Self-Transformation and the Transfer Problem

[HoldAll]

I've read somewhere that there was a phenomenon called 'transfer problem' by psychologists. Example: You learn a new relaxation method and over time, you become calmer and calmer - but only for the period of time during which you actually practise it; this increased calmness doesn't translate into real life, you're as tense as ever before all day long. Or you perform the LBRP, the Bornless One, etc., feel on top of the world - but do these rituals change you on a fundamental and profound level, too? Or you invoke a powerful godform and feel omipotent but in real life, you're just the poor shmuck as always.

Self-transformation has always been a major obsession of mine. Like so many people before, I've found that willpower alone just doesn't work, there has to be some emotional shift involved as well. I've only ever changed (or become 'wiser') because of grave failures, catastrophes and severe disruptions in my life, and then not always. So can magic actually change and transform you? Am I chasing a phantom here doing all these exercises?

 

[HoldAll]

Like I tried so many little tricks and routines to try and get me to work out t regularly, and then one day I woke up and it was like the decision had been made for me and it was just "that's a thing I do now, I go to the gym regularly", in my head, without any struggle of resistance.

Same thing happened to a friend of mine - she gave up smoking from one day to the other just like that because she was suddenly fed up with that habit, not because she had planned it beforehand, it simply felt right to stop. I've heard about other people giving up a bad habit in a similar way. It would be nice to explain this phenomenon by saying, ok, I've planted a conscious decision in my subconscious, it just needed time to come to fruition... maybe that's the way magic can work in such cases, and as a plus such a change of lifestyle would be neatly 'organic' since it involves no coercion and no 'conquering of the weaker self'.

Your reply was a useful bit of inspiration. Spells to increase willpower in order to overcome a bad habit, for example, may not be the way to go. If had used them to overcome procrastination (not a problem anymore), I would have only gotten into a pointless and intense fight with myself, procrastination tugging this way, a burning desire to become more effective the other, all overshadowed by pangs of conscience, disgust, forced eagerness, etc.; add a willpower spell into the mix, and you can kiss your peace of mind goodbye for the next foreseeable future-

Perhaps we tend to think to much in terms of 'focussing on a problem' and should rather go the indirect route instead, e.g. by planting a seed, forgetting about it and letting it develop the way it wants. Like thinking about the benefits of fitness, the cool breeze in your hair, the funny groans of the hardcore weightlifters at the gym, etc. instead of berating yourself for your laziness or making grand plans for exercising more. Something like that.

 

[Robert Ramsay]

I noticed that pretty much every good habit has almost been like a decision made for me that shifts me into a world where I do that thing

Ooh! That sounds just like my book!

If you can get into that other headspace directly, then great. But clearly that's the hardest option - jumping off a cliff instead of taking the stairs

My advice would be to use magic (visualisation or whatever works for you) to imagine yourself in that headspace. What would it be like to be the person in that headspace?

And then carry on doing the work, because, as we know, there is no substitute for doing the work

 

[Diluculo_DelFuego]

Thomas Lyam Christopher has a list in his book I'm studying and working through on red flags our mind will come up with to not do the work. Additional ones for me are ways to integrate new stuff into the daily Formula, shirking off the meditation, hurrying through the exercises for 9ne reason or another, silence vs others overheating what I'm doing, whether or not people will be offended by what I'm doing, etc.
We will always find ways to not do the work or the Great Work of Self Transformations, perhaps not through the transfer problem but by excuses to let the Guph, Nephesch, Id and Ego win, versus doing the Great Work, even if it feels like we are slaves to the work.

 

[pixel_fortune]

But clearly that's the hardest option

That's the thing, I'm not sure it IS the hard option. Trying a million little motivational hacks for years with very limited benefits is hard work. And yet, when I think about the times I've levelled up my habits, has it been that pushy voice and the hard work that's done it?

Honestly it doesn't seem like it. It just suddenly becomes my new brain state. Easy but mysterious.

The question is ofc whether the pushing is necessary ground state for the change in awareness. I don't know. My therapist thinks not? That the pushing self believes very intensely that it's needed, but it's actually making things harder. I'm not sure she's right, but it's a possibility I'm willing to entertain

 

[Robert Ramsay]

That's the thing, I'm not sure it IS the hard option. Trying a million little motivational hacks for years with very limited benefits is hard work. And yet, when I think about the times I've levelled up my habits, has it been that pushy voice and the hard work that's done it?

Honestly it doesn't seem like it. It just suddenly becomes my new brain state. Easy but mysterious.

The question is ofc whether the pushing is necessary ground state for the change in awareness. I don't know. My therapist thinks not? That the pushing self believes very intensely that it's needed, but it's actually making things harder. I'm not sure she's right, but it's a possibility I'm willing to entertain

My opinion is that the work you do pushes you towards the tipping point where the change occurs. Like Edison said when told how lucky he was: his reply was "Yes, and the harder I work, the luckier I get!"

It shouldn't be suprising that it 'suddenly becomes my new brain state' because all the changes that lead up to that moment are not taking place in your conscious mind. As with most things, your conscious mind is usually the last to know

 

[pixel_fortune]

It's definitely plausible, probably the most likely, but I'm not quite sure

There's also a bit of protestant-work-ethic brain that tells us "you have to struggle for everything, no such thing as a free lunch" - and that's not the whole story either. Sometimes a thing can just be easy, you get a moment of grace, you get a free lunch

That doesn't mean "don't work hard, assume everything will fall in your lap"

But I think sometimes people in my culture subconsciously take the hard path even when an easy one is available, to not just accept the freely given gift, and that's rigid and unhealthy too

As always, it's about discernment, not a blanket ruling. I'm not convinced enough yet that struggle is the only way here.

Regardless, I struggle on

 

[Roma]

Self-transformation has always been a major obsession of mine. Like so many people before, I've found that willpower alone just doesn't work, there has to be some emotional shift involved as well. I've only ever changed (or become 'wiser') because of grave failures, catastrophes and severe disruptions in my life

The human system is largely comprised of elementals that need to be controlled. Much of the control work is done by devas of various grades and it is those that the human spirit learns to manage.

Thus the human spirit drives the relevant deva (sacral chakra spirit) to manage/coordinate the human body: eating, smiling, crying, crawling etc. Some learn slower than others for various reasons including inherited trauma.

Later the human spirit drives the solar plexus deva to manage the emotions.

Later still, the mind and the heart come under proper management.

There is much focus, effort and temporary failure involved in all of these. Often the devas are not interested in their allocated control work.

The human spirit is attempting higher levels of management. This requires moving attention from old patterns and working to establish new patterns. For example, deciding not to be negative is the easy part, but rejecting every negative thought requires constant effort

It is helpful to avoid unpleasant humans. It is more helpful if the human spirit loves the human format into which it has been inserted

 

[KjEno186]

protestant-work-ethic brain

Having just finished Colin Wilson's book on Gurdjieff, there's a lot of emphasis on work from both the Gurdjieff and Ouspensky sides of the 'process' as each of them saw it. By many accounts, their methods did get results, yet both masters apparently died unsatisfied and sad. Wilson surmises that they both missed an important point: what he calls the 'peak experience' of consciousness. Well, next up for me will be Wilson's New Pathways in Psychology in which he explores the "peak experience" with Maslow. Who knew a study of magic would have such far ranging and diverse concepts?

Don't misunderstand me, though, since action is needed on our part. It is easy to confuse action with work, and it may seem like work in the beginning, just like guitar practice is "work" when one picks up a guitar for the first hundred times....

 

[Romolo]

Interesting to read you all on this crucial question.

I also believe such a self-transfer to be in-existent. The ever-spinning wheel of Tarot, walking the “Path”, the snake biting itself, alchemy “towards” gold… to me all those metaphors point at an ever-going movement. Things have to be repeated endlessly, possibly forever, and only in that process, the understanding of these experiences gets transfused into our soul, like the dynamo that gives light to the bike. This is not a sad revelation, but the beauty of it all.