I couldn't agree more with your general assessment of the "prison planet". While the consequences are painfully tangible, it is fundamentally a prison of the mind. However, this also means that its capacity to hold us disappears with a change in thought.
"...are convinced that our neighbors are our enemies." What creates such a conviction? That other people are the source of our problems? Therefore, I am not indifferent to the very real possibility of physical extinction, but hold an undying hope that All might come to know Oneness.
[I should specify that "Oneness" here does not mean "everyone should be the same", but that all are equal in "worth" simply by virtue of existing. When such a belief is truly held, then mutual benefit is the only option. "Profit" at another's expense is illusion, for any harm towards another is self-harm...but you already know that.]
"its capacity to hold us disappears with a change in thought" the solution is solipsism, no? one could be rotting away in a jail cell but be more free than the jailors
I suppose it depends on how we define it. If we mean it in the sense of "Ultimately, I can only be responsible for myself", then yes. There is still a multiplicity of wills, each with its own agency. And it is always wrong for one will to be imposed upon another. I cannot control everything, but I can choose my response.
Therefore, I strongly agree that a prisoner can be more free than their captors, but the only way to do so is for that prisoner to take responsibility for how they choose to think and act. Those who can be commanded to act without thought are not free. Likewise, some things control by attempting to make us reactive.
I couldn't agree more with your general assessment of the "prison planet". While the consequences are painfully tangible, it is fundamentally a prison of the mind. However, this also means that its capacity to hold us disappears with a change in thought.
"...are convinced that our neighbors are our enemies." What creates such a conviction? That other people are the source of our problems? Therefore, I am not indifferent to the very real possibility of physical extinction, but hold an undying hope that All might come to know Oneness.
[I should specify that "Oneness" here does not mean "everyone should be the same", but that all are equal in "worth" simply by virtue of existing. When such a belief is truly held, then mutual benefit is the only option. "Profit" at another's expense is illusion, for any harm towards another is self-harm...but you already know that.]
"its capacity to hold us disappears with a change in thought" the solution is solipsism, no? one could be rotting away in a jail cell but be more free than the jailors
I suppose it depends on how we define it. If we mean it in the sense of "Ultimately, I can only be responsible for myself", then yes. There is still a multiplicity of wills, each with its own agency. And it is always wrong for one will to be imposed upon another. I cannot control everything, but I can choose my response.
Therefore, I strongly agree that a prisoner can be more free than their captors, but the only way to do so is for that prisoner to take responsibility for how they choose to think and act. Those who can be commanded to act without thought are not free. Likewise, some things control by attempting to make us reactive.