Wrestling with the angel: you have to fight for your life

I'm Dr Orion taban and this is psyx Better Living Through psychology and the topic of today's short talk is wrestling with the angel my guys it is necessary to struggle to achieve anything of value in this world just think of how difficult it is to get money consider how much time and effort and perseverance goes into making a buck and frankly money is one of the most common and fungible Goods on this planet in the scheme of things it's really nothing special so if it takes that much work and focus and dedication to affect any

meaningful progress with respect to your finances what makes you think that meaningful progress with respect to your mind and heart will be any easier just because these things aren't tangible in point of fact abstract intangibles are even harder to obtain than their concrete counterparts and I'm here to tell you that things like peace and contentment and self-actualization and love require a significant effort from us to attain this is what I call wrestling with the angel the angel as a symbol being the benefactor of real goodness and value to humanity there's a story in the Bible

about Jacob he meets an angel who starts to fly off to heaven and before he can get away Jacob grabs him tightly and says to him I'm not letting go unless you bless me and does the angel bless him no this is because the Divine is not Santa Claus that is some Childish fantasy that just dos out presence on demand that's not the way reality Works my friends and it's a good thing that's not the way reality works I shudder to think how decadent and degraded the human race would become if everything of value were

available on demand in any case the angel tries to shake Jacob off and climbs higher and higher into the sky the two are wrestling in midair which at this point has become Mortal Combat since Jacob would not survive a fall from that height however it's precisely this willingness to go all in that gets results Jacob demonstrates with his behavior that he is willing to fall willing even to die in order to obtain the Angel's blessing that's how badly he wanted it and as a consequence of this struggle and courage and perseverance Jacob eventually receives the

Angel's blessing he did not receive it because he wanted it he did not receive it because he asked for it he received it because he survived the struggle to a achieve it this is the secret to getting anything worth having in life now in the process of wrestling you're going to shed some things physical wrestling like actually grappling with an opponent is an extremely difficult activity and because it's difficult the more you do it the more you're going to discard anything that isn't instrumentally related to success in this domain for example the more you wrestle

the more you will lose flab and weakness and lassitude and what a miraculous symmetry the more flab and weakness and lassitude you lose the more muscle and strength and stamina you will gain so in the process of wrestling you lose precisely those things that are antithetical to success in wrestling pretty cool huh we can of these things that you lose as the cost of success in wrestling like if you want to get really good at the physical active grappling you will need to pay for that achievement with your flab and your weakness and your lassitude

because best of luck becoming a champion wrestler while you're still flabby and weak and tired it's just not possible and I'd like you to consider that it's not possible because like the fabric of reality does not allow allow for theft it's not that you're not supposed to steal you literally can't do it you can't obtain an intangible of value without paying the requisite cost this is just one manifestation of universal justice if you appreciate the insights on this channel I would highly encourage you to get your hands on a copy of my book the value

of others over the course of 432 pages I delve deep into my economic model of relationships and explain the behavior of both men and women in the game of mating and dating I also provide a lot of actionable advice on how to get and keep more of what you want in the sexual Marketplace once you read the value of others you'll never look at relationships the same way again now available in ebook audiobook and paperback formats the links are in the description all right just as we shed weakness when we grapple with strong physical opponents

we shed things antithetical to their particular success when we grapple with the angels of Love or peace or contentment for instance in the act of wrestling with the angel of love you will shed resentment hatred bitterness and selfishness and the more you wrestle with this Angel the more you will lose these things because these things are the cost of love like you cannot be a loving person while you still Harbor resentment hatred bitterness and selfishness it's not that you're not supposed to feel these things you literally can't feel them and love at the same time

it's not possible where the first emotions are the other isn't and vice versa now this isn't going to happen overnight you can't just hand over your resentment and egotism and expect to receive love in return why because these things are deeply subtly and vigorously lodged inside of you removing these threads is like untangling a really stubborn knot it will take time and effort and care and discernment you will have to wrestle with yourself only after a while will these elements be sufficiently disentangled that you will be able if you so desire to make a sacrifice

of your egoic self which is ultimately the cost of Love Like Jacob we have to be willing to die to self in order to enter into the highest echelons of love which is a kind of divine blessing we can say comparable things with respect to attaining other things of value for instance in the act of wrest wrestling with the angel of Peace you will shed Envy jealousy impatience and anger the more you wrestle with this Angel the more you will lose these things because these things are the cost of Peace you cannot be a peaceful

person while you still Harbor Envy jealousy impatience and anger where the first emotions are the other isn't and vice versa starting to make sense so what should you do if you're struggling with anxiety then grab on to the angel of courage and don't let go if you're struggling with addiction then grab onto the angel of temperance and don't let go if you're struggling with depression then grab onto the Angel of Hope and don't let go there is always a way out my friends but it is not easy to get there and you can only leave

if you pay the appropriate cost again you will likely need to wrestle with these angels for quite some time they will test you up to the last ounce of your strength and endurance but let me tell you it's worth it things like peace and contentment and love are real true Goods they are so much more valuable than money like all the money in the world cannot buy by peace of mind all the money in the world cannot buy you a contented heart and think of how much work and effort would be necessary to make all

the money in the world do you understand if hell exists it's life without those things and the way out is to drop the unnecessary weight that keeps us from ascending to the imperion the secret to success here is contained in the story of Jacob there is a mysterious power in being willing to do whatever it takes to achieve your goal to not let go no matter what the people who are willing to do that actually make progress these are the people who get the good things in life because if you just do it until it

becomes uncomfortable or difficult or inconvenient then my friend it probably would have been better if you never made the attempt in the first place why because when you quit you not only will have wasted time and energy but you're going to feel like a schmuck because you couldn't stick with something that you said you wanted to do it's like Bukowski's excellent poem If you're going to try go all the way otherwise don't even start I'll put a link to the author reading the whole poem in the description below because it is so good in any

case if you're not willing to suffer pain and difficulty and inconvenience it's best if you just tolerate your circumstances for the time being these are part of the cost of attaining anything of real value in the world what do you think does this fit with your own experience let me know in the comments below and please send this episode to someone who you think might benefit from its message as its Word of Mouth referrals like this that really helped to make the channel grow anyone looking to join my free Weekly Newsletter or book a paid

consultation can do so on my website there's also my book the value of others and my member Community the Captain's Quarters the links to everything are in the description below please check them out there's a lot of great information and all that as always I appreciate your support and thank you for listening