Having went to a spiritual retreat and returned with a new found understanding of what I needed to do in both my mystical and martial paths I once approached my old mentor. He was one who sought secrete methods, ancient knowledge, and more than anything loopholes. I say loopholes because what he would seek would be a word, or phrase, or thought, or method, or SOMETHING along those lines to circumvent putting in more difficult work or focus. He was a good man, with a fair amount of power, and a lot of knowledge. He understood more about mental programming, neural linguistics, self hypnosis, and mysticism than any 12 men put together that I have met before or since.

Still, he was stuck on the idea of a Magick Word as I like to put it. Some key word that would solve all of his problems.

Now the rest of what I have to say may sound funny as I'm known often times more as a Seller than as a Teacher. Yet I spend a lot of time teaching people bits and pieces in private. Fact is my door is always open to anyone wanting a little help in getting stronger. It is what I love to do. That said I want to preface this. No service I have ever offered was ever meant to bypass this universal law, to become more than this Magick Word I am about to show you. Fact is everything I do hinges on this. It augments in some way this magick word and in that it strengthens the power of this magick word. It is my application of this great word of magick, that I shall soon reveal to you and it will forever change your life, that allows me to do what I do.

Yet first let me continue the tail of bringing this to my mentor. Having returned from this retreat refreshed and invigorated I told him as I tell you now that I had found this word of great power. He was interested immensely as he had sought such a word for many years. While Abracadabra is a powerful word, especially in talisman form, this word would be many times more powerful than that one. Greater and stronger than the names of Thor and Odin this word was of more importance. More profound than the entirety of the Ultimate Banishing Pentagram Ritual this word was the key. By this point in the explanation he was as ready to hear this word as I am sure you are now.

Yet, he was likely less ready than you are to hear that word. While he was more wanting to hear what this word that might change his entire mystical practice was he was less able to assimilate it entirely. Oh he was already formulating how he might use this word on a Talisman. He was preparing to engrave it on a staff, or perhaps his very bones! Knowing him as I did he was imagining how he might paint it in bold letters upon the wall of his home. Yet he was not ready for the word, not prepared for it fully, and in this it was a loss.

The word of which such great power flows forth, for which many are wanting, few are truly able to fully appreciate and all are awaiting for me to say is...

EFFORT

Did I surprise you? I know I had surprised him. He began thinking of what could possibly rhyme with effort that he might construct a proper rhyme spell. Surely someone now is thinking that and if you are, bless you but keep reading I shall help you as best I can show you the light. My experience has been this.

There are 3 types of effort to be aware of and sorting them out is not an easy task. Once you know this, and are not using them in a rhyme, you will be a far more powerful Sorcerer than even I for I too make mistakes in the application of this and must go back to basics to further my skills in this way.

The first form of Effort we shall call "False Effort" it is the most basic of actions. It is an application of will over seconds. Like the child who studies for a test for seconds or minutes when hours are needed. Further False Effort can even take a great deal of time. Much work can be put into both excuses OR toward a show of action that does nothing at all. This is often in the form of great levels of research in which very little enthusiasm takes place. This is much comparative to one who is filing their taxes in this form of effort. While work is being done it is with little gusto. Still such an effort is a graduated step above an excuse and is nearing a level of effort that may have value and therefore may generate a result spiritually.

This leads us to Misplaced Effort. Now the thing about misplaced effort is that it IS effort. It is effort and therefore has a result. It may strengthen your focus, it may generate some result, but it ultimately is effort that does not synchronize with YOU and what you NEED it to do. This kind of effort is powerful all the same though as it hones focus, intensity, and direction. These key components will eventually convert that effort into something of some value. True it may be inefficient but misplaced effort will gain you some gains over time. Enough misplaced effort and you can FORCE a less efficient method into phenomenal results. Recognition of Misplaced Effort is a funny thing. On the one hand many people can have amazing results moving in a way that is not efficient FOR THEM. This is due to the power of misplaced effort and its patron saint HARD HEADED DETERMINATION! Between these two you have a powerful, but not necessarily efficient use, of this magick word EFFORT.

Now, the final use of this word for which we should all strive is Functional Effort. This is something that is stumbled upon through years of testing and training. What is functional for one is not functional for all.

If you don't believe me take up boxing. The very first thing you will learn is that effort in equals results out. The second thing you will learn is that you have a body type. You may have long arms, short arms, long legs, short legs, a glass jaw, a strong stomach, weak ribs, or an iron skull. None of these things determine if you can box within the maximum capability of who you are until you start playing TO them, or AGAINST them. This is where Functional Effort comes in. Using my own body as an example I stand at 5'8" tall. My arm span is equivalent to that of Rocky Marciano's who had a notoriously short arm length for a boxer. For me being an out-fighter is beyond my capabilities. An out-fighter is one who relies on jabs, range, and positioning to keep a foe at a distance. Trying to do this would be suicide for me. Now, with enough Misplaced Effort I could become a fine out-fighter, but with a little bit of Functional Effort I become an AMAZING infighter. Using those shorter limbs, stronger frame, and good positioning I can fight up close for great results. Why is this so? Because I analyzed what works for me, what does not, and I didn't get set on ONE thing. I use boxing as this example because in modern boxing the Out-Fighter is praised as the BEST method. The truth is it is only best for one SMALL subset of those that perform this art. I see many a martial artist and mystic fail to excel or only excel with extreme diligence because they are NOT working to their strengths.

Back to Functional Effort. Functional Effort is something you will, if you are looking for it, gain through a lot of trial and error. It has very little to do with explanations and a LOT to do with trial and error of techniques. So the advisement here is to sample a lot, note what is working and why, and then use that to hone a plan of action toward a Functional Effort. Recognize in this that often the results of any training are not visible initially. To that end it can be beneficial to take note of your similarities to other people that have had success and build plans of action based around those as best you can. Personality tests can help identify strengths and weaknesses and then from that you can approach the study from authors and mentors by comparing your own personality type against theirs.

Astrological signs may be of benefit then, as one who has similar astrological qualities as your own will be likely to employee methods that could work for you as well.

Above all else though be adaptable. Don't get stuck in ONE method. Explore, expand, and learn more daily. Recognize that even if the effort applied was not Functional, but Misplaced Effort that it still had the value of honing focus, dedication, and commitment. These powerful tools will then be enhanced toward your goals when you DO find your niche and will enhance your experience many fold.

Brilliant lesson!

Note: This is a compliment: Your very well written text is excellent, and certainly I agree with it. What you write here will probably help a good number of readers.

In my life, coincidence seems to be something that goes on in an endless string for me...As you know there are many people searching for solutions and sometimes are desperate to find them, when the solution is staring them in the face....back in the 1970s, I hung out with the controversial Werner Erhard, and I learned a lot from him that was entirely helpful. Although what you are writing is from your own mind and world and is truly helpful, I learned something similiar from Werner....He also turned me on to Will Rogers Senior: "Its Better to ride the horse in the way its going"

I know a lot of people wiho read this will either have a suddenness from this an the others will have a quietness from you having taken the time to write all this.

Caiyros

As an addition to the paragraphs about self knowledge and assessment, keep in mind:

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool."
- Richard Feynman

Part of my above message disappeared.here is what was there...

It was at the top of the post
"In all that you do,
if grasping ensues,
you don't have the view."
this is what was told to me by my teacher HE Deshung Rimpoche (d.1985)

It is complimentary to what you roiginally stated
Caiyros

This is not an insult

This is great, thank you!

Great read and great timing. Thank you!

All very true! Definitely a valuable lesson. There aren't any shortcuts, really in anything. If you want to be physically fit, putting in the time exercising and eating right is the only way. If you want to be an accomplished musician, it is going to involve many hours mastering that instrument, and then regular practice to continue playing at that esteemed level. If you want that college degree, it's going to involve lots of hours of class time and coursework.

The muggle world is chock full of examples of why, if we want to really shine, we have to put in the work and earn it. So it should be no surprise that the meta world works the same way. But it makes a lot of sense for us to spend some of that time determining what our strengths are and modulating our work accordingly. Going back to the muggle example of playing an instrument... I play violin. I can attest that in order to play on pitch, you have to be able to TELL if you're not quite on pitch, and adjust your finger position accordingly to fix the problem. If you sincerely cannot tell if your pitch is off, and there are many people who absolutely can't, then the viol family of instruments are probably not for you. But there are so many other instruments out there to choose from, surely ONE of them will be a better fit.

Ditto meta stuff. Experimenting is going to give a person a clear idea of what abilities are nearest to the surface for each person, and which ones are going to require a bit more work to get any sort of results. Some people here might be naturals at scrying, while others tear their hair out in frustration trying to get an impression. But if scrying isn't their strong suit, maybe psychometry is. And so on.

It is so true, nothing can happen without effort and intent. There no nothing that can happen without those 2 things no matter what it is you trying to do. It is so easy to be lazy and think that we can buy something that can solve all or issues but all things are possible in the end through our hard work, effect and focus of intent.

This one was actually so good I made it an article on PHS for posterity sake and will be distributing it to facebook thanks to the support and feedback here!