The Proxy Trap

Proxy: the authority to represent someone

The proxy trap is the ultimate metaphor for our blind spot. The moon is the ultimate truth or reality, while the finger is the proxy.

When a finger points towards the horizon, the goal is for you to look past the finger and at the moon. But instead, humanity has a historical habit of stopping at the finger; it analyses the fingernail, builds a temple around the finger, and starts a conflict with anyone pointing in a different direction.

The tragic irony of the proxy trap is that the closer people look at the finger, the more convinced they are that they’re studying the moon.

So the problem is the ‘teacher’, the organisation, the followers … and us.