“From the Ancient Wisdoms to Quantum Physics,
It's All About the Energy!”
When Is Resistance Not Resistance?©
Dennis L. Dossett
(All Rights Reserved)
Traditionally, the month of January is named after Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, and endings. His functions are very similar to those of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, rebirth, transformation, and change. These are the essential components and processes of life itself. Shiva is often portrayed as a dancer, which is why the covers of my three Dancing with the Energy books display an image of Shiva blending with the vast infinity of the Cosmos as he dances his way through space, time, and the human experience. But Janus has additional lessons for the human species that are not typically conveyed.
Janus is usually depicted as having two faces, since he looks both to the future and to the past. But in ancient Rome 2,000 years ago, Ianus Bifrons (“Two-faced Janus” in Latin) had a somewhat different connotation than he does today. Today we often think of someone who is “two-faced” as a liar, a traitor, or perhaps a “con man” at best, and that sense has even more relevance in the 21st century.
A major component of Conscious Living (the subtitle and substance of my books) is that of Allowing all of one’s life energies to flow freely, unhindered, in order to bring them into Balance and ultimately Alignment with one’s Higher Self. Allowing has many different aspects, but the opposite of allowing is essentially resistance, and that is where Janus comes in. You see, Resistance is Janus. It is the primary mechanism used by the Lower Self to prevent you from raising your vibration (a.k.a. soul evolution). Oh, and by the way, it is also the primary mechanism preventing you from improving the quality of your life in the material world as well!
So, why is resistance the Janus of Conscious Living? Because the word itself is a contranym, its own opposite when it comes to Conscious Living. In other words, “When Is Resistance Not Resistance?” Let’s examine this question by illustrating the conflict (or is it distinction?).
Resistance, as defined above, is the primary mechanism used by the Lower Self to prevent you from raising your vibration and improving the quality of your life on all levels (including material). It refers to not allowing the natural flow of your life energies necessary to achieve balance and alignment. In this sense, resistance of any kind is definitely detrimental to raising one’s vibration (a.k.a. soul evolution) as indicated both by Abraham (channeled by Esther Hicks) and Maitreya (channeled by Margaret McElroy). Thus, resistance is counterproductive and to be avoided if at all possible.
But what about resistance to injustice, unfairness, evil, etc.? Surely resistance in this sense cannot be all bad. Indeed, the concept of resistance became the fundamental basis of Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent resistance movement beginning in 1914 in South Africa and culminating in India’s independence from Great Britain in 1947. In the United States, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was inspired to adopt Gandhi’s nonviolence and civil disobedience tactics as he spearheaded the struggle for civil rights in the 1960s. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 were passed in large part due to the efforts of King and his Southern Christian Leadership Conference of which he was a founder and first President. Following King’s assassination in 1968, the nonviolent protests of his followers eventually led to the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Acts of 1968. So much resistance ... and all for an ostensibly good cause that most people today would regard as being in alignment with Higher Self. How can that have been bad? So, “When is Resistance Not Resistance?”
Fifty-plus years later the struggle for civil rights in the United States continues. Following decades of charges of “police brutality” leveled most often by the African-American community and other ethnic groups, George Floyd was killed by a police officer who knelt on his neck for over eight minutes. This event (May 25, 2020) was one of the most egregious killings by police officers in the United States and resulted in “Black Lives Matter” protests against police brutality across the country and even around the world. Most of them began as non-violent efforts, but many of them quickly mutated into armed conflict between police and protestors. It wasn’t the first time that this occurred, but the breadth and strength of the outcry around the world highlighted the frustrations of millions regarding the record of civil rights in name but not in action. In addition, much of the violence appears to have been perpetrated by white supremacist and anarchist groups bent on creating havoc, division, and otherwise twisting a peaceful protest to their own sordid objectives. In these contemporary cases, what is resistance? Is it to be avoided or nurtured? How does one tell the difference? This is why resistance is the Janus of Conscious Living, the process of learning to be the Master of your life rather than being mastered by life.
So much for the “big” stuff of national independence, human rights, etc. How does resistance play out in the “little” stuff of everyday life? The Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung (1875-1961), taught that “what you resist persists.” In other words, the more you resist anything in life, the more you bring it into your experience. That is a succinct statement of one major aspect of what we now call the “Law of Attraction” in the metaphysical and self-development communities.
Some readers of this blog may be familiar with the term “monkey mind” which refers to the seeming human inability to not think about a particular thing; it just doesn’t work! What you give your attention to expands in your life. While Quantum Physics doesn’t “prove” this to be true, the results of countless experimental replications definitely “support an interpretation consistent with” this now rather common metaphysical teaching. So, what you resist does indeed persist, and that is often a “bad” thing.
And what about astronauts orbiting the earth for months (and soon even years) at a time? Their muscles begin to deteriorate in strength and endurance more quickly than on earth because their bodies are weightless; they don’t have to resist the force of gravity in order to move. Instead, astronauts have to maintain a regular program of resistance training to stay physically fit. Another extreme example, you say? Hey, ask any older person on earth who isn’t aware of the need to “move it or lose it!” Resistance is a “good” thing, right?
But here’s the rub: not only does trying to resist thinking about monkeys only bring more frequent and more intense thoughts about monkeys, but also placing your attention (primarily thoughts) on what you desire actually increases the likelihood that it will manifest in your life. Thinking only about monkeys maybe not be “bad,” but it is usually undesirable. However, I can’t think of a single person who would suggest that increasing the likelihood of something you want is not a “good” thing! Is one resistance while the other is not? It certainly seems so. Put another way, “When is Resistance Not Resistance?”
I have discussed the answer to this Janus conundrum, resistance, in previous blogs (for example, Going with the Flow, GROW with the Flow, and most recently in Do You React or Respond? You simply cannot untangle the puzzle using word definitions and logic; it isn’t about that at all. Instead, it is all about human emotions and learning to detach from all negative emotions before acting. Maitreya says that we are here to detach from the emotional body. In other words, we are here on the earth plane to learn not to be ruled by our emotions but to become the Master of our lives. Note that this automatically puts our life energies in alignment with Higher Self.
• “It is the emotional body which the [lower] Self hangs on to, holding on to the fear, doubt, jealousy, anger, greed, etc.” ~ Maitreya (Newsletter #201, July 18, 2007)
A contemporary example is wearing a mask during the pandemic. I have heard both sides vehemently arguing their opinion whether or not to do so in tones of righteous indignation. In this instance both sides are resisting because neither one is aligned with Higher Self. Apply this standard to current politicians, well-meaning protesters of many issues, etc. and you develop a pretty good sense of why societies around the world are in such a mess. Until we, as individuals, begin to choose our actions based on the highest good for all (Conscious Living), we cannot expect our respective cultures to be any different.
• “You have your hand on the switch. You are the allower or the resister. And your emotions tell you which you’re doing right now. It’s easy once you understand the formula: When you feel good [uplifted, positive, expansive], you’re allowing good. When you don’t feel good, you are not allowing good.” ~ Abraham (Ashland, OR, July 20, 2002)
To put it all very simply, be very careful with resistance. Resist by standing for an alternative that is positive, uplifting, and avoid resisting against anything. That way you will always be in Alignment with Higher Self. You might be surprised at just how much better that works in the long run.
Happy New Year!
Dennis