Imprisonment

Bernardo Strozzi, Old Woman at the Mirror

The theme of this painting has a long tradition: the old woman who has not learned to give her life any other meaning but that of ornament and vanity, and who is unable to see the truth or recognize her true self in the mirror. Strozzi’s formulation, however, is both individual and new. It makes the most of the surface values, deliberately contrasting the wrinkled skin of the old woman with the fresh complexion of her servant and juxtaposing the firm and rounded forms of youth with the withered slackness of old age. He reveals in the mirror that the old woman’s red cheeks are painted with rouge, and he places a blossoming, scented rose in her wrinkled hand. He also shows us the uncriticizing complacency on her face, leaving it up to the spectator to deduce a sense of embarrassment, emptiness, transparent illusion and moral warning.

Our subjectivity
Is a mirrored,
Spiked casket.

We surround ourselves with the reflections of our own identities. We think only of ourselves, not of Tao. All we care about is survival and gratification. When will we see that all we have done is to surround ourselves with our own illusions?

We do not see the world as it truly is. We ignore the dilemma of our existence. We are like preening idiots inside a mirrored casket. As we build upon our illusions, the box gets smaller. Soon it develops spikes – the spears of our own egotism – only we are so self-absorbed that we do not notice the points. We are too in love with ourselves. We prance around, we fluff our hair. And still the casket gets smaller, and smaller.

Some succeed in getting out of this trap, but they are so attached that they drag their casket behind them for a long time. Those who drag their illusions with them are only a step better than those who are trapped in them. Only when we realize our true nature does the casket disappear.

Deng Ming Tao, 365 Tao

I think when people look back at our time, they will be amazed at one thing more than any other. It is this–that we do know more about ourselves now than people did in the past. But that very little of it has been put into effect… There is a great mass of new information from universities, research institutions and gifted amateurs, but our ways of governing ourselves haven’t changed. Our left hand does not know–does not want to know–what our right hand does. This is what I think is the most extraordinary thing there is to be seen about us, as a species, now. And people to come will marvel at it, as we marvel at the blindness and inflexibility of our ancestors. — Doris Lessing, Prisons we Choose to Live Inside

“Our modern society is engaged in polishing and decorating the cage in which man is kept imprisoned.” — Swami Nirmalananda

“Truth lies within ourselves: it takes no rise from outward things, whatever you may believe. There is an inmost center in us all, where truth abides in fullness and to Know rather consists in opening out a way whence the imprisoned splendor may escape than in effecting entry for light supposed to be without.” — Robert Browning

“In our natural state, we are glorious beings. In the world of illusion, we are lost and imprisoned, slaves to our appetites and our will to false power.”
— Marianne Williamson

What do we imprison in ourselves? The things that, if we really dealt with them, might be dangerous to our standing in society; like showing our true age. or our true self.

The ego exists, in part, to protect us from things that are dangerous. But, if you truly come to view yourself as a part of everything else, what is left to be considered dangerous? The Tao says,

He who knows how to live can walk abroad
Without fear of rhinocerous or tiger.
He will not be wounded in battle.
For in him rhinocerouses can find no place to thrust their horn,
Tigers no place to use their claws,
And weapons no place to pierce.
Why is this so?
Because he has no place for death to enter.

Tao Te Ching, 50

It doesn’t mean one who walks the path of Tao will never die. It means that they have already accepted death and have no fear of it. Not being afraid, they can see things as they are, unobstructed by the veil of fear, and so are better warriors, hunters, and travelers. Or perhaps, just better at accepting life and the changes that come with aging, or becoming more fully oneself.