Friction: What Holds Us Back Propels Us Forward
“An object at rest stays at rest unless acted upon by an external force” - a subsequent result of this is also that an object at constant velocity will carry on at that same velocity unless acted on by an external force (understood easily when considering relativity). Whenever an object slows down, speeds up or changes direction it is due to a force acting on the object. Even swinging a rock round in a circle at a constant speed, a force acts on it, evident by the fact that it is changing direction. This force here is the tension in the string acting on the rock towards the center of the circle, always perpendicular to the direction of travel of the rock.
Looking at the world we seldom find objects that stay on the move, with constant velocity, even in space it is easy to imagine the path of any object diverting due to the strong gravitational attractions of nearby planets. When moving anything we require an input of constant force to overcome friction. Such is this world, a world of friction. Every action we take, both physically and mentally, is combated by some sort of friction: cars stop with no input of power due to the friction on the road, people are very often stuck on water slides when the water level reduces and there is more contact between the person and the plastic of the slide and ideas are often stopped due to others acting against the plan causing friction against the aim.
We encounter this force everywhere we go and often see it as a hindrance, it reduces the efficiency of machines, heats them up, makes them run down and break earlier on in life. (This can be pictured the same way in a person's life when they work themselves up with stress, causing their life length to shorten).
However, little do we focus on the benefits of friction, without friction on the ground we would not be able to walk, like how difficult it is to move on an ice-rink and cars can’t move unless there is friction. This is the driving force of our day to day lives at the same time as it is what keeps us back. The duality of friction is an important lesson, comparable to what my Rabbi, Rav Sheishar said,
“life is like riding on a bike, if it is hard - you are going uphill, if it is easy - you are going downhill, if you are doing nothing - you fall over.”
Friction is a force that impedes progress, but it is the very force that causes the progress to happen in the first place. There is no point in living a life being static, in this case you fall over. If life was easy we would be static, going nowhere at all just floating in midair unable to go anywhere. Improving, getting to higher levels and increasing our abilities can only be done through effort, equally as noticeable is that anything meaningful will only be done through effort.
The phrase, “No pain no gain,” originates not just from 1980s sports mottos but from a Rabbi during the Tannaic era in around the years 100 BCE - Ben Hei Hei says, "According to the difficulty is the reward."
When a person puts more effort into lifting weights, his muscles will grow bigger and he will be stronger. What the Passage above was referring to was that the more work a person puts into performing God’s commandments, the greater the reward will be as thus is the system God made in place, in both the physical and spiritual world. This is one way to answer why people experience challenges although they seem to be righteous people, for a person to get more reward, it requires struggle. Anyone who wants to get to a higher level, and progress in any way requires to put in effort. It is this effort that makes the person improve.
A bike would never move forwards were it not for friction, and the extra exertion up a hill moves a person to greater realms, a person could never achieve were it not for the friction placed against them. This world is a world of friction, we work hard to get to places and find ourselves slowed and prevented every step of the way, but this friction is what builds us and causes our plans to come to fruition.