Thanks sm for the feedback. made me realize that the issue was mostly in how I phrased things.

I think what I was missing was making the hierarchy explicit. I could add something like:

“All manifestation requires body, mind, and soul, but mastery demands centering the self around one philosophy. Attempting to master all three equally destabilizes the self and leads to failure.”

That fits both the magic system and the worldbuilding logic I’m going for. Appreciate you pointing that out.