In my last post, I briefly touched upon the concept of human intertia and how it keeps us from realizing our deepest desires. Human intertia causes us to do the same things day after day, year after year until our habits become so engrained that we wouldn’t ever consider the possibility of changing. Today, let’s explore this concept in more detail to discover exactly what this force is and how to use it to our advantage.
Inertia is defined as the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest. Humans, being physical objects, are subject to the same resistance on a physical scale. But we are not talking about our bodies in this case. I refer to human inertia as a person’s resistance to changing his state of being or behavior. Another name for it could be behavioral inertia. We all have our comfort zones and with few exceptions, we like to stay in them, even if we aren’t particularly satisfied with our station in life. We make excuses such as, “Oh, I’m not smart enough,” or “I have too much to do,” or “If people don’t like me the way I am, that’s their problem.” In fact, if you hear something that sounds like an excuse for inaction, this is the voice of human inertia.
Human intertia is a double-edged sword. It can keep people mired in unwanted or even dangerous conditions, or it can propel people to unimagined heights of achievement. There are countless documented cases of battered wives calling the police on their abusive husbands, then refusing to press charges when the police arrive. It is more comfortable and less frightening to stay in an abusive situation than it is to leave home not knowing what the future may hold. Human inertia has anchored these women in a dangerous, repressive situation. We have also seen individuals who refuse to accept whatever obstacles life has presented them. They may have a severe physical handicap or perhaps were born into a life of poverty and hardship. Instead of giving in to the hand they were dealt, they will themselves to overcome and, after overcoming an obstacle, continue to achieve, continue to overcome. Human inertia continues to propel them forward.
So a simple, direct question is in order at this point. If humans encounter a situation that is clearly inconsistent with their deires, or worse yet threatens their well-being, why do they resist changing their situation? In a word, fear. People fear change. They fear things that are different. Fear is the biggest reason why human inertia works against people. Fear stops people from achieving their dreams. Worse, it stops them from even trying. I once read an article on fear and found a great comparison between fear and faith. The article defines faith as believing that what you cannot see will come to pass. It then defines fear as believing that what you cannot see will come to pass. Sounds rather similar, don’t you think?
It seems that the positive side of human intertia is rooted in faith while the negative side is rooted in fear. As we have seen from the definitions of faith and fear, both are the same thing with the only difference being the object of our faith or fear. If this is true, then those of us whose lives are ruled by fear should be able to change our state by changing the object of our fear. If we focus only on the negative possibilities that could result from making a change, it is unlikely we will ever attempt a change. But if we focus on the positive rewards that could result from change and refuse to entertain thoughts of negative consequences, we are much more likely to try.
The early 20th century witnessed the birth of the self-help industry with a great number of writings being introduced extolling the power of the mind and of right thought. It has been said that the inner world of the mind is largely responsible for the outer world that we experience. I believe this to be true, but not for some mystical reason. Rather, we are able to create the world of our desires by focusing our thoughts on the outcomes we want. This focus becomes faith and faith can overcome human inertia. Faith can move mountains. Faith can motivate us to take action, to move. And a body in motion tends to stay in motion…