right now I am reading a wonderful memoir by Fernade Olivier, in which she describes her relationship with Picasso, in their early twenties, in Paris, painting in his hole-in-the-wall studio, known now as the Famous Chateau Lavoir, freezing and burning, in Monmartre during the early 1900’s. Talk about resistance! It was an ongoing challenge he fought 24/7 /365! Painting while starving and just barely managing to survive.
For the artist this is an eternal, persisting life story. Whether it be surviving the environment, social 
condemnation, or internal resistance, there will always be some challenge to overcome. The more invasive the artists resistance is, the less he or she paints, dances, writes, photographs, acts, composes! This for the artist can be lethal. Pressman describes this hideous conflict in his book of knowledge, and crystallizes the absolute necessity to detect, defuse, and destroy!
Many artists died by their own hand, while drawn into the abyss of other temptations, gazing into the prism of fame from a distance, the challenge is often to great to overcome and continue to create.
Because it’s NOT an easy path, yet sooooo rewarding in ways that the 9-5’ers can not, will not understand. So it’s cool beyond belief. If you have the Steven Pressman mojo helping you fuel your drive and keep you going, in spite of walls, mountains, waves attempting to obstruct your momentum and prevent you from the personal success and satisfaction that is your destiny!
This is crucial fuel in the Artist Arsenal of dynamite necessary for our propulsion into that exciting world where creativity and resistance are the ying and yang, the oil and water, the yes and no, the dark and light. Resistance does NOT work.
Stephen Pressfield says it best:
” The Enemy is a very good teacher” Artists need to make friends with this enemy, learn from it, and prosper!”
The artist produces from that mystical source where nothing is real, making it real, by producing the form in real time on canvas, stage, paper, or thru instrument.
Strawberry Fields, is a small tranquil place in Central Park directly across the street from the Dakota , the residence where John & Yoko lived before he was assassinated by a crazy fan in December 1984 Is one of the most popular tourist destinations in NYC, it is a strange combination of the old and the new where musicians strum guitars to the beat of vintage Lennon, kids take photos at the “Imagine” plaque, and old hippies, aka baby boomers, relax on benches, observing the scene, as they reminisce of latter days, where they partied, made love, danced, and dreamed to The Beatles infinite musical repertoire.
It’s a cool place to visit now, yet also a sad place, because it has become a shrine to a man who was killed because of his talent, his fame, his celebrity, which made him loved by many, hated by many, the object of envy, and a target for the crazies. The dark side of fame. And it is. The artist is creating protected, as a lone wolf, obscure and free, until he is discovered. Then everything changes. Fame becomes the enemy, the friend, the desired, the despicable. “Be careful what you wish for.” The artist then becomes a victim of the world, the society out there whose love he craved, whose admiration he dreamed of, can become the vampire draining his life’s blood. How to know?
John was way too open and trusting as he and Yoko hung out in Central Park, strolled CPW, treating NYC as their new best friend. Yoko is still a resident at the famed Dakota! They had a love affair with NYC. How could they ever think it would be the city that destroyed his life by the act of a random fan ? They couldn’t. But it wouldn’t have changed a thing. He was still the John of Strawberry Fields Forever, Imagine, Lucy in the Sky, the White Album, and so many more, a cornucopia of music, giving the world new musical vistas for eternity!
Art IS forever. The artist is the venue, the tool, the channel. But the Source from where this gift originates is so much more. The inspiration, or as writer Julia Cameron describes it – the “Vein of Gold”. This is why Van Gogh could keep on spilling his paint on undiscovered canvases hidden for many years after his premature death, why Picasso could create while freezing or burning in the squalor of Bateau Lavoir, why “Le Dounier” – Rousseau could paint while being mocked as an object of ridicule while toiling days as a lowly clerk, why Modigliani could paint masterpieces, while wasting away from illness in his Paris Garret studio, that are now being auctioned at Sotheby’s for over 100 Million !
That Vein of Gold is a powerful lifeline to the artists creative source nourishing and providing an infinite abundance of wealth! John was struck down, and yet his Central Park Mecca remains 35 years later a place where he is very alive!
Gatekeeper: a human who controls Access to something, like a city gate. But according to Webster the term is also used metaphorically, referring to people who decide whether a given message will be distributed by a mass medium. Like the internet for example.
Your personal Gatekeeper stands alert aware and on guard, to any threat attempting to thwart your creative destiny. Don’t be a sitting duck waiting for the avalanche of naysayers, doubters, and haters praying for you to fail, give up, join the herd, and ride the train into oblivion with those who just don’t GET IT.
You can be your own Gatekeeper. Letting in who you want and banning those you don’t. Those who agree are IN. Those who don’t DON’T matter.
How we think about our art gives our personal Gate Keeper power. It can tear it down or build it up. Like the Gatekeepers who serve computers, there purpose is to keep out the hacker, the virus, the poison, and so do we, if we choose, share that purpose, continuing on our creative path preserving and protecting our chosen work.
So, being a Gatekeeper is serious. It allows you to continue on your artistic journey, keeping out the naysayers, the doubters, and the egomaniacs who can only relate legitimate work to dollars, popularity, and prestige.
From an Arab proverb: