The War of Art 2

I may add more quotes as this book impresses me with its incisiveness. Here is another quote:

As artists and professionals it is our obligation to enact our own internal revolution, a private insurrection inside our own skulls. In this uprising we free ourselves from the tyranny of consumer culture. We overthrow the programming of advertising,movies, video games, magazines, TV, and MTV by which we have been hypnotized from the cradle. We unplug ourselves from the grid be recognizing that we will never cure our restlessness by contributing our disposable income to the bottom line of Bullshit, Inc. , buy only by doing our work.

Go Pressfield! His words are inspiring, creative, and so darn forceful without being bleak. It piques my interest to think about how strongly someone can rail against Consumer culture and yet inspire you to be something different. I think more people that can speak and write like this are needed right now, in this very day in which our insane driving and buying and wasting brings us down, and yet the connection people share is as strong as ever. This hope for the change of our world may be important, yet hope may keep us from simply doing that thing that is unthinkably different.

The War of Art

I've been browsing through, (it's quite an easy read) this book by Steven Pressfield called The War of Art- Winning the Inner Creative Battle. It has been quite inspiring to react against what Pressfield labels as Resistance, with a capital R. Much of what he says makes sense, and he makes his point in one page per idea. It makes for a fun read. Here was the quote that struck me most so far:

Depression and anxiety may be real. But they can also be Resistance. When we drug ourselves to blot out our soul's call, we are being good Americans. We're doing exactly what TV commericals and pop materialist culture have been brainwashing us to do from birth. Instead of applying self-knowledge, self-discipline, delayed gratification, and hard work, we simply consume a product. Many pedestrians have been maimed or killed at the intersectin of Resistance and Commerce...

This witful and somewhat scathing remark tells me that not only is Resistance futile in Consumer Culture, but that Resistance may just be the Devil.

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