One of my favourite books of all time is "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield.
And one of the most powerful concepts in the book is what he calls "Resistance".
Any time you decide to do anything that will elevate your soul (eg. memorize the Quran, go to the gym, get a masters degree, end world hunger, etc.), "Resistance" kicks in.
If you don't know what Resistance is, or how powerful it is, you stand no chance against it, so here's a heads up…
- Resistance is pure evil - it's like Shaytan, your nafs, the dunya and your lower desires all wrapped up into one soul-destroying package
- Resistance is insidious - it will manipulate you and play you for a fool, using any excuse to keep you from doing your work.
- Resistance will use rationalisation or emotional violence - "It will reason with you like a lawyer or jam a nine millimetre in your face like a stickup man". If you take it at its word, you deserve everything you get.
- Resistance has no conscience - it's like the shark from Jaws or the Terminator. It will stop at nothing to stop you doing your work.
- Resistance is impersonal - it's a force of Nature. It's not out to get you personally. It acts on all of humanity with the indifference of rain. Your purpose, each day, is to overcome it, by doing that which will elevate your soul.
- Resistance is like a compass - it points you to your True North. If you ever doubt your purpose in this world, just notice the thing you feel the most Resistance towards. That is exactly what you're meant to do.
But just because you feel Resistance, doesn't mean Resistance wins.
You can beat Resistance.
Just take a deep breath, put your trust in the Divine, say 'Bismillah'
Courtesy- Mamoon Yusaf
