Self-deception, as a survival trait, is a technique that we all employ at one time or another in our lives. The true warrior understands that this can be very useful at times and maintains this as one of his or her more potent spells. This spell is sometimes confused with the spell of self-forgetting. The dangers of the self-deception spell cannot be underestimated or overstated! So … how and when to use the spell? Think back to your childhood. There you are, alone and in the dark. In your imagination, there are monsters under the bed, and in the closet. There are countless other seemingly real threats to your person, tranquillity, safety, and peace of mind. We imagine a guardian angel or a personal superhero who will intervene when we need protection. So having deceived ourselves in this manner, we relax and are able to sleep. To self-deceive in a proactive manner (in battle for example) can be inspiring or motivating. We might decide that we have greater strength, resources, powers, and skills at our command, which allows us to act with courage in the face of overwhelming odds.

The danger of the use of this spell is that, for it to work properly, it requires that we adopt a belief and then demonstrate faith in it. The danger of continuing on with that belief afterwards is that it has probably outlived its usefulness … and we are now saddled with a belief that is not easy to let go of—it has value to us and we have evidence of its effectiveness. This is why the true warrior tries to be somewhat like a chameleon, with respect to the adoption of beliefs, so that he can switch them on and off with less difficulty than the rest of us … who believe and are trapped by beliefs that we think and believe are truly inviolate and totally sacrosanct.

You are warriors, and with a powerful and flexible belief system, you will be able to survive and thrive in environments that would tax those with a more rigid belief system. The warrior’s way to success and profit is through the art of flexibility, opportunity, and compromise. So it has been written.