The Flow of Power and the Inertia of Movement
We have said more than once that the Way is a system in which every step follows from the previous one and becomes the cause of the next.
From this perspective, movement within the Flow of Power can resemble drifting with its current.
This conflicts with the demand that a Magus must maintain alertness. Many travelers fall into the trap of the inertia of their own Way’s current. They refuse to build it and prefer to follow established models. Under scrutiny, the “life of a Magus” often proves to be an ordinary human life. Only the labels change: arrogance becomes “honor,” and aggressiveness becomes “the warrior spirit.”
Even Magi who have overcome the habit of acting mechanically often fail to keep the balance between the Way’s systemic character and its flexibility.
A Magus can win victories on the Way, grow accustomed to certain winning strategies, and then keep applying them even when a simple analysis shows that, in the present situation, they are insufficiently effective.
In the end, many Magi care more about being right than about achieving an effective result. They direct all their effort toward preserving their system instead of allowing it to prove untenable in certain situations.
Fear usually drives this mistake. The Magus feels that if the Way is mistaken, then it is false — and that means he must step off it. Fear of losing the Way is widespread among Magi who have traveled long enough. Their reasoning runs roughly like this: “If I lose my Way, what will I have left?”…
Yet a system’s insufficient effectiveness does not, by itself, mean collapse. The more perfect the system, the greater its reserve of plasticity. It can still be applied and reshaped as the battlefield changes.
The “energy of the Way” manifests in two forms: a “habit of doing something” and an “inertia of accumulation.” In the first case, we are dealing with a destructor; in the second, with “beneficent” energy.
In other words, when a Magus yields to the habit of movement and repeats the same actions again and again — even actions that once led to great victories — he drains and castrates his Way. He strips it of inner vitality and of fruitful Power.
We have said that the Way is sometimes a level road and sometimes a swift, unpredictable mountain torrent. It is unwise to pretend you are walking a road when you are racing through a whirlpool.
Emphasize this again: nothing is frightening about being wrong. The saying is especially relevant for Magi: “Only the one who does nothing makes no mistakes.” A Magus cannot avoid mistakes entirely, even though they can sometimes be very costly, as with a sapper. A Magus’s skill lies precisely in extracting benefit from defeats.
A Magus follows winning strategies only as long as they are truly winning, and he changes them easily when they stop satisfying his requirements.
This means that a Magus analyzes every step twice: before taking it and after it has been taken. The first check lets him choose the most effective means for each situation; the second lets him assess how correct that choice was. The first analysis develops the Way; the second develops the Traveler.
Never yield to the temptation to live off the fruits of past victories. Remember: when a hunter walks through the jungle, leopards attack him regardless of how many predators he has defeated before. The danger of being eaten remains even for the most experienced hunter, and it only grows when he ignores danger and thinks, “If I have defeated a thousand leopards, I will always kill the thousand-and-first.” On the contrary, a thousand slain leopards should instill the thought that as many enemies exist, so many strategies exist. That means the hunter must know how to adapt, and the more plastic he is, the greater his chances of success.
Obstacles on the Way
Building the Way
Effortless Effort
Buried Talents
Pitfalls of the Middle Way
The Tit in the Hand
Apprehensions and Warnings
The Burden on One’s Shoulders
Fear is something that has always existed and must always exist. Sometimes it seems to me that you read my path or my thoughts. Your posts appear on exactly the themes that have just happened to me.
Then I am curious: how to distinguish following the path from wandering in one’s fantasies? For now, I am relying only on my inner feelings, but I am interested in the system because I have nothing to answer the question: “Why do you think that I am making a mistake?”
But I am even more interested in how to distinguish in people the recognition of mistakes from empty words? I am curious about your opinion on this, asking for self-education and out of curiosity for comparison of opinions.
Recognition of mistakes is not saying: “Oh, how wrong I was!”, it is changing the way one acts to prevent similar mistakes in the future.
As for the Path and fantasies, the criterion is also effectiveness – if your fantasies give you Power, allow developing, then these fantasies are the Path 🙂
Thank you; everything is clear with this. You only confirmed my opinion, but does it mean that people who replace one mistake with another merely worsen their condition and should be kept away from? Is it worth trying to explain something about mistakes and more to a person who does not want to hear anyone but themselves?
It’s worth it, but not to convince them, but to not remain silent in the face of Power: https://www.enmerkar.com/en/way/words-before-the-face-of-power
This remark is very dear to me..
To be silent or to speak?
Some years ago, a friend from a neighboring town called me, asking for a gynecologist’s phone number. I pictured her two little sons – freckled red sunflowers – and realized she wants to have an abortion. I said – no such thing. I wanted to say that I thought about her intention, but a voice inside me silenced me: This is an adult, educated person. You were not even told about the abortion. Who are you to interfere in someone else’s fate? I stayed silent. And because of this, an unpleasant feeling remained. Now I understand why.
Without inertia, there would be no strength, as strength is action, and inertia is reaction, which, according to the third law of motion, are equal in magnitude. Therefore, if the reaction is zero (absence of inertia), then the action will also be zero.
This implies that without opposition (inertia), there cannot be action (strength). So they are necessary to each other.
Is this convincing or not?