The Rigid Path Illusion

Metaphorical Narrative

You stand in a vast field with endless exits all around. But ego paints a maze in front of your eyes.

It declares: “You don’t have this. To get this, you must first get that. And look — someone’s blocking that gate.”

The field shrinks into a single locked corridor. The phantom gatekeeper looms large. You pace, you fight, you exhaust yourself trying to push through the one narrow door ego has chosen.

Then something shifts. You step sideways — and the walls dissolve into thin air. The field is still there, wide open. The rigid path was never real.

Core Insight

Ego loves to invent dependencies: “Before you can have this, you must get that — and someone’s in the way.” This illusion reduces life’s infinite options into a single rigid track. But the walls are painted. Step aside, and they vanish.

Saturday Experiment

1. Catch the Formula → Notice when ego says, “First this, then that, or else nothing.”
2. Question the Gate → Ask: Is this the only route, or is ego narrowing the map?
3. Step Sideways → Take one alternative step — even symbolic — to prove the walls aren’t real.

Sunday Reflection

In third person, describe someone trapped in a narrow corridor, pounding on a locked gate guarded by a phantom. Then describe them stepping sideways into an open field, realizing the walls were never solid.

What changes when rigid paths dissolve into infinite routes?