Choosing a path

Maybe you can take a pragmatic approach and learn what you need to a little bit at a time in order to accomplish short specific real tasks in your life, and it will come piece-meal in a more usable fashion rather than feeling like a pile of confusing stuff

So let's say specifically you were thinking about opening a lemonade stand with a couple of friends. A real specific life goal.

You know you're going to need discipline in handling money, charisma for moving product, ample materials to supply the endeavor (lemons, etc.). You're engaging specific parts of your mind in beginning to lay out the strategy already--parts of your mind that are exercised through doing certain yoga or practice or whatever, but we're approaching magic from the purely pragmatic at this point, exercising by doing. Hopefully you're taking notes on the business, making note of how much money you spent on materials, maybe you have an idea of specifically how much money you want to make out of it, and when you take notes at the end you can see the whole process unfold. Journaling and organizing your thoughts for growth is a part of any initiatory path, so you have a more tangible experience of your growth. Even a lemonade stand is an initiatory path if you do it mindfully and deliberately, but all the systems and ritual hygiene are built to help you grow even if you don't understand how it's helping right away, and they were designed by people who spent years reading and studying so that you didn't have to spend years reading and studying all the same stuff they did

A lot of hygienic practices help you in ways you might not realize until you've been doing them for years. One muscle exercised is simply your will to do something. "I am going to sit down for ten minutes and watch my breath." And then you DO IT. You resolve to do something, carry it out to it's completion, and then move on. This is a simple muscle that can usually use a lot of exercise. It doesn't seem like much, but it is carrying out your will, and practice makes perfect.

/r/occult Thread