The Principle of Resistance

Something in the human heart leaps to life and action when it hears these words, “You cannot!” A spark ignites a primitive aspect of our nature that resists the perceived attitude of condescension and denial of freedom to do and to be as we please.

For within the human heart there lives an image of what we can be and do. This is the urge to liberty, the primal need for freedom of thought, action, movement, and expression. This is the Revolutionary Spirit.

This innate urge resists any attitude that denies the complete and overall freedom it requires to be that person we believe ourselves to be within, or to become, given the opportunity. There is much necessity for this spirit of resistance, for there are many voices that tell us, “You cannot achieve your goals, fulfill your destiny, realize your dreams! You cannot, I tell you.”

But the smoldering human spirit, quiet when left alone, defies the experts and pundits and the advantaged. “I can! And I will!” it says, sometimes with quiet defiance, sometimes in a loud audible voice ornamented with blood and sacrifice.

The tyrants who believe they are divinely appointed to rule their world, big or small, say, “You cannot defeat me and be free.” But the quiet spirit of contentment is quickly displaced by the inner voice that responds, “I can topple you!”

So went the experience of the parent who wished to restrain the teenager. And so goes the experience of the economically advantaged, of spouses in marriage, of teachers, of religious and political leaders, of cults and communities and cultures that wittingly or not seek to restrain the spirit of human creativity and evolution.

Freedom cannot be contained nor restrained.
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