Obstacles
Gnostic Manichaean Teachings of Miryai Mt.
In the Living Gods, Let the hallowed Light of Transcendant Truth be praised. Let the Sweet Mystery of Miryai awaken in the heart of hearts.
In the name of the Living Gods let hallowed Light be praised. 
 
 

OBSTACLES

For western students living in afluent first world countries, especially the US, these are a few of the major obstacles to advancement:
 

• Nervous flighty energy from too much stimulus, primarily from unwholesome foods and drinks full of chemicals, processed flours and sugars, but also from too much noise from electronics, other nervous people, traffic and so on. Too much visual stimulation is also a problem, coming in the form of too much glitter, too many signs, too much movement of cars, people, flashing images on television, and so on. This stimulus makes it difficult for the mind to think deeply about the Teachings. Instead, it perceives the need to stay alert to outside movement since so much of it is going on. Early morning hours, before too much stimulation has occured, is the best time to study for those who are encumbered by this onslaught of noise warned against in the ancient scrolls. Retreats can afford some relief to this problem for a limited amount of time. This is not so much a problem for my younger students just beginning the Path, more so for older ones...
• Proliferation of information that obscurs the more precious truths, hiding them behind an avalanch of data, misinformation, and half truths. This is especially true of the internet. One can read a thousand books and still not encounter a good one, or go to a hundred web sites and receive nothing but misinformation or half truths. Discernment and guidance alleviates this to a degree.
• Encoded cultural bias and prejudices which unconsciously influence one to reject truths and traditions that conflict with early training. Impressions made on the thoughts and feelings before the conscious mind fully developed are had to see, hard to understand, and very hard to alter. Later input from mass media and cultural conditionings continue to deepen and strengthen these early concepts, making them very hard to overcome. An example is the western concept of Jesus -- a celibate ex-Jew forgiving everyone and promoting his own divinity and importance and dying for those who repent of the actions not approved of in ones society. Typical westeners have an inate scepticism of anything that conflicts with this false image, even if they were not raised religiously. This comes from early conditioning and must be overcome.
• Need and desire to advance in society, to acquire and manage vast material possessions, and to generally keep up with the pace and pattern of the surrounding peoples. This has the net result of severily limiting the time and energy available for more important things. When time is alloted to spiritual matters, this mass of material demands constantly distracts and beckons one back into the unreal world of possessions, status, material security and affluence, and so on.  This is perhaps the main reason why young people, with fewer material concerns, are more likely to progress in the Gnosis. On the opposite end, those with great worldly success are sometimes so bored with the scramble up the economical ladder that they too become open and poised for the journey inward. These oft have much to manage however, which can limit their dedication.
• An un-natural urban lifestyle far removed from the natural world, far from the production and processing of food, with no hands on work or creative expression, and divorced from the natural light and dark cycles and alterations of the seasons. These things make it hard for the mind to get itself around teachings and activities harmonized with the rythymns of the natural world and with those of the agricultural year. This natural outer flow is used on the Path to elucidate the spiritual flow within. The lack of internal serenity and harmony with nature is a major symptom of modern urban life which makes it very difficult to absord the hidden messages of light encoded in the Calendar of Gnosis.

And for all students everywhere, there are these distractions:
 

• Unsympathetic spouses or family members who mock, silently frown upon, or otherwise distract one from pursuing deeper development. After a full year of patient waiting, a sincere student is allowed to move on from these restrictions, sometimes sooner...
• Secret vices that consume too much energy and which taint the mind from freely accepting and understanding Naziruta. Sacrifices of bad habits and urges must be addressed by all. 
• Lack of good nourishment and health of body, and lack of proper education of the mind. Cured, of course, by a proper vegan diet of low fat plant based foods and starches and continued study of authentic texts and teachings.

Impropper motivations and hidden agendas such as the desire to be important and have various offices or titles conferred upon them, the urge to flaunt ones knowledge to others and be an authority, the agenda of participating not for deeper transformation but instead to pursue romantic or sexual desires, a desire to outshine or "dethrone"ones teacher, and so on.