Triple trap of ignorance

So many of us keep struggling constantly with our daily lives. Buddha categorized the people into 4 categories:

1. Moving from darkness to darkness
2. Moving from light to darkness
3. Moving from darkness to light
4. moving from light to light

The first category of people are not aware of their true nature and are trapped in ignorance. They are moving from ignorance to more ignorance. The second category of people is moving from awareness to ignorance. The third category of people is moving from ignorance to awareness. The fourth category of people is moving from awareness to more awareness. 

There is no conflict so long as we are moving towards darkness. There is no awareness or willingness to be aware of reality. People in such a state keep running after sensual pleasures, one after the other. Having tasty food, wearing expensive clothes, occupying powerful positions, accumulating wealth, having pleasure trips, and having a strong social network become the aim of their life. Life appears to be all good so far as the circumstances are favorable. 

It's not so that such people do not understand the temporariness of their possessions, but somehow they get trapped in the race for these accumulations. They have money sufficient for their lifetime and want to accumulate for their kids and then for the generations to come. They possess one house and want more houses. They have one car and want more cars. They have one powerful position and want more such positions. They try to handle the temporariness of these possessions by having more and more of these possessions. They fail to realize that the more they accumulate such possessions, the greater their maintenance cost on their time and energy and the less happy they feel. By the time, they get to know this truth, they are already trapped and waste their life in regrets. 

It's not so that these people are not intelligent. Even the most intelligent human beings on this earth are caught in this trap. This trap is a triple trap and operates at 3 different levels, namely:

1. Selective perception
2. Mental hallucination
3. Low threshold of body sensations. 

It's not so that the temporariness of the accumulations is not clear to these persons. Everyone sees how money and the entire network of relations did not work during COVID-19. Everyone sees the most healthy people becoming fragile in old age and dying. Everyone sees that the most powerful people become powerless very quickly. Nature is trying to make us aware of this temporariness all the time. However, we tend to selectively perceive these things. After a funeral, we come with a heavy heart and soon start running after the sensual pleasure. Our brain is quite smart at filtering unpleasant inputs and making us run after pleasure. We see what we like to see and ignore the rest. If a person decides not to see reality, nobody can make him see.

The second trap is the trap of mental stories. We keep thinking about our experiences and talking to different people about life experiences. While talking, we tend to make the mental stories that suit us. We see a friend living in an expensive house in a posh locality. If we have a deep desire to have such a house, the mind will start associating all types of comforts and pleasures with that house. The benefits of locality, peer group, available facilities, and the status symbol. The mind will cook all types of stories to buy the product and make it a dream. The reality may be quite different and the mind may be grossly unaware of all the facts. Yet, these mental stories decide our future decisions. We make such stories about all our relationships and positions in the organizations. I was actually surprised to see the responsibilities public servants have to face and the restrictions imposed on them by the conduct rules after getting into civil services. While preparing for civil services, the mind cooks many mental stories about the services. Mental stories act as a major trap for us. Our mental stories are reflections of our deep desires. 

Kaikeyi made such a mental story that Bharata would be very happy after becoming king. Vali made such a mental story about the deception by his brother Sugriva. Karna made such a mental story of being deprived of his rights. Parshuram made a mental story about the Kshatriyas and vowed to make the earth free of Kshatriyas. The moment we make any mental story, we become away from reality. 

The third trap is the trap of body sensations. The body and mind interact with each other on a moment-to-moment basis. When the mind sees anything it likes, it results in pleasant sensations in the body. If it sees anything it dislikes, it results in unpleasant sensations in the body. The body sensations also give feedback to the brain. For example, while feeling the heat, the body gives a signal to the mind to make efforts to move to a cooler place. 

There is a trigger point for these body sensations to activate our minds. We tend to substantially lower this trigger point due to our habit patterns and lifestyle. For example, during childhood, we go to school sitting on the buses, and in school, we keep studying with the bare minimum infrastructure. Despite all these challenges, we are able to focus on our studies because our trigger point is high. As we join AC offices and get the comforts of life, we get triggered by the slightest discomfort. As our body gets used to comfort, the trigger point becomes really low. Each such feedback of the slightest discomfort activates the brain to find a solution and we get trapped therein. We get used to security and safety and little conflicts in relations and the slightest criticism from colleagues also triggers the brain to action and we become tense. This low trigger point has implications in all aspects of life. We get triggered by the slightest discomfort and remain continuously in panic mode. This hardly leaves any time to be aware.

The easiest and surest way to connect to reality is to connect with the help of awareness of the breath. Breath is the bridge between the body and consciousness. The more we practice being aware of the breathing process, the more we become aware of the triple trap. As we gain awareness of reality, the triple trap starts losing its grip over our consciousness and the consciousness becomes free to explore.

The triple trap has its functional utility to keep us safe. The problem is not with this mechanism. The problem is with its misuse and overuse. With awareness, one can learn to put it in the right place.