This post is aimed at newcomers to Zevism and those who feel lost on the path. Nearly everyone reading this is dedicated by blood to Lord Zeus. However, there are different levels of dedication and commitment to this path. For most people, the time after finding the ToZ is one of excitement and exploration. They study anything and everything on the website and forums, perform the dedication ritual, experiment with different meditations, try advanced practices that they’ve clearly read are not for beginners but try them anyway, and in general feel like a little kid who's stumbled into a different universe. After a while, the excitement fades; they see the long road ahead, settle into a meditation program, and just carry on with their lives.

Unfortunately, this is where I see a lot of SS stay. We all have lives, jobs, responsibilities, etc., so especially as beginners, our meditations often take a back seat to everything else going on and not much effort is put into them.

If one keeps devoting little time and attention to their spiritual development, this will be reflected in the results they get. It's natural, then, for their meditations to become increasingly mediocre and feel like a chore. People are taught to judge the value of an activity based on the results they get, which can be very difficult for someone who is spiritually blind and cannot see or appreciate them. This is perhaps the most dangerous period in a Zevist's journey, as one can spend years like this without seeing very many results, becoming increasingly disillusioned and losing faith in oneself and in the Gods.

Some give up, thinking they can never make any progress. Others stay on the path out of a sense of duty; they have made a commitment to Lord Zeus after all, so they continue to meditate, but they are just "going through the motions" and not really meditating. They sit in meditation, but in reality they may be thinking about their day or the video game they want to finish and not paying attention to their practice. At this point, they are "meditating" just to say they did it and not feel guilty.

In the beginning, it’s often hard to see results. There are many areas one could be lacking in, such as difficulties with visualization, a lack of focus, not knowing the correct pronunciation for words of power, dirt and curses in the soul, are only a handful of factors that can combine to the point where one may not "see" the results of their labor until they work to improve them.

It takes time to open the mind and peel away the many layers of delusion that keep one trapped in the lowest levels of consciousness, but as the process continues, one will begin to see the positive changes in their life and start to take meditation seriously and even crave it. A feeling of hunger awakens in the meditator, and one begins to do their best every day, knowing that they are solely responsible for their advancement. At this point, the idea of slacking off doesn't even arise; one has made Zevism a priority in their life or even dedicated their whole life to it.

Newcomers to the path cannot reasonably be expected to be like this innately; it takes a certain level of growth and maturity that comes from experiencing the benefits of meditation, feeling the influence of the Gods in their lives, and seeing just how much one has evolved through them, among other things. Again, this is a process, and it takes time. This occurs naturally for most people, but it saddens me to see others who spend years wandering in the dark, resigning themselves to their fate, and giving up because they never really tried their best, consistently.

The Gods can only teach you if you let them, and are willing to listen. Frequently, the Gods will show an initiate what they are doing wrong, but they are often too dense to recognize the signs. If you keep failing at something or just can't seem to progress beyond a certain point, instead of stubbornly persisting, getting discouraged, or giving up, it's always a good idea to step back and reflect, look for the reasons why with an open mind, and not be intimidated by the answer. You may find the thing that is holding you back is something that takes a lot of time and effort to master, but without it, you can never move forward. I see many avoiding the tough lessons and focusing on the seemingly "easier" and more "fun" meditations and practices. This is wrong.

If you never take the time to master your mind through void meditation or learn how to enter a trance, you won’t make it far into the advanced meditations. If you have never done yoga or flexibility exercises in the past, the first couple months of your yoga practice will not be pleasant, but without going through the effort of making your body more flexible, you cannot enjoy or reap the full benefits of yoga. All problems become smaller if you don't dodge them but confront them. There are certain things on this path that are unavoidable; remaining ignorant and neglecting them while focusing on other aspects of your development will only slow you down or even halt your progress completely.

If you find that you have gone too long without making any meaningful progress and feel stuck and unmotivated, there is a way to change that. Decide now that the next time you sit down to meditate, you will give it everything you've got and strive to do your best, be it meditation, yoga, rituals, whatever it is, put all your effort and attention into it. Acknowledge that you are at a certain level of development, that you alone have the power to rise above it, and that if you consistently do your best, it is only a matter of time until you do! Notice how different your meditations feel when you always strive to do your best.

Now, if you have rushed into doing the advanced meditations without building a strong foundation, no matter how hard you try, you likely won’t do much. If you have the goal of performing a specific meditation, break it down and see what skills are necessary to perform it, such as being able to enter a deep trance, having good visualisation, and so on. Work to master the basics and build on top of them. Gradually, as you expand your skills and move on to more advanced meditations, you will find yourself full of motivation and drive to keep going, as it will be obvious to see how far you've come.

I have found that dedicating some time every day to improving, even a little bit, has a tremendous snowball effect over time. Just take 10–20 minutes out of your day to reflect, ask yourselves what areas you are lacking in, and work on them. The improvements you will make by doing this are incomparable to the slow and gradual refinement over years of doing the same thing over and over again. For me, it is one of the hardest things to do, especially at the end of the day when I’m tired and mentally exhausted, but it’s where you make the difference.

If you imagine that every day of your life is like a school exam, and at the end of it you get a grade based on your performance, if you just do the same thing the same way every day without trying to improve, you will get the same grade with very little improvement over a long period of time. If you prepare for the exam the day before, you will naturally get a better grade. Small, consistent improvements add up over time and lead to significant progress towards your advancement.

So, ask yourselves from time to time: "How dedicated am I—not just to Father Zeus but to myself and my own advancement?"

Lastly, for those who are just embarking on their journey, do not be discouraged by reading the accounts and experiences of senior members and comparing them to your own. You are not them, and you don't know how much work they have had to put in to get where they are. Simply walk the path the best you can every day, and as you do, things will fall into place for you. Spiritual development is not something you can rush.