Question: Since the last meditation, I’ve been exploring the idea that there’s something wrong with me, something that will be surfaced or exposed. I didn’t realize the extent to which I’ve been living with this sense of dissatisfaction within myself and with the fear of being seen.

There’s a very simple method to apply here. All we’re doing is understanding the true nature of our direct experience. You can see this in two (related) ways:

1. We’re going to deconstruct our conceptual model (“superimpositions”).
2. We’ll open directly to the actuality of our experience–sans model.

To explore the matter you raise, try this:

Whenever something seems sticky (e.g., “There’s something deep within, something wrong with me”), investigate it. How?

• Find out what sort of experience it is: in this case, it’s a thought, a feeling, or a sensation. Let’s stick with the sensation for the purposes of this illustration.
• Then look carefully at the sensation. What do you find?
• In this case, you don’t actually find “a basement” in which something hidden is laying in wait. But you might say: “I might not find it, but it might still be ‘there.’” Where is this “there”? Only in a thought. 
• Once it’s clear that there’s only this sensation and nothing more to it than that, then go back and “see how the sausage is made”–that is, understand how the conceptual model (“superimposition”) works. What you’ll discover is that a thought is making a certain claim. Like this: “There’s a trauma that’s stored down there, one I can’t see but shall surface.” And that thought is just an arising. Where is it arising? In the open sky of awareness.

The more closely you stay with the actuality of your direct experience, the more you’ll discover that there’s nothing to fear, no problem to face, no obstacle to surmount. Fears, problems, and obstacles are all “on the map” (i.e., only in thought), not “on the ground.”