Resolution And Resistance
A “new year” is an arbitrary event in the sense that time and our various demarcations of it (e.g., seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, etc.), are contrivances of convenience rather than natural phenomena. We are, for reasons both rational and irrational, obsessed with time as the register of our lives and the events we have assigned significance.
However, in another sense, if we suppose our existence to have any significance, time is not arbitrary. Its various demarcations are critical in helping us to ascertain progress of any kind, and a new year is symbolically relevant both as an opportunity to revisit past efforts and to scrutinize those alterations that are likely to yield the surest path to the versions of ourselves we should like to be. There is an assumption in this: that we wish to be other than we are and that we always will. As a human being, discontent is our birthright.
The fount of this discontent can be either internal or external, and it is important to differentiate as we resolve to do one thing or another in the new year. As Epictetus wrote in his Discourses,
“The chief task in life is simply this: to identify and separate matters so that I can say clearly to myself which are externals not under my control, and which have to do with the choices I actually control. Where then do I look for good and evil? Not to uncontrollable externals, but within myself to choices that are my own…”
Steven Pressfield wrote in The War of Art that, “Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.” What we are at work on the whole of our lives is the attempt to conquer, according to Pressfield, the Resistance within us. “Resistance,” writes Pressfield, “is the most toxic force on the planet. It is the root of more unhappiness than poverty [and] disease…To yield to Resistance deforms our spirit. It stunts us and makes us less than we were born to be.”
Overcoming or succumbing to this resistance, in Epictetus’ paradigm, is an internal within our control. Pressfield asserts much the same thing: “Resistance seems to come from outside ourselves. We locate it in spouses, jobs, bosses, kids. ‘Peripheral opponents’, as Pat Riley used to say when he coached the Los Angeles Lakers. Resistance is not a peripheral opponent. Resistance arises from within. It is self-generated and self-perpetuated. Resistance is the enemy within.”
Doubtlessly, it is this resistance that defeats so much noble resolve. The resolutions to be fitter, healthier, better read, kinder to those we love, more forgiving, and more conscientious attendees of religious services or the children’s games. Our tendency is to create lists, or what is worse, to forego lists altogether in a kind of premeditated self-defeat. Our lists, if we have them, contain so many of the same resolutions from year to year, and as these lists accumulate the repetition of unaccomplished goals and unfinished projects begins to feel oppressive.
Perhaps a partial explanation for our dissatisfaction is that we are attempting to solve problems with ourselves without changing ourselves. In other words, we suppose that the version of ourselves that has not already done all of the things on our lists will be capable of overcoming the Resistance that is woven into the fiber of our current selves. In a sense, it is more comforting to believe that we will be different if we go to the gym or buy this or that product rather than undertaking the difficult work of self-examination that explains the reasons for our not already having done so.
In a piece by the social commentator Michael Easter headlined, “Don’t Set Goals. Solve Problems,” he asserts that the principal question we ought to ask ourselves in choosing resolutions is, “What problem am I trying to solve?” This sounds simple enough, but his elaboration highlights why many of us experience such difficulty in achieving and sustaining our resolutions.
For example, if we wish to be better read, we ought to ask ourselves two questions. First, why do I want to be better read? Is it because I am dissatisfied with my intellectual acumen in social circles? Is it because I find it inherently enjoyable to read, but haven’t had the “space” for it I once did? Whatever the answer, it is important that you know it because honestly acknowledging it will provide considerable insight into whether it’s legitimately something you want. Second, is it worth what it will take to achieve? Do you have the time or money to achieve this goal? Is it worth the other things you will need to sacrifice in order to achieve it? It is one thing if it means foregoing the trivial, yet addictive, doom scrolling of Instagram reels, but another if it means taking care of a sick relative. Choosing between two noble objectives, proper care of yourself and the compassionate care of another, is fertile ground for psychological tragedy.
Ridgeview, though it has definite resolutions and strategic plans, has always made much of that inscription on the Temple of Apollo: “Know thyself.” Initially, it is believed that to the Greeks this meant to know one’s limits or their place, but through the Platonic dialogues it gained a more expansive meaning: to know one’s soul. To connect this to Resistance and advance to the Romans, Pressfield writes,
“If you believe in God (and I do) you must declare Resistance evil, for it prevents us from achieving the life God intended when He endowed each of us with our own unique genius. Genius is a Latin word; the Romans used it to denote an inner spirit, holy and inviolable, which watches over us, guiding us to our calling. A writer writes with his genius; an artist paints with hers; everyone who creates operates from this sacramental center. It is our soul’s seat, the vessel that holds our being-in-potential, our star’s beacon and Polaris. Every sun casts a shadow, and genius’s shadow is Resistance.”
What I wish for all within our community is not simply better health, more physically attractive or capable bodies, better attendance at games or concerts or reading groups, better grades or higher test scores, but better people; specifically, people living up to their potential, cognizant of the power they have over their lives and mindsets, and more fulfilled in 2024 than they were in 2023.
The Stoic enthusiast and writer Ryan Holiday wrapped up 2023 in The Daily Stoic by quoting from Marcus Aurelius: “Stop wandering about! You aren’t likely to read your own notebooks, or ancient histories, or the anthologies you’ve collected to enjoy in your old age. Get busy with life’s purpose, toss aside empty hopes, get active in your own rescue—if you care for yourself at all—and do it while you can.” The time, whatever our perception of it, is now!
Happy New Year!
D. Anderson
Headmaster