@Frank Apisa,
To continue on a course that is insufficient for the accomplishment of the original goal, especially if obstinacy sets in , is masochistic, and I'm sure that your familiar with the psychology of masochism. It is dependent on a fear of outright success ,which requires a conscious or subconscious requirement for failure in the individual or group, which is why I said that an unknowable universe is being tacitly presented to us daily.