The Role of Resistance in Reality
Talk summary: In this podcast, Guy Finley presents a new way to look at resistance. Find out how the resistance inherent in our daily lives can either be the source of unnecessary pain, or the source of true revelation.
Talk notes: Even though we do not know we are doing it, most of our time is spent in the futile activity of trying to free ourselves from pain. The pain can take many different forms--the cutting remark someone just said, a sudden memory of a time when you "failed", or the thought of what you have to do today. There seems to be a legion of pains, but the source of every pain is one thing. The pain is produced by a resistance to what the moment has brought to you.
But what is resistance? We have a mistaken belief that we can live in a world in which resistance does not exist. We want to find a world in which we can coast downhill--no bumps, no challenges, no problems.
There is such a thing as natural resistance. It is not an option. No field exists, in any form, without resistance. The key is to realize that the moment in which resistance is met, there immediately appears two distinct paths--the one less traveled, and the one always traveled.
The path always traveled is the path of repetition. On the path of repetition, when we meet a moment that we do not want, the mind presents us with its usual reactions and produces plans by which we think we can escape the pain.
The other path is the path of revelation. The moment of resistance is also the moment of revelation. In this world in which we live, there will always be resistance within the individual. For instance, the physical body itself is in a constant state of resisting gravity.
If you remember yourself, you can have a choice. You can either be present to the revelation and be its witness--as you are meant to be--or you can be the willful individual whose reaction to the moment of resistance produces the repetitious behavior that ensures that you will repeat the same experiences over and over again.
