Nature confines us inside our bodies, but our minds can take us beyond that confinement. We can reach out and touch other people with our bodies and our thoughts. We can use our senses to listen, speak, read, and write. Communicating our thoughts and opinions should be balanced with considering the thoughts and opinions of others.
Some confinement is beyond our control. Physically, it is almost impossible to experience the life of another person and other people cannot experience ours. Empathizing helps. Desiring to understand can benefit both parties.
We may consciously or unconsciously allow others to impose a confinement upon us like parents, peers, priests or pastors, professors, and politicians. Their thoughts and opinions become ours often without question. Many influencers believe they are doing it for our own good or are opening our minds to their truth; however, they may be inhibiting us from thinking on our own.
Other types of confinement are self-imposed. We can take our bodies and our minds into another place, another location, another way of thinking, but we must decide to do it. Comfort and a sense of security may come with agreeing with those we love and admire, but we may be giving up our own potential to find our own truth.
Media can contribute to confinement.. When we limit our sources of information especially to those that confirm our already formed biases, a type of mental isolation can form. We need to back up our opinions with good "arguments," listen to the opposition, and form calm, nonjudgemental expression. We might not be able to persuade or change the minds of others, but perhaps we can expand our own thinking.
Don't sentence yourself to solitary confinement.
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