Resistance Roots

To stand back,

 remain standing anywhere;

 to stand still, halt, stop, stay;

 to stay behind, remain, continue

Resistance is one of those words that is not originally English. English brought the word “resistance” into usage from Latin through French in the 1300’s as a word that stood for moral or political opposition.

I’ve printed above, beneath the title, the various meanings of the Latin word resistere. It is itself a compound of two Latin words that mean “to stand” and “again, or back.” Resisting is about stopping something.  It is about standing back and assessing what is going on.  It is about taking a stance in view of that assessment. It is about  continuing a position that is in danger of being lost or never coming to light. It can, therefore, take a number of positions in a number of time frames.  

Resistance can be about standing behind something that has been in place and is in danger of being lost to the present-past.  Resistance can be about standing behind something that is new and developing and has potential for the present-future. Those approaches to resistance take their form from things and people that already are or which can be expected in the future. 

It strikes me that there is another kind of resistance. Maybe we can call it a spiritual resistance. It’s the kind of power and strength that comes from stopping and simply standing where we are, in the present moment as who we are. From there, we gain clarity about how to engage with the other kinds of resistances. 

~Bob Patrick