TRAPS

Years ago I had the great fortune to meet an old man who was very wise. He taught me in a way that has proven valuable throughout my life.

I was discussing with him a philosophy I was then pursuing that I found very provocative and transforming.

He looked at me with his old furrowed face, his eyes twinkling beneath bushy eyebrows, and said, "Yes, methods can be useful."

He often had this habit of irritating me by stating the obvious, which in this case caused me to reply, "So? I know that. Big deal. That’s why I’m studying."

Then he looked at me deliberately and said, "Methods are, by definition, traps."

As usual, I had the feeling that I had bitten the lure and there he was reeling me in. He had all of my interest and attention. "Oh, I know what you mean," I said. "Methods are useful, but you have to be careful. As you use them, you don’t want to be trapped by them."

He looked at me with the fatherly look he sometimes gave me and shook his head. "No, that’s not what I meant. What I meant was, in order for a method to be truly useful, you must get trapped by it."

Once more, he had me, spinning my head like a top and generally befuddling my mind.

Soothing my bewilderment, he put his hand softly on my shoulder and said, "So, my blessing to you is that when you are exploring a method, you do so fully - go for it 100 percent, get trapped by it. But when that method begins to self-destruct, let it go. Don’t try to defend it or be evangelical about it, because as those walls around you called your method begin to crumble, your tendency will be to try to hold up the walls to make the method work like you thought it would work. But behind those walls are even more magic and power and" - he paused - "another trap."

"So go for the new method. Enjoy. When those walls around the new method, around the ‘new you,’ begin to fall and crumble, don’t try to hold them up. Let them go, because behind those crumbling walls are true miracles and power and - another trap."

"So go for it 100 percent. And when those walls of the new ‘new you’ begin to crumble, don’t try to hold them up. Let them go because behind them, there is even more magic and power and - another trap. So go for it..."

And on he went, six times, until I was lulled into a deep trance...and trapped.