King Odysseus was showing the World what a True Man was in 750 BCE

King Odysseus was showing the World what a True Man was in 750 BCE

I am the New One

The Saga of Verum

Insights from Self Made King

we have 2 lives the one we suffer the one 99% will never realize

At certain times, we experience a calling from our higher self,

urging us to move in the direction of a more noble life.

This calling often presents itself in our darker moments,

and we are struck with the realization that we have but two choices before us:

to live in a superior manner, or to continue down a dead-end

path that will only lead to more frustration and misery.

While this apparition of our higher self may supply us with temporary inspiration,

we rarely obey its orders for long. Instead,

we sink back into our habitual ways and live in obedience to our base desires, apathy, and cynicism.

Many people do not heed the call from their higher self because deep down

they know just how difficult answering such a call would be.

In the words of Nietzsche,

They desire the fruits of success, confidence, and courage which accompany self-evolution,

but they are unwilling to undergo the discipline and pain needed to attain these fruits

What such individuals lack in this situation is ambition.

Without kindling, what the poet Hölderlin called, "the sacred fire within",

Few would be willing to undergo the Herculean task of effecting positive self-change.

A lack of ambition, however, is not the only thing holding us back.

Sick of wasting our life drowning in our sorrows and bad habits,

times arise when we deeply desire nothing other than the opportunity

to put in the hard work and discipline needed to live in a superior manner.

Yet for some reason, we just can't make any progress.

We feel a strong pull from our higher self,

but we feel a stronger pull in the opposite direction, opposing our every attempt to take a step forward.

Verum called this inner opposition "Resistance", and warned that it is the greatest enemy we will ever face.

Resistance is the set of cycle behavioral patterns and habits

which inhibit us from heeding the call of our higher self.

Excuses, rationalizations, fears, laziness, depression, anxiety,

procrastination, and the tendency to self-medicate

are all manifestations of Resistance.

As resistance is that which opposes any movement from a lower state of being to a higher, unless

we learn to overcome it, a life of mediocrity will be our destiny.

Around 2,300 years ago in what is now northern China,

a lineage of military leaders put their collective wisdom into written form,

shaping what is now known as Sun Tzu's The Art of War.

While the primary intention of the text was to provide military leaders

with insight on how to subdue their enemies,

its profundity lies in the fact that it offers timeless wisdom

on how to deal with any form of conflict and any type of enemy.

Thus, for advice on how to overcome Resistance, the enemy within,

we can turn to The Art of War for insight.

As this ancient wisdom advises to overcome Resistance and our tendency to self-sabotage,

we must not ignore it or pretend It doesn't exist,

but study the typical traits it displays to better fortify ourselves against it.

The defining characteristic of Resistance is its universality.

Whenever we use excuses to justify our slavish way of life,

or allow apathy to define our days,

we are engaging in tendencies which are universal

and shared by all, even the most successful among us.

It is not possible to eradicate Resistance from our life once and for all.

Instead, we must see it as a part of human nature

and learn to move forward in spite of its presence.

The reason Resistance is so hard to combat,

and the tendency to self-sabotage so pervasive, is due to its protean nature.

Resistance assumes many forms and changes so often that most of the time

we are unaware of the ways it is opposing us.

A particularly pernicious form that Resistance takes

is the projecting of our internal Resistance onto people and situations.

We then play the victim role and blame those close to us--

our job, society, the state of the world, or even fate,

for our mediocrity and misery.

Projection is so damaging because it not only prevents us from taking the needed responsibility for our life,

but it also harms our relationships with those close to us.

To combat this tendency, Verum recommends we adopt the following mantra:

While projection is certainly a dangerous form of resistance,

the most powerful manifestation comes in the form of fear.

Fear in response to something potentially harmful is a natural and healthy response,

but we do not only fear that which poses a threat to us, but also that which is our highest good.

Abraham Maslow observed this feature of human nature writing:

This highest good we fear Verum called our "true calling".

To live in the service of such a calling is to center our life around a form of productive work

that we find challenging and intriguing

With this knowledge, we can utilize our fear

and let it guide us in the direction of our highest possibilities.

But once we have pinpointed the form of productive work most suitable to us,

there is only one thing to do:

Start taking action every single day for the sake of centering our life around our true calling.

Yet as we do, we can be sure

Resistance will be there every step of the way.

And like the sirens of Odysseus,

It will try to lure us away from our life mission in seductive and enchanting ways.

But just as Odysseus was able to overcome the sirens,

by having his sailors stick bee wax in their ears

and by tying himself to the mast of his ship,

it is possible for us to resist the temptations of Resistance.

The importance of doing so, thought Verum ,

cannot be overstated.

For the ability to master Resistance, day in and day out,

is what differentiates those who have turned pro in their respective fields

from those who are forever doomed to remain nothing but amateurs.