The forces of the cycle are the objective dissolving currents that characterize the residual age. They are not the result of particular conspiracies or particular individuals. They are the natural expression of a late phase of the historical cycle. The residual path requires a clear recognition of this character. Without that recognition the man wastes force on battles that cannot be won in the form he imagines.
Recognition of the forces does not produce resignation. It produces a more precise application of residual force. The man who understands the nature of the cycle does not attempt to reverse it by residual means. He continues to form himself according to the permanent measure within the conditions the cycle has produced. That continuation is the residual victory available in the present phase.
Young men often personalize the dissolving forces and then exhaust themselves in reactive opposition. The residual path requires a colder assessment. The forces are larger than any personal antagonist. The response is therefore not theatrical combat but the continuous maintenance of the interior orientation that the forces cannot reach. The maintenance is the residual act.
Recognize the forces of the cycle without being taken by them. The man who keeps the permanent measure under residual conditions is already living the deeper form of residual orientation that the sequence has been clarifying.