Prison of Mind

How would a person in prison feel? Limited? Bound? Restricted? Not free? May be all of these. May be all these mean the same thing. A prison is a condition that limits the natural freedom of the person. But a prison can be a real prison with cells, bars and guards. A prison can also be a prison of someone's own body. There are numerous people trapped inside their own body that is either disabled, incomplete or worn out with disease or ageing. Mind wants to wander free and do various things but the body does not allow. 

When the mind wants and the body cant obey, the mind or the soul within it feels trapped. There is a nice metaphor of it in literature, from Metamorphosis to the Kite Runner and so many others. A lively and energetic mind & soul inside a limited body is like someone put in a cell with very limited mobility and freedom. 

While prison of body can limit the practical realization of the musings of the mind, there are cases when even the mind seems like a prison. One feels such when one studies about or sees geniuses doing great thinking or creating miracles. Miracles can be in arts, literature, science or any other human trade. But a genius is defined by the mind and its creativity. A normal person, when observing the consequences of such high-caliber of thinking, feels timid and belittled. A normal person feels the limitation of his own mind. Why do not I have the same sparkling mind that can think deep, solve complex problems, theorize new ideas, create art, write mesmerizing music or visualize timeless pieces of artistry. 

The prison of mind is even more prominently felt when the mind is almost idle, empty and cannot think anything deep. Sometimes, even the normal mind sparkles and amazing thoughts cross it. If those are not recorded promptly, they vanish like a passing rain and then there is the customary emptiness. It is the same bunch of grey cells inside the same shell of skull but the thinking is different or much curtailed. In such situations, the mind rues the loss of that passing rain of ideas. It laments the emptiness and craves for the same spark of mindful activity. 

But may be it is the nature of the human brain that it cannot be at the same level of activity all the time. It has its crests and troughs. It has its ebbs and flows. When the sun is shining, it is better to dry the grain for the night. For the day does not last forever and the day has to provide for the night as well. Hence, whenever the brain is at its peak of activity, it is better to record the wonderful thoughts. Hence the painted canvases, sculpted stones, written operas, scripted literature and discovered magic of science. Hence the books, parchments, paintings, sculptures, musical notes, scientific theories, engineering marvels. All the evidence of recording of the creation of the mind's genius when it is at its peak. May be these lines are a tiny, infinitesimal example of such. 

Tuesday 29 October 2019