Are the bars of your prison just an illusion?

Question

Perhaps the cage you were in was always open.

If you would step out now, where would you find yourself?

Answer 1

The "illusion" that its a "prison" is convinced strongly enough  by our own mind upon ourselves that we tend to believe there ARE these bars around us & most often the feeling can't be helped.

Answer 2

Bondage of consciousness seems to be real till we attain self-knowledge.

Answer 3

1st answer-No, they're not just an illusion, nothing you see or feel is an illusion, because they're still real in your mind, and whether they exist in the physical world or to anybody else in any way or not, you must still move past them.

2nd answer-if the cage i was always in was always open i would sit there and think for a little longer about how i got there, why i was there so long and why i wouldn't want to go back and how i wouldn't, and then leave.

3rd- i would find myself still in the place the cage was, (my situation/life/whatever) but ready to leave it all behind and move on.

♥♪

Answer 4

You are absolutely right.  We are all prisoner of self-created prison.  We just have to remove our mental blocks and be a good human being to be set free.

Answer 5

Good Question. What you have just said is very true. People imprison themselves sometimes out of the fact they did not realize the path to freedom was always in their ability and other times for fear of stepping out into the unknown. Essentially this leads to suffering and that is the underlying aspect to your question. Yet, just as the bars of your prison is an illusion, so is the suffering one feels-- for both have a clear pathway towards transformation and only what is keeping you confined is your illusion.

To answer personally about myself the bars of my prison are not an illusion because I do not create the illusion of confinement in my life. I realize more is within my control then out of my control. It is only I that can create the illusion of imprisonment and it is only I that can free myself from the illusion that there were ever any bars holding me back.

Answer 6

I don't have a prison within me.  Any barred prison is a perception, not an illusion, of a freedom not enjoyed.  Where one feels deprived of the things he wishes to do, he perceives locked within his own walls,.. unfulfilled, angry, and sad.  He then envies those who are free to walk in and and out of anything.  It is the lack of liberty in oneself that makes one feel he is within bars of a prison. A free soul won't allow himself to be hindered by any bar,.. and will go the distance... no matter where it leads.

Answer 7

It's amazing what a question like this conjures up in the mind of folk, and every answer just as interesting as the next one. For me, we are we are imprisoned by life itself. Our mind is imprisoned it this body of ours and in no way can we be free  until the earth receives our carcass. Then shall we truly dance.

Answer 8

Yes, maybe they are,, sometimes in life i have got out of my cage and been strong in the face of adversity, whereas other times i prefer to be shut in, whilst shut in, no one can hurt you or bother you. I think we all sometimes feel that we are trapped in a cage occasionally and need to find a sensible way out. If i stepped out right now, i would find myself somewhere that i may not want to be, however, at least it is reality,, but, is reality always a good thing? I agree about the cage always being open really, you just have to be brave, strong, sensible and come out of it and see where it leads you...

Answer 9

That is very true . Once you learn that you are the warden responsible for your own imprisoned mind .. you just stand up .. laugh with contempt at yourself .. ..  and walk free out of the prison of your own making .. contemplating the endless possibilities that life has to offer .

Answer 10

nah not necessarily an illusion...

but at the same time sometimes when we think that all the doors  are shut on our faces there is a small window somewhere that leads to other doors...

some people step out of small cages (like parental house) to find themselves in a bigger cage (like husband's house)

if it's the case one has to learn how to manage that small space in the prison and stay awake just in case the door opens up...

Answer 11

I think of Steve Hawking when answering this question.  Physically he might be trapped, but his mind must have traveled through the stars amount the Skywalkers.  :)  As for myself, I'm already everywhere that I wanted to be.

Answer 12

we feel caged... when our illusionery images have a dense cloud of ignorance ....we feel caged when our senses are overloaded....

feeling free or caged is absolutely illusionery... we can fly like superman even in deep prison at the same time we can be very dependent living with all the luxury....

such is the power of illusion..... it knows nothing of dogmas, conditions and rituals.... illusion  expresses self as the Imagination...

in fact it makes us free....

Answer 13

I would have to learn how to deal with certain subjects I have avoided. You have inspired me to focus on those issues. I always say freedom is the most important thing but never thought about facing the limitations so I can break free but I will do that now.

Answer 14

Probably yes. But you know its very hard to get out of that if you are on that mindset(although knowing that those bars are illusion your senses may continuously fool you.)

If i would have myself free, then probably i can express myself better(i can't/won't elaborate why because it very [personal])

but you know the fact i can't explain much of it or i don't understand it myself is the fact that i am still trapped in that cage not knowing what to do.

Answer 15

the mind makes it real.

Answer 16

Huh?

Answer 17

My illusions can be my prison.  There is a higher reality that is not accessible to me until I understand that my illusions hold me captive.  There is no need to step out only to connect with a higher awareness where I can realize freedom and see things differently.

Answer 18

Totally disagree, limitations and lack of opportunity are not figments of imagination. The door to the cage may be open but there might just be invisible force field holding you back. People have to accept they can't just do what they want or have everything in life. It would be foolhardy to imagine yourself capable of doing things you are incapable of doing.

Answer 19

I  AM behind the bars of HALLUCINATION.

When I AM released I AM FREE

Answer 20

yes they are, because every prison is made to be broken

Answer 21

The bars of my prison are just as real as any other... the catch being, though the prison door be closed.. it was never locked.

1) If I stepped out now, the limitations of my cell would tempt me back.

2) Then as I grew more courageous and willing to explore the greater-world outside that very cage, I suppose I would grow anxious with the excitement of a toddler just learning to walk and learning how a whole new world of cause and effect works.

3) At first I'd become a prisoner to my new found freedoms, a slave to my multi-faceted choices... and a prisioner once again to a new jailer called indecision.

4) Then I suppose through trial-and-error, I'd then learn to leverage principle against principle and how doing so could improve the quality of my life; and how doing such-and-such and repeating it to a certain degree time and again... would allow me to get along just fine.

Answer 22

Keeping with the illusions analogy, even 'stepping out' is an illusion and even 'yourself', that which is 'stepping out', is an illusion.

Even the fact that the illusion is perceived as being an illusion is an illusion.



Moreover, your illusory mind has created the illusion of what understanding you received from this answer, making this answer your own self-deluded illusion, independent of the fact that the question is a separate illusion in itself, even though the idea of separate illusions is an illusion too.