Seeking, wanting to be different, wanting to fix… reading this with a purpose, Why?
What is the trap?
The trap is that any kind of doing, any idea of a choice, any intention acted upon, any belief of agency or control, any of these actually produces, creates a belief in a self.
Are we always in the trap?
No. When there is no reference back to the idea of a self, the trap is not sprung.
Once the trap is sprung, how do we get out of it?
You can’t!
Absolutely anything you do to get out of it only reinforces it.
Only by being very still, very silent and disappearing, will it open.
How do we do this?
You cant do it!
It can happen, but you have to find your way to a portal (Yes this is reinforcing the trap.) a portal through which the you, the self disappears and there is only happenings happening.
Even wanting this reinforces the trap.
..but let’s drop down a level and ask if this can happen without wanting it to.
Staying down at that level of subtlty and detail, let’s look at wanting…
When the idea of this first happened, there may have been a reaction of “this sounds good, i want it”
If we recognize that there is someone who wants it, then shift our focus to “it sounds good”, we soften the association between that mythical self and a possible happening.
If we see the happening objectively, then we recognize that it is a story that may or may not happen. As long as we don’t invest in that happening we don’t recreate the relationship to a self.
So now we have the idea that it would be good and we can put that idea in the background and focus on what it feels like - now - here.
Just description… to start with. Then go beyond word description (labels) to experiencing.
Here we are so involved in experiencing bodily sensations that any idea of who is experiencing is left behind. There is just… just THIS.
…and for a moment there is no trap.
The Trap
Jake sat in his chair with the same thought hammering: I need to fix this. I need to wake up. I need to get out of this trap.
He read the words on the screen:
“Seeking, wanting to be different, wanting to fix… this is the trap.”
He frowned. “What? That’s stupid. If I don’t do anything, I’ll just sit here forever.”
And in that very thought, the jaws closed. Snap.
The trap was sprung.
Because every attempt—every “I will”—wasn’t breaking it. It was building it.
He looked for a way out. Maybe meditate harder. Maybe read one more book. Maybe the next insight would finallycrack it.
But the more he reached, the tighter it clenched. Like quicksand. The more he fought, the deeper the “me” was sucked in.
Then, something odd.
He stopped. Not because he decided to stop. Stopping happened.
There was just the hum of the fridge. The feeling of breath sliding in and out. The weight of his hands on his knees.
For a split second, there was no Jake.
Just hum. Just breath. Just weight.
And then thought came back: Wait—was that it? Am I doing it?
Snap. Trap again.
He almost laughed. Because in that instant, he saw it.
Every movement toward escape was the trap itself.
There was no heroic breakthrough. No enlightenment fireworks. Just a clear, raw seeing:
The trap opens not by fighting it, but when the fighter isn’t there.
And in that silence—no Jake, no effort, no "doing"—life kept happening anyway.
The hum kept humming. Breath kept breathing. Fingers twitched. A bird screamed outside.
No one was controlling it.
And for a moment, nothing needed to be fixed.
Because there was no one left to be trapped.
Just this.
Now stop.
Right here, as you read this, notice:
Is there a you doing the reading?
Or is there just… reading?
If the thought “I am reading this” appears, watch it. See how it comes after the words are already seen.
The trap only bites when you believe that thought.
Stay here—at the raw hum, the breath, the feeling of the chair.
Look closer.
Without the story of “you,” where’s the trap?
Where’s the one caught?
The trap isn’t holding you.
The trap is you.
Every move to get out? That’s the trap tightening.
Stop.
No fixing. No trying. No “you.”
Look.
Breath. Sound. Tingling in your hands.
Already happening.
No doer. No trap.
Just this.
“The one trying to escape the trap is the trap.”
Look right now—without that one… where’s the trap?
Do you feel it?
That instant drop when there’s nothing left to fight?
For more pointers and suggestions, check out this link to vince-bot using the website as its knowledge base.
Vince Schubert YouTube Channel
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