Prisons of the Mind

Freedom of mind is the real freedom. A person whose mind is not free though he may not be in chains, is a slave, not a free man. One whose mind is not free, though he may not be in prison, is a prisoner and not a free man. One whose mind is not free though alive, is no better than dead. Freedom of mind is the proof of one's existence.
UNKNOWN

It is a familiar story. An elephant used to carry heavy loads and push down trees is kept in place by a rope tied to single stake in the ground. And what keeps him planted there? He remains planted there by the conditioning instilled in him when he was young and small and weak. Even after the elephant has grown large, he does not even try to tug at the rope that hinders his freedom. He doesn't know any better. It is not the stake that enslaves the elephant but his own mind.

I would like to say that human beings are more clever than this elephant, but they are not. They are also conditioned while they are young and learn not to question things. As such, they become slaves locked in mental chains. In time, they will even hate those who will attempt to set them free.

These are the prisons of the mind. It could be a religion or a philosophy. It can be a government or patriotism. It can be a race, a class, a tribe, or a family. People are born into and remain within prisons of the mind that they can escape at any time they choose, but they don't. Their fate is to be prisoners, and their fate is chosen.

Breaking free of the prisons of the mind is relatively easy. You merely need to question things. You only have to see and observe to free yourself. As Oliver Wendell Holmes put it, "The mind, once expanded to the dimensions of larger ideas, never returns to its original size."

Most people don't want this mind expansion. You can see this when they resist the knowledge that would set them free. They don't know, and they don't want to know. Ignorance is bliss, and there is no such thing as premature enlightenment. These people will not change their minds unless forced to do so by circumstances. But once set free, they cannot return to their prisons no matter what they do.

I know these mental prisons well because I used to live in one. A traumatic event occurred to me that set me free. It made me question what I knew, and I changed my mind. I escaped that prison. But it also made me wonder. What other prisons am I in? What other chains bind me? I did not know, and I would not know unless I learned to question everything. This questioning is what makes me free.

The enlightened mind is a liberated mind. Once liberated, the mind can never return to its former prison in much the same way the magic vanishes from a trick once its secret has been revealed. I am free. I can never be a prisoner in that jail again. Now, I am telling you what I learned. I am giving you the key to the lock. Question what you have been told. See the prison you are in. Find your way out.

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