Breaking from Prison
by kam

There is almost nothing separating those in prison and those outside of prison. A moment of anger, a brush with fate or a series of wrong choices. If someone had followed me all my life and arrested me each time I broke the law, I would be writing this from inside.

In a time when drug companies legally sell (often with government subsidy) and kill ten of thousands of people (through mis-prescription and combination toxicity) and kill million of animals per year*. (*biomedical research, pharmacological screening and experimental procedures), it all helps me to understand that the people outside of prison are no more humane than those inside. Most drug laws are archaic, inept and hypocritical, like most politicians.

Prison is different things to different people. For some it is hell on earth and for some, who have spent many years, it is the only place they feel comfortable. Regardless of how each person feels and regardless of their innocence or guilt, each person has valuable time on their hands. Time that could be invested into spiritual development.

Prisons and monasteries are very similar in many ways. Both are designed to break your attachment to the ego through discipline (self discipline or imposed) and austerity. If you look at your life now, you (like most people) will notice that you have had periods of emotional swings like violence, anger, hatred, jealousy, impatience. Your behaviour in these states may have caused great harm to people around you, some times to the people who care for you the most. These states have also caused your body and mind stress and disturbed any opportunity of inner peace and contentment.

It is time, for your own sake to try to stop this cycle of violently projecting your issues onto other people, first for one day, then one week, then one year, then forever.

Safely releasing emotions is an important step in all peoples' development. Meditation has been used for thousands of years to achieve this. In meditation you sit in any comfortable position and watch. Watch the sensations of the body, pain in your hips, knees, butt, back, etc. Watch your breathing, watch your emotions, watch your thoughts and to all these things, you do not react. Just sit and watch. Whatever comes up, let it go.

You do this for a short time everyday 10 minutes and you built up the time, slowly to periods of 30 minutes. then increasing to eventually sit for one hour. One session in the morning and one session in the evening. Sit each day, 6 days a week or whatever you can. Every week of every year. You could build up to 12 hours per day, just like being on deep retreat.

And while you do this you study books on spiritual development, whatever feels right to you.

There is greatness inside of each person, no matter what they have done, there is Buddha-Nature inside each person, all people, you just have to dig deep enough.

Work so deeply that your negative emotions, addictions and actions all begin to drop away. Work so courageously that you are not afraid to see whatever is inside you, no matter how ugly it is, then let it go.

Work so sincerely that others notice a change in you and the walls of the prison come tumbling down.

Each of us is in a self-generated prison of our emotions, judgements and mental conditioning (memories) and habits, so until those walls are destroyed, we are all prisoners.

You are bound to be successful like many before you.