Easy practice, difficult discovery

Meaning

II.2.10 distinguishes the alleged ease of practice once the matter is known from the difficulty of finding it. The author says forty years have passed since he first caught its scent and that among the inquisitive people he has known he has not found six who knew it. These statements establish the stance of an experienced but selective witness; they are autobiographical and rhetorical claims, not verified counts of practitioners or a promised timetable for another reader.

The distinction explains why apparently plain language can coexist with a highly restricted disclosure. A simple performance does not entail an easily identifiable subject. The passage also warns against confusing the endpoint of a process with its intended good. Discovery must find the right beginning and purpose, not merely repeat an operation that looks familiar.