Life as a Labyrinth: Who Writes the Rules of the Game?

Imagine that our entire life is a vast Labyrinth with endless corridors, crossroads, and forks. Every day, we choose which path to take, unaware of what awaits us around the next corner. It could be a joyful encounter, a valuable discovery, a new opportunity... or a dead end, an unpleasant clash, a disappointment.

Here’s the most intriguing part: while inside the Labyrinth, you cannot see it in its entirety. You cannot peek around the corner or climb the walls to look down and understand where a particular path leads. All you can do is move forward, guessing, speculating, listening to your thoughts and feelings, hoping you’ve chosen the right way.

But the "Dark Forces," if they’ve already established a stable connection with your Subconscious, have one enormous, unfair advantage. They exist outside your Labyrinth. They see it from above, as if it were a map. To them, you are an open book. They know exactly where an aggressive dog awaits you around one corner and where a future business partner might be found around another. They see where the "treasure" (a joyful event) lies and where the "trap" (a negative event) is hidden. Most importantly, they begin influencing your choices in the Labyrinth through the process of shaping your thoughts.

When a negative event occurs in your life, followed by a series of new misfortunes, this is a clear sign that you’ve already fallen under the influence of the "Dark Forces." By constantly dwelling on negative thoughts, you help them entrench themselves in your Subconscious and influence the formation of new ideas in your life.

Once they gain the ability to participate in creating your thoughts, the "Dark Forces" begin steering your life, increasing the likelihood of negative events and reducing the chances of positive encounters and experiences. As the saying goes, they have a "bird’s-eye view" — they know precisely when and where you’re most likely to run into trouble. All they need to do is guide you there — for example, by planting a sudden idea to go somewhere.

You might think, "Why not visit that café I haven’t been to in a while?" without suspecting that this "your" thought was skillfully "planted" so that you’d encounter someone who would ruin your mood for the next week. By acting on what seems like your own decision, you may, in fact, be following a route laid out for you by the "Dark Forces," heading straight into another dead end, another disappointment.

By creating a favorable environment for the "Dark Forces" and letting them into your life (even unknowingly), you gradually lose control over your life’s path. More and more negative events appear on your journey due to poor decisions rooted in thoughts shaped by their influence.

To them, you are like a marker on a map where they can see everything. On this map, there’s you and various places with people or situations where, if you come near, you’ll very likely receive another dose of negativity: a dog might bite you, a criminal might rob you, or some other unpleasant event might occur. And once again, you’ll "chew over" these new negative thoughts, maintaining the favorable environment for the "Dark Forces".

This "black streak" can last a very long time because the "Dark Forces" clearly see where and when you could meet people or experience events that would bring you joy and positive emotions — thereby diminishing their influence in your Subconscious. And they will do everything to prevent this. Once you become their "victim," breaking free from their grip becomes harder with each passing day, especially if you take no action and let things run their course.

The Battle for Control Over Your Labyrinth

Maintaining a stable connection with your Subconscious and feeding on your negative energy is no easy task for the "Dark Forces" — it requires constant effort. If it becomes increasingly difficult for them to create negative situations on your path — traps you keep falling into — they will eventually lose the ability to influence the formation of your thoughts. This means they’ll lose their "home" and source of nourishment.

This happens because the emotional significance of events gradually diminishes over time, like a battery losing its charge, weakening its impact. As a result, you simply run out of negative material to "chew over," the favorable environment for the "Dark Forces" begins to crumble, and they lose control over your thoughts — and thus, over the events in your life.

Obviously, they don’t like this at all. So they work diligently every day to create a comfortable setting inside your Subconscious — that’s their job.

Their activity is similar to our daily lives. For example, when you buy an apartment, the first thing you do is renovate, bring in furniture and appliances — creating a comfortable environment for yourself. After all, no one wants to live among bare walls. Then you regularly maintain order and cleanliness to keep your home pleasant.

Dust constantly accumulates in the apartment, everything gradually gets dirty, and you start feeling uncomfortable. So you make an effort to clean up and restore coziness. The "Dark Forces" follow the same principle: they live and feed on the negative energy you emit. But if this energy supply stops over time, they’ll grow uncomfortable, lose their connection with your Subconscious, and be forced to leave.

They desperately want to avoid this. To prevent it, by embedding themselves in the process of forming your thoughts and ideas, they begin "chiming in," lobbying for their interests and increasing the likelihood of new negative events in your life. These events will once again make you dwell on them for a long time, generating negative energy and maintaining a favorable environment for the "Dark Forces." They won’t willingly abandon their cozy "home" — just as you wouldn’t leave your house for no reason. In their desire for comfort, they are no different from us.

Looking around, you’ve probably noticed happy, joyful people and wondered: "Why can’t I live like that? I want that too!" And your Subconscious tries to offer ideas on how to change your situation. But here’s the problem.

If you’re already under the influence of the "Dark Forces," they will participate in shaping these thoughts. And most likely, the ideas they suggest will lead you to another dead end and even greater disappointment. Why? Because the "Dark Forces" don’t want to leave their "dwelling," where they receive steady nourishment, and will do everything to stay there as long as possible.

This means that if you’ve been stuck in a "black streak" of misfortune and bad luck for a long time, even the most brilliant idea that comes to mind today will likely lead you to another dead end. Simply because this idea has been "worked on" by forces with far greater abilities to analyze information and foresee events than you possess.

As a result, your life becomes increasingly sad and bleak, while theirs, on the contrary, is a "celebration" of comfort. A cruel paradox arises: you strive for happiness and joy, while they, to thrive, need the exact opposite — for your life to be painted in dark tones.

At the same time, they may employ different tactics depending on your personal traits and vulnerabilities.

• Sometimes they exploit vices. For example, if someone is prone to arrogance and pride, they might initially "help" them by guiding them toward success and power through seemingly brilliant but risky ideas. The person rises higher and higher, their ego grows, and with it, their sense of superiority over others. Meanwhile, the "Dark Forces" bide their time, waiting to lead them to the edge of a cliff and then "plant" one final, fatal thought that will make them take the wrong step and plunge into the abyss. The higher the rise, the harder the fall — the greater the grief, despair, and, consequently, the more abundant the "food" for them. We’ve all heard stories of sudden downfalls of seemingly invincible people — bankruptcies, prison, severe illness, accidents, betrayal by loved ones. Such stories often happen to people radiating the negative energy of arrogance. This is a clear sign that the person is under the influence of the "Dark Forces," and a heavy price in the form of great sorrow is imminent. "The rich also cry" — this isn’t just a saying but a reflection of real-life situations. Wealthy people have no special protection against the "Dark Forces," because they don’t want your money — they want the energy of your negative emotions: anger, grief, disappointment, and the like.
• For people prone to greed, envy, resentment, or despondency, the tactic may differ. They don’t need one big "explosion." It’s more profitable for them to maintain a constant, routine stream of minor misfortunes. They’ll "suggest" ideas that lead the person to bad deals, make them trust unreliable people, or direct them to buy the exact product that turns out to be defective. This steady trickle of minor negativity, which the person blames on "bad luck" or "cheaters," keeps them perpetually irritated and dissatisfied — a stable source of nourishment for the "Dark Forces."
• For those prone to fear, anxiety, and suspicion, a special tactic is employed — the "confirmation through route" method. Their approach isn't to create danger out of thin air, but to skillfully guide the person to where he'll find confirmation of his fears. For example: A man is afraid of dogs. Normally, he walks home along a well-lit main street. But today, a "rational" thought suddenly pops into his head: "Why not take a shortcut through that vacant lot behind the garages? It'll be faster." He follows this "his own" idea — and it's precisely in that vacant lot, where stray dogs often gather, that he encounters a barking pack. The Dark Forces didn't create those dogs; they merely suggested the worst possible route, presenting it as the most advantageous one. Or: A man dreads confrontations and feels anxious about returning a defective product to the store. A thought occurs to him: "I should go right now during lunch break to get it over with quickly." He arrives at the store at peak hours, encounters exhausted and irritable staff, waits in a long line, and ends up in a far more stressful and unpleasant situation than if he'd gone at a quieter time. Each such seemingly independent decision that backfires serves as "proof": "See? The world really is dangerous! Your fears are justified!" Gradually, the man's world shrinks to the size of his fears. He starts avoiding any potentially "risky" routes or situations, and this perpetual state of anxiety becomes a reliable and inexhaustible source of nourishment for the Dark Forces.
• Other times, they use the most insidious tool of all — inaction. Through laziness, apathy, or procrastination, they can make you fail to do something important. For example, you were too lazy to meet up with friends — and missed the chance to meet someone who could have offered you your dream job. Or you skipped work today out of laziness — and got fired, fined, or severely reprimanded, adding another dose of negativity to your life. Or you postponed a doctor’s visit — and the illness progressed to a more severe stage. The result is the same: disappointment and negative emotions.

So, it turns out that a person under the influence of the "Dark Forces" finds themselves in a kind of "vicious circle." They try to escape the "black streak," but any ideas or plans they come up with are likely already "tainted" by the influence of the "Dark Forces" and will probably lead them to another dead end. Life becomes like wandering endlessly through a hostile Labyrinth where you’re not the one writing the rules.

Breaking free from this influence becomes harder with each passing day, especially if you do nothing and let things drift. Some people live like this almost their entire lives, growing accustomed to misfortune and accepting it as the norm.

But there is a way out. And it doesn’t involve learning to "outplay" the Dark Forces at their own game. It lies in breaking that very stable connection that gives them the ability to influence you. You need to "evict" them from their "comfortable home" in your Subconscious and learn to maintain your inner world in such a state that they have nothing to "latch onto."

Even after this, there may be moments when you briefly "send out a signal" — like that mobile phone that connects to the network for a few minutes. But this fleeting contact will be insufficient to establish a stable connection with you. Because now you’ll know how it works and understand the consequences. You’ll be armed with knowledge and techniques that allow you to quickly "disconnect" from this network, silence the signal, and return control of your life to your own hands.

This is precisely what the next steps in our book are about. We’ll learn to recognize the signs of such influence in ourselves and then master tools that will reliably help you sever this vicious connection and finally begin building your life’s path the way you want it — not the way the "Dark Forces" have planned it for you.

So before we can chart our own course, we need to conduct an audit of our inner world to identify exactly where those "cracks" in our defenses are — the ones through which they gain influence. This is our first and most crucial step.

Proceeding to: "Step 1 — Self-Diagnosis".