Steven Pressfi

eld

Do Th

e Work!

32

2 MIDDLE

The Universe Is Not Indiff

erent

I blame Communism. I blame Fascism. I blame psychotherapy. Th

ey—and a boatload of other well-intentioned ideologies that

evolved during the mass-culture, industrialized, dehumanizing epoch of the late 19th and early 20th centuries—all posited the same fantasy. Th

ey all preached that human nature was perfect-

ible and that, thereby, evil could be overcome.

It can’t.

When you and I set out to create anything—art, commerce, sci-ence, love—or to advance in the direction of a higher, nobler version of ourselves, we uncork from the universe, ineluctably, an equal and opposite reaction. Th

at reaction is Resistance. Resistance is an active, intelligent,

protean, malign force—tireless, relentless, and inextinguish-able—whose sole object is to stop us from becoming our best selves and from achieving our higher goals.

Th

e universe is not indiff

erent. It is

actively hostile.