Breaking Free from the Mind's Trap

There are countless ways to approach life, countless paths to walk, but there’s one approach that, if truly understood, can carry you all the way to the heights of spiritual realization. 

It’s a way of seeing the world that clears up all the mystical fog and brings the essence of life into sharp focus. 

Imagine trying to teach a fish that it’s in water—it’s a difficult task because the fish has never known anything else. 

It can’t see the water because it’s always been surrounded by it. 

And in many ways, this is exactly what’s happening to us with our thoughts.

Let’s do something different today. Imagine that your consciousness, your very awareness of being, is surrounded by an opaque diving helmet. This helmet is snugly around your head, completely blocking your view in every direction—except for a small window right in front of your eyes. 

Through this window, you can see what’s directly in front of you, but nothing else. 

For you, this window is your entire world. 

Everything outside of that view doesn’t exist because you can’t see it.

Now, let me let you in on a secret—there’s much more outside that diving helmet than just what you see through that little window. In fact, there’s a whole universe out there. But as long as you’re focused on that narrow view, you’ll never know it.

This is exactly what’s happening with your mind. 

You don’t need an actual diving helmet; your thoughts act as the barrier. These thoughts are like a thick cloud, swirling around the edges of your consciousness, blocking your view of anything else. 

They’re persistent, aren’t they? 

Thoughts like "You shouldn’t have done that," "He doesn’t really like you," or "Remember that embarrassing moment in 10th grade? I bet they remember it too," or “She’s probably going to end up leaving you like everyone else has in your life.” These thoughts are loud, intrusive, and relentless. But here’s the kicker: these thoughts only have power because you pay hyper attention to them. If your consciousness becomes absorbed in a thought, that thought becomes your entire world, just like the window in the diving helmet.

Think about it—when you walk into a room, there are countless things happening all around you. But if there’s a TV in the corner playing something that grabs your interest, your consciousness zeroes in on that TV, and everything else in the room might as well not exist. The people talking, the music playing, the sights and sounds—they all fade into the background because your attention is glued to that screen.

Now, you don’t need an opaque helmet to block out the rest of the room. The TV screen does that all on its own because it captures your full attention. Your thoughts work the same way. They don’t need to be physically blocking your view of the world. They only need to capture your attention, and once they do, they become your entire reality.

So here’s the truth: your mind is like that TV screen. When you focus on a thought, whether it’s positive or negative, your consciousness gets absorbed by it, and everything else disappears. You could be surrounded by the most beautiful, awe-inspiring world, but if you’re fixated on a scratch on your car or  worry about tomorrow’s meeting, that’s all you’ll experience.

Let’s say you notice a scratch on your car. Suddenly, that’s all you can think about. You’re driving, but your mind is stuck on that scratch. Everything else happening around you—other cars, the sky, the trees, the road—is invisible because your attention is locked onto that one thought. This is how we limit our consciousness. We get stuck on these tiny thoughts, and they become our entire universe.

But what if you didn’t do that? 

What if you didn’t let your consciousness get fixated on a single thought? 

What if, instead of staring at the TV screen, you took a step back and saw the entire room? You’d see that there’s so much more going on, so much more to experience, than just that one narrow view.

This is what the great spiritual teachers are talking about. When they say things like "mind minus mind equals God," they’re pointing to the fact that your consciousness, when not absorbed by thoughts, is infinite. 

You, in your essence, are infinite. But you don’t feel that way because you’re constantly limiting yourself to the finite—your thoughts.

Yogananda once said that God dwells right behind every thought. What does that mean? It means that the true essence of who you are, the divine consciousness, is right there behind all these thoughts, watching them. 

But you don’t see it because you’re too busy staring at the thoughts themselves.

Imagine someone asking you who you are. You might say, "I’m John Smith," or "I’m Jane Doe." But those are just names, just thoughts in your mind. If you were given a different name at birth, would you be a different person? Of course not. The name is just a label, a thought. The real you is the consciousness that’s aware of these thoughts, that’s watching them pass by like clouds in the sky.

This is the essence of spirituality—not controlling the mind, not stopping the mind, but simply ceasing to be absorbed by it. The mind is a wonderful tool, a brilliant computer that can solve problems, create art, and navigate the world. But it’s not you. It’s just a tool, and you are the consciousness that uses it.

When you stop identifying with your thoughts, when you stop letting them absorb your attention, you begin to experience the true nature of your being. And this is where the mystical experiences, the feelings of oneness with the universe, begin to emerge. They’re not something you create; they’re simply what’s left when you stop limiting your consciousness to the tiny box of your thoughts.

You might be thinking, "Okay, this sounds great, but how do I do it?" The answer is simple, but not necessarily easy: you practice. Just like you practice anything else, you practice not getting absorbed by your thoughts. You practice staying present, staying aware of the full room, not just the TV screen.

One of the most powerful practices is meditation. When you meditate, you learn to focus your consciousness away from your thoughts and onto something else, like your breath or a mantra. 

At first, it’s difficult. 

Your mind will keep trying to pull you back into your thoughts. But with time and practice, you’ll get better at it. You’ll learn to watch your breath without getting distracted, and in those moments, you’ll experience a glimpse of the infinite peace, bliss consciousness that you truly are.

And it doesn’t stop with meditation. As you go about your day, you can practice the same principle. When you find yourself getting absorbed by a thought, whether it’s about a scratch on your car, a worry about the future, or a memory from the past, gently remind yourself to step back. Don’t fight the thought, just don’t get absorbed by it. Let it pass like a cloud, and redirect your attention to the present moment.

This is how you break free from the mind’s trap. This is how you begin to experience the vast, infinite reality that lies beyond the narrow confines of your thoughts. And once you taste this freedom, even for a moment, you’ll never want to go back to the old way of living.

So start practicing today.

 Start noticing when you’re getting absorbed by a thought and gently pull yourself back.

Over time, you’ll find that your mind has less and less power over you. You’ll find that you’re more present, more alive, more in tune with the true nature of reality. And in that state, all the things that seemed mystical and strange will become clear, as you finally see the world as it truly is.

With love and in truth,

Arlin

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