It seems to me the bits of cloth Stalker uses to find traps might be seen as metaphors for worry. Always he throws them out, and never do we see a trap. One readily imagines what would have been possible with modern American special effects artists.
As I recall, Stalker did make reference to losing people, so presumably he had seen actual traps, but for us, the viewers, it is suspense which never results in actual danger. For all we can tell, all of them could have walked straight to the room.
And he is accused of meandering by one of them. I forget the details of the dialogue, but let’s approach this metaphorically.
Do you want to know the truth about life? What is really real? Or do you dread it, fearing meaninglessness, and complete collapse? Do you believe others should believe things, but find yourself unable to do it yourself?
You are circling. And you will necessarily create these elaborate cognitive traps, which segment one part of you from the other. You will create thought rituals, which you do not even recognize. What you will never to do is put what belief you have to the test.
And so you wait, which we are told is the “condition” of “modernity”. In reality, cultural modernity is a creation of monied intellectuals, people paid well preach hopelessness. Our universities are filled with them.
Questions as to the meaning of life necessarily begin, when done properly, wwith questions about the context within which we live. Are the brain and soul the same thing? Does consciousness cease with death? Are we connected in non-physical ways? Is there a consciousness underlying this universe? Since these are questions about reality, they are NECESSARILY empirical questions. These are not philosophical questions. The question, then, is one of tactics, and not aim.
But it is the height of idiocy to derive necessary conclusions from false premises and consider oneself clever, as most modern intellectuals do.
They view their plight as inescapable. This is risible foolishness. There they lie, thrashing about, complaining of thirst, surrounded by water.