Two keys, three powers
As a mage, you aim to gain the power to change reality in accordance with your will. But in order to unlock this power, you need to master two fundamental keys: know thyself and do as thou will. These keys will guide you towards your life's mission and enable you to work systematically towards your goals.
Knowing yourself is the first and most important step toward unlocking your magical potential. You must find out what your innermost, strongest, overriding desire is and align yourself with it. This desire will act as your life's mission, guiding you toward your main quest. This desire is the source of your power, and you should keep it secret, as revealing it may weaken its potency.
The second key is to do as thou will. Once you know who you are and what you want, you must work systematically towards your goals. Yes, yes, even magic requires work. But it is the work that gives you the greatest leverage. Work smart, not hard.
This is where all the magic happens. You must be persistent in your efforts, building habits and skills through meditation, physical exercise, and self-discipline. This process of self-actualization will help you to reforge your identity and change your world.
Three powers
The path to magical mastery is also triangulated by three powers that adepts develop: virtue, persistence, and knowledge.
Virtue - the totality of the Law can be summarized as "what you give is what you get" or simply "be kind". To have a good life, you must be good yourself. Your world is only a reflection of yourself, and the law of analogy dictates that everything in existence seeks harmony and synchronizes with similar. Therefore, the better you are yourself, the better your life will become.
Persistence is the power that can overcome anything. You must build habits and skills slowly and steadily, practicing self-control, discipline, and long-term planning. This is the process of self-actualization, where you change yourself to change your world.
Knowledge is the final of the three, and it is said that knowledge is power. The more you know about something, the better you can control it. Know as much about the world as possible. You must seed your mind with teachings, holy texts, arcane tomes, and scientific books, then verify them through continuous observation and experimentation. This process sharpens your world models, enabling you to get ever closer to the truth.
It is important to note that you do not necessarily need a guru to become a mage. While a teacher can help to explain certain concepts, it is ultimately better to find the truth for yourself rather than rely on what others tell you. Reliance on others without testing is a grave mistake. Therefore, you should aim to figure out the details on your own.
Remember to keep your desires secret, be persistent in your efforts, and seek the truth for yourself. With these keys, you can unlock the door to the world of magic.
Cool, a synchronicity.
I don’t think a book has affected me so much in a very long time. Normally I make notes as I read but with this I quickly knew that I would read it many times and think about it a lot, so I just let it sink in.
I agree with you, I think the judge partakes in all this violence in order to reduce the world to almost nothing at all apart from pain and desire and then to stand there and witness it, but we can be more conscious and deliberate.
I just read Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and, strangely, I think this is what it is about. On one level it’s a story of endless violence in the lawless West, but as it proceeds this is the issue the main protagonists are exploring- what it means to know yourself and to do what you want.