Are we in prison?

Is the physical body is a prison that encases our spirit, essense, soul, whatever term you feel most comfortable using to refer to it, until such time as we are able to break free of the cycle of reincarnation.?
If so, how do we free ourselves of the cycle?

will never be free...

I don't feel imprisoned by my past lives, however, I feel that those lives are imprisoned inside me..they are enchained or tangled up inside me and it's soley up to me to set them free. How do I do that you are thinking?

I must face each and everyone of them that is taunting my soul..and it is a slow process that I've come to understand..can't be rushed. If you are tender and respectful of your past lives, and aren't afraid to face perhaps something horrific or sad..then they will slowly emerge into your conscious. Lightly and eventually each of those chains will release from your soul and become one with you as a whole;mind, body, spirit/soul..

This is how I have chosen to release them in the here and the now..someone else may have a better analogy or practice which I certainly am open to reading
Mags

And I am not quoting the movie "The Matrix",a prison for your mind in the sense that you perceive things to be reality when in actuality you respond to things in a conditioned way,which is how you generate your own reality,but then if you are being conditioned to respond to it in a certain way,that reality is someone elses.
It starts with a clock,which is a gauge of time,which you rely on to keep inside of your schedule,to do those things you have to do in your daily life.
There is no such thing as time,everything exists in every state of being everywhere simultaneously.
It is a prison if you let it be,it is freedom if you realise the truth.
You can never be free until you look at things differently,I have never seen anyone on these forums that does not percieve things in any way other than the way they have been conditioned to,just look at some of the topics.
The truth is never addressed.

[Edited on 13-10-2003 by uNBaLaNCeD]

Taking reincarnation into consideration consider each life as bringing you closer to understanding what you are while dead. While alive, your soul is not dormant or otherwise incapacitated; its capacity to perceive is simply overcome by all the stimuli inherent in day to day life.

Its a matter of developing to an extent, where your existence in respect to life after death and life as we understand it are actualized in life (as we understand it).

Any thoughts?

It's all completely meaningless.

Living on earth in the physical form is like being in school.

In the next world you move at the speed of thought. You must learn the basics here first.

How about we figure out what they are?,first off,if you need to learn the basics for the hereafter,what does this world have that you can take with you?.
NOTHING BUT YOUR MIND!!!!.
Learn the basics by not participating in it.
Free yourself from the world without dying first,go ahead just try...go on,figure out how yet?.

I was actually speaking more of what we are inbetween incarnations, than what are during them.
We must we return to physical form?
Does the physical form limit us?
Does it prevent us from seeing truth?
We are so focused on material things while in this form.
We worry over technology and getting to work ontime.
Many fear death out of uncertainty of what is beyond if anything.
How important is any of this?
And yet...... life certainly is a wonderful dance.
I have no doubts that the mind is seperate from the body..
What I wonder is why we must return over and over again.
How do you know that prison is a bad thing, if it is all you have ever known?

you control yourown freedom. you can be free inside of a prison.

Realising that all that crap that you think you need is un-necessary trash that will steal your life away from you to earn money to pay for it.
You actually need very little unless you're trying to keep up with the joneses.

I agree. Now.... how do you help others see this?

If reincarnation exists (which I do not think it does), then this is most certainly a prison. I prefer to consider it a hell, since prison at least ends when you die. Repetition without even knowing why is a sure clue that reincarnation is a form of torture/hell.

They won't accept the truth until they see the lie themselves,most never will see it.

The commonality between both states is with respect to being alive; therefore it is life, which is the aspiration.

Understanding life after death in the same context we understand life, while alive, is the goal of reincarnation.

As far as society is concerned, it is not geared in any culture towards the accomplishment of this goal, to the extent it can be accomplished.

The best way to show others how to see this is to see it in you.

Any thougths?

[Edited on 13-10-2003 by Toltec]

We are in a prison for sure.

But there is a truth that can explain our dilemma our possible future and the purpose in all this.

Not easy to find out or to understand.

That should be everyone's objective the seeking of that truth, far more important than trying to recreate the 'garden of Eden.'

When we have that truth we are free.

the focus of taking others choices away makes this a prison...
and capitol makes that that much easier...
i want out of this capitol/no choice no free will matrix...

Originally posted by heelstone
If reincarnation exists (which I do not think it does), then this is most certainly a prison. I prefer to consider it a hell, since prison at least ends when you die. Repetition without even knowing why is a sure clue that reincarnation is a form of torture/hell.

I am certain it is real.
I am very close to remembering things prior to entering the physical world.
It is like when you are talking to someone about a movie and they ask you who is in it, and you have the name on the tip of your tongue but just can't quite remember it at that moment... you keep getting flashes, hints of what it starts with or names that remind you of it.. still the name won't come.
This is what is happening to me right now, only the memory for me is my existance prior to birth.
I can ALMOST recall it.

i am not sure how to free yourself... try using a gub pointed at the right temple.

are we in a prison?

well it all depends on how far you space the bars in your cell...