Choose the path of greatest opportunity.

Luke's Training

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. - Joseph Campbell

In training with Master Yoda, one day, Luke notices a cave. He feels cold just looking at it. "What's in there?" he asks. Yoda's reply was unnerving: "Only what you bring with you."

Luke enters anyway. And what begins as his greatest fear becomes the doorway to his greatest growth.

That's Agreement 8.

Whatever You Resist, Persists

Agreement 8 is about heading straight into what holds the greatest promise — the treasure you seek. It’s an invitation to let God lead you through your fear and resistance, into the growth and happiness your soul is yearning for.

It's the willingness to walk the highest path, even when that path feels cold — as it did for Luke. It's facing into the wind- pointing yourself directly into the very thing you most want to run from.

In general, resistance seems to be the water we’re most likely swimming in. We resist bad weather. We resist each other's politics. Single people run from loneliness into marriage. Married people sometimes long to be single again. We resist poor health, a thin bank account, other people's character flaws — and our own, as if resisting anything will somehow make it better or make it disappear. That’s what’s crazy.

Because the truth is, what you're resisting the most is usually what you need the most:

• You resist the gym when you most need to get in shape.
• You resist healthy food as your health is declining.
• You resist honest feedback even as you continue to push people away.
• You resist your own character flaws even as your soul quietly calls for self acceptance and forgiveness.
• You resist someone else's flaws — and vent about them online — while the real opportunity for understanding and compassion passes you by.

And as the old saying goes: whatever you resist, persists. Whatever we run from — or try to get around — seems to show up again and again and ultimately, the only way out (as Truman Madsen put it) is through.

(Note: there is a difference between resisting evil, as the scriptures counsel, and resisting opportunity. This agreement is about the latter.)

Three Paths of Resistance in Relationships

In relationships (or a lack thereof), we experience resistance in one or more of 3 “paths” - 3 ways you may find yourself hedging on moving along the path of greatest resistance (and as it turns out, usually the path of greatest opportunity and possibility).