I have absolutely no interest in magick, alchemy, esotericism, or any of the other things I’ve spent most of my life studying and practicing. I don’t care about rituals, initiations, secret teachings, spiritual hierarchies, or collecting mystical experiences. I spent decades immersed in these things, and I understand their value. But they were never meant to become permanent occupations or identities. They were tools intended to accomplish something. The problem is that people become so attached to the tools that they forget what they were trying to accomplish in the first place. They build an entire identity around being a magician, an alchemist, or an initiate, and then spend the rest of their lives defending and reinforcing that identity. The very thing that was supposed to free them from the ego becomes another way of keeping it alive. The purpose of the Great Work is not to become a better magician or a more accomplished alchemist. It is to become free. Free even from the need to practice magick or alchemy. At some point, you have to stop preparing to live life and actually live. It. I want to practice my sword, drink my tea, spend time with my wife, and give my complete attention to whatever I’m doing. I have no desire to escape the world, transcend the material plane, or become something other than what I am. I spent years trying to reach something beyond ordinary life, only to discover that ordinary life was what I’d been looking for all along. If your spiritual practice never allows you to put it down, you haven’t found freedom. You’ve just built yourself another prison.