The War of Art - Book Review #1
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles
By Steven Pressfield
Published in 2002
What I Found Interesting
Rereading a good book is better than reading many books.
You know it’s a book worth rereading when on almost every page you stop to underline a sentence.
The War of Art is one of those books.
I was skeptical at first because Pressfield breaks the book up into short (sometimes one page) chapters which explain the difficulties of the artist’s pursuit. Usually, people don’t learn from uber-distilled lessons. People learn from stories, just as we always have. Stories are relatable; bullet points are not.
But if the bullet points are truthful, then they do become memorable because you already know them. By living you are connected to truth. The best teachers (or authors) simply nudge us to remember what we already know.
So while The War of Art didn’t teach any novel lessons, it did reaffirm some floating thoughts I had:
Battle your demons or accept the fact that your life will be a shell of what it could have been. Pressfield labels everything that keeps you from doing the work as “resistance”. That is the enemy.
You can’t do it for others. Status and accolades mean nothing. You do it because if you don’t, a part of you will die. And it’s probably the most important part of you.
It’s not easy. You are figuratively (or sometimes literally) leaving the tribe which is exactly what evolution has programmed you NOT to do.
Leaving the tribe also means your previous tribe members will treat you differently. They want to see you do well, but not better than them. Showing you have control over your demons challenges others to think, “why can’t I do that too?”
Do the work.
And the work.
Oh, and if you don’t do the work, you betray not only yourself but the world (Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged centers around this concept).
What I Don’t Understand (Yet)
Christians believe that because humans were created in the likeness of God (the creator), they are also called to create. Pressfield acknowledges this and makes a point of stating his belief in God relatively quickly (page 3).
Later in the book however, he spends considerable time explaining the Muse and his prayer to her (the Invocation of the Muse from Homer’s Odyssey, translated by T. E. Lawrence) which he says every time before he writes.
I don’t understand (yet) how someone can believe in God, as the one true God, but also give offerings (prayer) to pagan deities. The muses are, after all, children of Zeus. Wouldn’t that break the first commandment?
While Pressfield writes about angels and devils, he refers to the force that stops us from creating as “resistance”, and the force that helps us to create as the muse. Perhaps he thought that if he wrote in a stronger religious tone he would lose market share.
That seems plausible, but I shouldn’t speculate. I’ll shoot him an email.
Favorite Quotes
“Individuals who are realized in their own lives almost never criticize others. If they speak at all, it is to offer encouragement.”
“The paradox seems to be, as Socrates demonstrated long ago, that the truly free individual is only free to the extent of his own self-mastery. While those who will not govern themselves are condemned to find masters to govern over them.”
Note: Freedom is anything but free. What are you willing to sacrifice for it?
“The opposite of love isn’t hate; it’s indifference.”
“The artist committing himself to his calling has volunteered for hell, whether he knows it or not. He will be dining for the duration on a diet of isolation, rejection, self-doubt, despair, ridicule, contempt, and humiliation.”
“Nothing is as empowering as real-world validation, even if it’s for failure.”
“If I was the last person on earth, would I still do it?”
Note: Voltaire said to judge a man by his questions rather than answers. This is a great question that could save you from wasting time and effort. When I travel and am faced with millions of interesting side-quests, I ask myself, “Would I still do this if I couldn’t tell anyone else about it?”. One more: “If I knew I was going to fail, would I still do this?”. Thank you Tim Ferris for that last one.
“We must do our work for its own sake, not for fortune or attention or applause.”
Note: This idea was the basis for my first short essay.
Final Thoughts
Ahhhh. A quick read free of fluff and stupidity. How refreshing.
Buy it here and keep your highlighter handy.*
*This post contains affiliate links which means I get a kickback if you buy the book through the link. It comes at no extra cost to you. This is how I finance my quest for learning.
