I know there are lots of books from students following the teaching of Franz Bardon. I also know there are many that will be far more scholarly and detailed than this book you are reading now. This book is solely concerned with practicality, providing the means to gain an experience of success in your exercises which can serve as the first in a chain of successful exercises. We are working with absolute basics, a primer if you like for the work of Franz Bardons first manual – Initiation Into Hermetics.
Our goal is to build up what is lacking, to become accustomed to investing time every day in ourselves, to do this via short term goals so that progress can be measured. Our 100 Day program is 10×10 days (Available elsewhere), this builds the habit, of using these 10 day periods as intensive sprints towards a goal, useful regardless of whether it is a hermetic goal or not.
Ultimately as I mention it is a primer for the work of IIH. Keep this clearly in mind and do not get distracted by anything I might say. My voice is just one of many sharing how we approached IIH. The biggest thing to take from this is that it is achievable and if you apply yourself with a well thought out plan and schedule then you can also see success sooner rather than later.
As my teacher always says ‘Discipline Breeds Freedom’.
This work is very much a result of self motivation and self discipline so if you are someone who needs a teacher to show you the way or requires confirmation of an authority to see if you have something correct or not then this idea will be challenged in the process of doing IIH. As it is pretty difficult to pass through most of these steps without making decisions for yourself. The same goes for motivation, often the question is asked how to stay motivated. Well motivation is short lived and IIH will be something you do for years to come so if you are relying on motivation then you are in for a tough ride. No matter how exciting this path is and I do think it is truly exciting, it will never be enough because there will always be days and weeks that you just do not feel like doing your exercises. It is at these times we need discipline to do what we do not want to do. If you do not mentally accept all this before you get started then you are going to waste time tackling these challenges while also trying to get success in your exercises. So understand now that this is a process, it takes time no matter what method, teacher or lineage you are part of, no one has any cheat codes that will give you progress without sustained effort. That brings us onto shiny objects. We all know about being distracted by the latest method, or some super secret lineage, a Guru holds a method to speed up your progress. Falling for this can slow your momentum, waste valuable time and generally take you away from your stated goals. So know that there will be attractive distractions which will keep coming until you learn the lesson of commitment, I say that not to preach but from experience. Oh my the time I have wasted!
So to conclude a clear goal of knowing what we want to achieve, knowing why we want to pursue this goal,and an understanding that regardless of all the courses, books, teachers and Gurus that are available the responsibility for our progress or lack of lies solely with us….a liberating realization. So with that said let us move on to the next chapter.
