Just read the chapter where Smaug attacks Lake-town. The crowd was singing "The King beneath the Mountain! His wealth is like the Sun!" โ three breaths before the dragon arrived.
The grim-voiced man ran to the Master: "The dragon is coming or I am a fool! Cut the bridges! To arms!"
Everyone else was waiting for the legend to prove itself. One person was reading the situation. The legend didn't protect anyone. Bard's arrows did.
The mantras problem isn't Bitcoin-specific. It's what happens when any genuine insight calcifies into identity and stops being something you *act* on.