An empty Fortress

We, humans, have essentially created a world similar to a fortress, for all of us as a species, as well as for each one of us, individually. In other words, we have built a world upon the ideal of resistance.

Resistance against the Other.

Resistance against Nature.

Resistance against Change.

Resistance against What Is.

Paradoxically, our psychological resistance against the natural flow of life is the true engine for our evolution as a species, while it also dictates how we should see the world and live our individual lives. Here, I'm not speaking of the innate instinct for self-preservation shared by all living creatures. Instead, I refer to something distinctively human, a notion that has assumed such prominence that it has, in fact, become the cornerstone of our identity and the tint through which we perceive the world. I speak of the concept of resistance—an intruder into our psyche, a parasitic entity sapping our vital energies:

We've elevated resistance to a virtue deserving of admiration. Throughout the annals of time, captivating tales and epic odysseys have been spun around this very idea. We've nurtured it for millennia, until it has become an almost unequivocal part of our lived identity.

But does it need to be so? Has psychological resistance fundamentally resolved anything in our existence?

The Other still remains a stranger.

Nature still has the last word.

Change inevitably occurs.

What is remains as it is.

We've been fooled into believing that psychological resistance was a necessary posture, a natural way of life, when, in truth, it’s but a symptom of a foundational confusion. We fail to discern the obvious:

Resistance against the other generates conflict, isolation.

Resistance against nature generates perversion, monstrosity.

Resistance against change generates fear, anxiety, which excludes us from being able to live life to its fullest, here and now.

Resistance against what is generates suffering.

IMF - January 2024