Monday, February 21, 2022

 

Counter Resistance
"Thought is so cunning, so clever, that it distorts everything for its own convenience."
― Krishnamurti
Resistance is responsible for most failure in manifestation work. But what is resistance?
Resistance is dissonance in your will. Just as the subconscious pares down your manifestation statement to your most primitive desire, manifesting your purest will and focus - resistance seeks to over-complicate, distort, and ultimately sabotage it.
There are many types and causes of resistance but the most common kind we experience in magic is Counter Resistance.
Counter Resistance stems from thought conditioning; negative thought-patterns that have been ingrained in you since childhood. Doubt, fear, and insecurity, to name a few.
Counter Resistance is sparked by desire; as soon as you want something to happen, resistance against it is triggered. Immediately your mind will seek to expose the holes in your will and may even try to talk you out of it completely.
Casual Counter Resistance happens every day, with and without your awareness.
An easy way to understand this type of resistance is to imagine a force within you called the "Editor".
The Editor is the part of your mind that is essentially an underwriter, a 'devil's advocate' within your psyche that exists to protect you from harm. The Editor will instinctively counter every idea you have, attempting to moderate it. Self-doubt, second-guessing, insecurity, and fear are all tools the Editor uses to create Counter Resistance.
You: I want to throw a big party
The Editor: But what if no one comes? Throw a small one instead.
The Editor will automatically rewrite every idea you have - making it safer, more PC, easier to accomplish - to protect you. It may tell you that what you want is impossible, dangerous, or to "take things slowly". It's the nagging voice in your head listing off all the reasons you might fail and - most insidiously for magicians - seducing you into thinking that compromising your vision will prevent failure.
Because the Editor is a "knee-jerk" reaction emblazoned into our psyche since childhood, it cannot be silenced. You can't prevent the Editor from doing its work any more than you can prevent your heart from beating - you can only recognize it as its happening.
In life, the Editor is often an advantage, a tool of self-preservation sending up legitimate red flags when necessary to prevent harm. In magic, where resolute will is key to effective manifestation, the Editor becomes a hindrance, creating Counter Resistance, sabotaging our magic.
If your Editor is eating away at your desire, casting doubt, persuading you to scale down, postpone, or causing you to second-guess your abilities, your will become less and less resolute, your manifestation statements more and more conservative, and your magic will fail.
Thankfully you can learn to recognize and mediate the Editor's influence:
1) Learn to recognize your Editor's voice. Do you find yourself doubting your abilities, wanting to scale down, or postpone your magic?
2) Learn to separate legitimate red flags from automated conditional responses: are they worthy of deeper consideration or just mindless conservatism?
3) Once the Editor's flags have been assessed and neutralized, double-down on your manifestation statement