“Hell no, I won’t go!”

Chant by Anti-Vietnam War Draft Resistors

Symbols & Color

• Atom: Scholar Set
• Dragon: Chief Feature Group
• Equal Sign: Neutral Orientation – variable in response.
• Spade: Assimilative Axis – Pointedly dig deeper.
• Border Color: Yellow – Scholar Set

Implication in the Upright Position or Positive Pole

The American Bison will lock horns with an opponent, never giving an inch. Or, when threatened, will charge a predator head-on with no regard for anything but knocking the intruder off its position. In Yellowstone, I once witnessed a group of bison stand off a Grizzly Bear. I remember Gandalf from the first Lord of the Rings movie, shouting at a powerful opponent “you shall not pass.” To stand one’s ground can take tremendous Will power, especially to overcome one’s own terror. It is a determination not to lose what you have or be a victim of someone else’s manifestation. (Card 69 – Maya). Though Stubbornness doesn’t like to move, it doesn’t mean it can’t or won’t. But when it does, look out, they are likely to be the bull in the china shop. Stubbornness is the strategy in response to a fear of change. More specifically the challenge beneath this Chief Feature is the fear of the unknown and whether one is capable of coping with it. From this ubiquitous disquiet, a person will lock themselves into familiar patterns to preserve a status quo…believing an “enemy you know is better that one you do not.” In the positive poles, a person can hold a principled position with unshakeable determination. And in with and extreme air of implacability. Much like Winston Churchill, whose iron jaw, a hallmark of the Stubbornness in appearance, was often clenched holding his cigar like a small club ready to bludgeon any detractor to his plans. His rock solid indomitability was captured in one of the most famous speeches of the 20th century, “Whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender!” gave the British people succor in times when Britain was losing in the early part of WWII; the strength to endure and outlast the threats of Fascism. In such a case, in the face of domination, stubborn resistance is no vice, it is a necessity.

Card messages in the Illuminated position.

+ Willfulness

(Determined, Invested, defiant, headstrong, single-minded, opinionated, indomitable, unyielding)

1. Investing in a commitment, like marriage, or a higher education, or some meaningful project, will elicit resistance from you almost all the time. But where exasperation arises know that you are at a threshold to cross. Tap into your reservoir of determination. It is merely flipping the energy over and stepping on the gas rather than hitting the brakes.
2. Willfully resisting change is warranted when that change produces needless pain or diminishes a vital principle. Churchill knew this and stood against a tyrant. Stand your ground!
3. Bolster your conviction. Have courage and stand firm. Even if outside shift doesn’t happen, it certainly will on the inside
4. Willfulness is the determination to stay the course and not be swayed by outer forces. Careful not to confuse it with rigidity or absolutism. It might serve you to invoke willpower.
5. If change has slowed to a trickle or none at all, then only will power will override stuckness!
6. Better to have a strong will than a rebellious will not. Do something contrary but not impeding. Don’t apologize for it.
7. Pushing for change is a hell of a lot better than being pulled by it.  Lean into it or it will on you.
8. Have courage and be steadfast. Change for the better inside is happening even if you can’t see it on the outside. Sometimes defeat in a battle serves to help strengthen resolve to win the war.
9. Sometimes the immovable object stymies the irresistible force. But what a waste of energy on all sides! Is there a compromise or change of position that can get things moving?
10. Invest in something, not against it!
11. Be determined! Do not be swayed by outer forces. Remember Ulysses? He was bound to the ship’s mast so he couldn’t be swayed by the Siren song. Sometimes dramatic fixation is required. Stay the course.
12. Many will relate to David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest” statement about dealing with Stubbornness, “Everything I ever let go of had claw marks on it.” Acknowledge that what you hold onto has helped you cope with something. Finding alternative coping strategies and “letting go” may not feel easier, but the habit will not fight for their lives as you replace them.
13. Better to have a strong will, than a rebellious will not. Do something contrary but not impeding.
14. “I do not agree!” is a powerful statement of boundaries. When someone is about to intrude on your territory or your principles, you have every right to declare your opposition. Some things must be stopped!
15. Bolster your convictions! Are you in service to something you love? Or are you defending something you fear might diminish your advantage?
16. Invoke willpower, and just say NO! Be determined not to cave, but be open to negotiation.

Quotes reflecting the meaning in this pole

• “Bondage is the life of personality, and for bondage the personal self will fight with tireless resourcefulness and the most stubborn cunning.” Aldous Huxley 
• “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Winston Churchill Speech May 13, 1940; The House of Commons – Stubbornness to Self-Deprecation
• “There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.” ― Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice
• “The only difference between falling in love and being in love is that your heart already knows how you feel, but your mind is too stubborn to admit it.”  ― Colleen Hoover, Maybe Not
• “It gives me great pleasure indeed to see the stubbornness of an incorrigible nonconformist warmly acclaimed.” ― Albert Einstein
• “The values to which people cling most stubbornly under inappropriate conditions are those values that were previously the source of their greatest triumphs.” ― Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed

Implications of the Reversed Position or Negative Pole

“Oh no you don’t” and “not in my backyard” are the two bookend motto’s of this pole of Stubbornness: Obstinacy. Emphatic is the image used here, with the international symbol of “no” the circle with the slanted red line through it. Then implying a more forceful stance, the person gestures the raised flat palm, a signal almost universally recognized as “stop”, while the face with mouth open wide as if bellowing “no-way Jose.” Like all Assimilative Overleaves (Card 64 – Assimilative), there is no forward motion initiated in this pole per se, but it can remain steadfastly motionless, or resist motion from the outside trying to move it. In the extreme match-up of proverbial forces, this aspect of Stubbornness is the “immovable object” which digs in its heals to perceive someone else’s demand as irresistible force of imposition. A battle of wills ensues. In the negative poles, you are a creature of habit and seldom, if ever, divert away from what is tried and true…for you! Thus, you don’t argue with others over a point, you simply deny they have one in the first place. At best, you pay them lip service while never “giving an inch.” Stubbornness might not appear to others as overtly disagreeable, but avoiding agreement or procrastinating something is the subtle means by which obstinacy is hidden.

Card messages associated with Shadow position.

– Obstinance

(Recalcitrant, adamant, unchanging, contrary, obdurate, stalling, rigid, unshakeable, stuck, stingy, intractable, onery)

1. Acting like a jackass, being pig-headed, or bullheaded is a signal that your animal-self feels backed into a corner. Identify the threat or what is incurring resistance.
2. Obstinancy produces nothing! It impedes progress, exerting a from of negative control. Perhaps you are fighting for the security of a prison? Are your heals dug in because you fear you might note cope with the advancing change? Get neutral. Learn how to do the thing you resist.
3. Willfully resisting change is warranted when the change produces needless pain or diminishes a vital principle. Churchill knew this and stood against a tyrant. Stand your ground!
4. Resistance is high because fear of the unknown prevents motion and garners anger to defend its immobility.
5. Bored? Angry? Stuck? If you can’t move, then tell someone about it. It is like chiseling away the cement under your feet.
6. Fear of the unknown kills one’s willingness to risk change. Make it easier by taking change in small steps, or by doing it hand-in-hand with others.
7. Don’t confuse WILL with rigidity, stuckness, or absolutism. These semantic differences are the differences between leaning into a problem and being the problem.
8. Stupidity is often quite certain of its own rightness. Smug dismissal of another person’s opinion is OK, but dismissal of facts that can be shown correct, is the mark of the closed-mind. Possibly a danger to themselves as well as others.
9. Someone is entrenched in their position. They feel under siege. Is it advisable to raise the white flag and talk about a truce? Battles settle by words are less costly than those fought with weapons.
10. You might just be fighting for the security of a familiar prison? Notice if someone is guarding their walls or are trapped by them?
11. Obstacles are being thrown up for someone to defend their position. If you can’t go through them or over them, go around them, perhaps you are being told “this door is closed.” So, go find another.
12. Face and subdue the thing you resist. That may require surrendering to it. Stop being afraid.
13. Are your heels dug in because you fear not coping with an advancing change? Get neutral.

Quotes reflecting the meaning in this pole

• “The fact that the stupid person is often stubborn must not blind us to the fact that he is not independent. In conversation with him, one virtually feels that one is dealing not at all with him as a person, but with slogans, catchwords, and the like that have taken possession of him. He is under a spell, blinded, misused, and abused in his very being.” German Protestant Minister Dietrich Bonhoeffer – Essay on Stupidity
• “Many are stubborn in pursuit of the path they have chosen, few in pursuit of the goal.”  Friedrich Nietzsche
• “Stubbornness is the strength of the weak.” Johann Kaspar Lavater
• “Ignorance is stubborn and prejudice is hard.” Adlai E. Stevenson
• “Stubborn and ardent clinging to one’s opinion is the best proof of stupidity.”  Michel de Montaigne
• “The less people know, the more stubbornly they know it.” Rajneesh 
• “Obstinate people can be divided into the opinionated, the ignorant, and the boorish.” Aristotle
• “Obstinacy is ever most positive when it is most in the wrong.” Suzanne Curchod

Overleaf of the Michael Teaching

Stubbornness is the Assimilative Chief Feature because it can remain fixated in any of the other six defensive strategies. Like all so-called “neutral Axis Overleaves” it has the built in property to “slide” to whatever posture suits it’s underly strategy: to stay safe in the face of change by resisting change.

The primary fear that motivates such a deep primal rejection is that of a fear of the unknown. But more particularly, a deep uncertainty that one can cope with that change instead of being crushed by it.

Cultural Meaning

In Physics, Stubbornness would be recognized as the immovable object.

Famous Examples

Winston Churchill, Madonna, Benito Mussolini,

You might have this Overleaf if…

List of traits from the EPP

by Stephen Cocconi © 2011, Updated 2024

For a Motivation Cards Reading or Channeled Consultation call: 209.768-4956 or email Stephen at channeling@themichaelteaching.com