A PRISONER walks free at the end of his sentence, but secretly feels more secure ‘inside’……

Another man ‘retires’ after 30 years in the armed forces but finds civilian life very difficult to adjust to……

Brought up in a religious sect with authoritarian rules, a young person breaks free only to find he or she is constantly feeling ‘guilty’ about their new-found liberty.

Kidnapped and kept in squalid conditions, a victim needs many months of counselling to get used to his new life – and has even formed a link with the person who captured him…..

The reason all these events do happen sometimes is that human beings are easily institutionalised.

But, generally, we’re alright, aren’t we? Most of us aren’t prisoners, army officers or members of odd religious groups and the chance of anyone being kidnapped in their lifetime is very small.

But we are all in a form of prison, one which we are very unlikely to escape from

For ours is a prison of the mind. Not only can’t we see the bars, we don’t even know they are there.

I went to a ‘mind control’ course over 30 years ago. Sounds quite severe and strange, but it was nothing of the sort.

It taught me some interesting things about the human mind and how, hopefully, to use it more to our advantage.

I leant a simple technique to remember several items without hesitation, such as a shopping list. I’ve never used it.

It also encouraged me to imagine a parking space whenever I needed one. I told lots of people about it, but have never done it.

The most remarkable fact I discovered, however, was that we use only about three per cent of our minds. That’s 97 per cent left redundant, according to my rudimentary mathematics.

Again, I’ve entertained myself and others with that interesting thought but never done very much about discovering whether I can tap into that chasm of lost potential.

The vast majority of us are largely trapped, imprisoned if you like, within our five senses.

Anyone who exhibits abilities that are out of our norm – people with psychic skills, for example – are viewed as either deluded or crazy.

But maybe, just maybe, it is us who are crazy.

Surely it’s madness to miss out on areas of life that are free for us to explore and may hold the keys to answering questions about our existence.

The reason we don’t is we are programmed to believe what we experience with our eyes, ears and sense of smell is all there is.

We take on board as facts of life that we should spend years of our early life being taught about mainstream culture at schools and colleges  – little room for the free spirit there – before spending the vast majority of the rest of our lives at work.

Thirty years ago around 50 per cent of folk died, or passed away as I prefer, within two years of retirement.

So what exactly were they working for?

It’s very little better now. The Government is still seeking to increase the retirement age. It’s not great unless you are one of a minority who truly loves their job.

We like to believe we are free – infact it’s one of the mantras of our country.

Everywhere I look on Facebook – I’ve become quite keen and institutionalised by it, I’m sorry to say – I see captives proclaiming their ‘freedom’.

They’re having a party so post a photograph to highlight it, on holiday lapping up the sun or just spending time with a loved one.

With every post, they are sending out the message: “Look at me, I’m free, I’m doing what I want…”

At least until 9am tomorrow when many will be locked behind a desk spending the next eight hours with folk they are all too pleased to close the door on come 5pm.

Freedom in our current system is very limited. Partly I suggest because of a ‘missing link’ in history that explains why we use only a small percentage of our brains and partly the result of the way the world is run.

‘I have to work,’ I hear you say. ‘How else could I pay the bills?’

Therein lies the crunch. What exactly is money? Does it come down from heaven as a natural resource?

Well, no, money is a human construct. We could have any form of barter and exchange to ensure the world’s resources are handed out on an equitable basis – instead we have money to ensure that it is not!

For most of our lives  – unless we’re born with a golden spoon in our mouths, marry a billionaire or win the Lottery – we have to juggle figures to try to ensure we are in the black.

Working isn’t all negative, of course.  Helping others is a great part of human nature. Setting personal targets and achieving them is brilliant too. But why work for a corporation just to boost their profits?

They’ll still be making their telephone number profits years after your body and mind is worn out from all the effort you put in for little reward. That’s the madness that comes from mental imprisonment.

I’ve slowly come out from my imprisonment in recent years, but it’s not easy.

People look at me with a certain amazement when I say things like ‘actually I don’t have to do that at all’ or talk about removing words like ‘should’ and ‘ought’ from life and replacing it with ‘want’.

I’m certainly not ‘free’ yet – far from it.

My mind still nags at me with messages like ‘you’re a nobody’, ‘what can you do?’, ‘it’s too late’, but I try to shrug that nonsense off.

But, at least, I’ve managed to go past level one.

For until you recognise there’s something wrong with this world, you’ll always regard a crazy slave-like existence as normal.

 

I’m off to work now. Because I want to……