One of the greatest obstacles to success in Occultism is the average individual's ability to be satisfied with themselves after achieving absolutely nothing in regards to personal development (shown clearly by their words and actions), while deluding themselves into believing they have achieved a great deal. When a person develops their Occult abilities (which is in reality a fancy way of saying they learned how to concentrate) the world seems full of tiny children who stand next to sandcastles they have created, and constantly scream out to all around them that they have created a new revolutionary architectural masterpiece and a stupendous feat of engineering. This is especially true in regards to spirituality, as there are no real defined standards with which one can compare themselves to others (in the material world, it's easy to quickly prove that someone is inadequate in any of the fields-- by comparing the sand castle to a skyscraper for example). In the spiritual community, you will often find each person like a madman on his or her own island, screaming their own praises before exerting barely any effort... their kundalini is "awakened" because they had a strange dream one night or had a hot flash... they're a compassionate being helping and changing the world because one person thanked them for their advice... and so on. It is only when a person is capable of realizing that they have achieved nothing that they can begin to correct the situation and train to actually make progress, constantly humbling themselves and correctly identifying their faults. Another clear example of the ego deluding one into stagnation is, when individuals approach Astrology especially-- which is a science of CORRECT identification of natural phenomenon-- many constantly seek to rationalize how they embody any positive trait or characteristic described, and comfort themselves that a particular sign or combination represents a spiritual achievement or cause for proclaiming one's greatness to the world, using astrology to REINFORCE the ego rather than become aware of it. If you say any defined positive comment about any planetary position, people will often twist their perspective to view their chart in any way that might match that position... such as making a positive comment about Moon in Swati and having multiple people say they match the trait because they have Saturn in Libra in the Navamsha, or Swati as their 4th cusp, or something to that effect. This would not be so, so bad (as perhaps their trying to determine their own connection with the nakshatra)... but notice they will not do the same if something negative is said about Moon in Swati, and so are constantly exerting effort to guard themselves from seeing their flaws, and soothe themselves instead, even making a great stretch to try to match praise from a random astrologer. While it is perfectly fine to appreciate yourself and especially your hard-earned achievements, the vast majority of individuals today are so narcissistic that they live their whole lives possessing in abundance the simple keys that would make them great if they practiced them, and yet never practice them because they are so in love with themselves that they lull themselves into total stagnation. When a person embodies something, they do not proclaim it loudly and constantly. When a person does not embody something and their ego wishes to do so, they constantly proclaim that they are what they seek to be, in order to convince themselves (and others) that they are. It is important to remember that in regards to one's spiritual development and progress, "silence is golden" and is the supreme method for attainment. What one produces does all the speaking for them. A talented artist does not need to proclaim their talent, others do it for them. A "seductive" woman does not need to proclaim her seductive abilities because if she really were so tempting, others would do it for her. It is like this with anything in life, and those who constantly proclaim their skill or prowess usually never display any whatsoever... The act of doing so is nothing more than the mind inhibiting any progress that individual could make (or potential they had) by deluding them into believing that they have already made it. I can imagine-- from my own mind's habits-- that even many individuals reading this are stating to themselves, "I always am hard on myself and am never satisfied with my progress", because human beings constantly desire to delude themselves into believing that they do not fall prey to any negative behaviors when they are described, and vice versa (to find ways to identify with anything positive described). This may or may not be true about you, but if you feel very strongly that you are not these traits... remember that whenever a person feels the need to strongly proclaim that they do not perform a particular negative behavior, all that is often going on is an attack of conscience, which their mind immediately attempts to censor through proclaiming it "never" does that or "always" does this. But if the "shoe did not fit" so to speak, it would not have provoked this urge to declare an identity in regards to the matter.
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