I'm pretty good about regular practice. For me, it has to be every day, several times a day. It's awesome. I can sit and view for literally hours without a break except to take care of nature. One session to the next, I can't seem to get enough of the experience. It's a rush when a sketch matches the target. The feeling of accomplishment when I learn something new or get an idea about how this or that might work. It's addictive. It's satisfying. I can maintain this momentum for months on end. No sweat.

Then it happens.

Resistance. Pointed avoidance. It's time to sit down and practice and I conveniently come up with a billion and one things that I "need to do real quick first." My level of interest hasn't changed. I still think about it all day. I'm still passionate about it while I sit there clipping my toenails when I should be viewing. The worst part (or it could be the best part, I'm still not sure) is I'm fully aware of what's happening. I know perfectly well that I'm giving in to some little part of me that's pouting in the corner with his arms crossed saying "I don't wanna!"

But I do wanna. That's why it doesn't seem to make any sense.

This occasional inner conflict struck me as quite odd until I heard other viewers mention it too, and began to get more of an idea more about what might be going on internally with consistent RV practice.

"I think it has a lot to do with fear of psi…" one of my viewer friends told me.

I wasn't buying it. My response went something like: "Pwah! Fear?! That's ridiculous! Why would I spend most of my free time doing something that I'm afraid of? My entire life is peppered with paranormal experiences. The idea that I'm afraid of being really good at RV is the silliest thing I've heard!"

Not long after that I had a dream.

A voice asked me if I was ready to be a world class remote viewer. I said, "I'm ready!" I felt it coming. Like my awareness was about to be blown wiiiide open. Hard to put into words, but I can tell you it felt BIG. Like minding your own business surfing 6 foot waves and then seeing a 70 foot wall of water coming towards you at 50 mph. Confident me from two seconds ago was now saying "Wait-"

Okay. Point taken. Jeez.

Acknowledging it in myself and being more aware of it may not make it go away, but helps with understanding myself more. Pinpointing areas that may need more attention. Recognizing it when symptoms show goes a good ways towards handling it better. Any twelve step program will tell you the first step is admitting you have a problem. Haha.

From a 2002 interview with Joseph McMoneagle:

Q: "There's been talk about subconscious 'fear of psi' relating to the common decline-effect and contributing to why so few end up 'world-class' remote viewers like yourself. What do you think? Is there really such a culture-wide fear of psi? Do you think people realize they've got it? (Many viewers discussing it online say it's not a problem for them.) If you think this is an issue, how would you suggest viewers address dealing with this?"

A: "If someone says this is not a problem for them – I would say they have never communicated with their unconscious mind. It's a major issue, and one that never goes away. It's a fear that is not just culture wide, it's pervasive in all cultures. It speaks to the dark side for most. It's an uncomfortable window to 'things we shouldn't have access to.' There are no suggestions for dealing with it – since there is no way of truly conquering it. It's one more battle that is constantly waged in doing RV – a battle you sometimes win and sometimes don't."

If you look at modern psychology, one of the first suggested methods of dealing with a fear is desensitization. Gradually exposing a person more and more to what they're afraid of. In remote viewing, that equates to -you guessed it- constant practice. Even with that, as Mr. McMoneagle stated it's a never-ending battle.

Usually my avoidance/resistance to viewing hits hard in two predictable places. I can almost set my clock by it.

1) When I go a couple days without viewing.

Due to the nature of my job, once in a while I'll have a couple days of 16-18 hour shifts. I come home lucky to make it to my bed before I'm asleep. If I do manage to sit down and try to view, it quickly becomes an exercise in ZzzRV. Almost always when I take a break from viewing (usually involuntarily) it's so hard to get back to the level of practice I want and need. The moment I give it an inch, I'm a mile behind. The door is slammed shut and has to be pried back open with a crowbar. Half the time it feels like starting all over again from square one to get back where I was. Some viewers say taking a break helps them. Heh. Lucky them. I don't seem to be wired like that.

2) When I have a knock-my-own-socks-off session.

If I do a session that is fairly amazing to me, I can almost be sure the next one I do will suck rocks. I'm not the only one who's noticed this about their viewing. I've heard the same thing from several others. Appears to be a fear response. I think this is another reason why Ingo and McM stress "quitting on a high." In addition to the benefits as known in learning-theory, it gives the unconscious a chance to deal with the initial shock response of a high-level psi experience and appears to lessen the related defense mechanisms.

When this avoidance starts to kick in, there's nothing that will help short of grabbing myself by the scruff, sitting down and making myself view. Then doing it some more, and some more, and… Until finally I'm back to my normal addictive self who can't imagine avoiding anything so fun, challenging and intriguing.

Charles Tart has an interesting article on the subject.
You can check it out here.

Fear seems to be only one aspect of the larger entity of psi-barrier though.

Part 2 – ahem…crowbar please