The phrase ‘mind-forg’d manacles’ comes from the poem ‘London’ by romantic author William Blake, written in 1794. Over 200 years ago, Blake warned that our greatest barriers are the ones we create ourselves, the beliefs and mental habits we accept as truth, when we forge our own mental prisons by refusing to engage with outside perspectives. We internalize the norms of our time and culture and thoughtlessly accept this societal conditioning as the universal laws of nature.
We often embrace our confinement, our learned helplessness, because it relieves us of accountability, of actually taking responsibility for our condition, of taking effective action to better our personal situation and the world in general. Marianne Williamson spoke a great truth when she wrote “Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.” Our oppression is as much internal as aught else; we are co-conspirators, co-creators in the obstacles we encounter, magnifying them by our perceptions. We are far stronger than we know and thus the barriers we discern before us are more fragile; fewer and frailer than we fear.
The gate of change takes but an instant to walk through yet takes as long as you allow to summon the courage and will to walk through. Your greatest, best life lies before you, requiring only that you cast aside the manacles you unwittingly forged within.
Closing Quotes:
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” – Carl Jung, 1875-1961
“The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. It is not in your environment; it is not in luck or chance, or the help of others; it is in yourself alone.” – Orison Swett Marden, 1848-1924
“The greatest revolution of our generation is the discovery that human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives.” – William James, 1842-1910
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
