The spiritual journey promises liberation, yet the majority of humanity remains bound. Why? Because the human mind is in perpetual slavery, desperately seeking a master.
This compulsion begins in childhood. The first refuge is the parents. But that foundational dependence hardens into a life-long habit. From that point on, the mind seeks someone’s refuge until death, because the human mind, left untamed, feels it cannot exist without association.
The Disease of the Uninformed Mind
An uninformed mind is a disease because it is fundamentally dependent. It clings to a new purposefrom time to time—a new goal, a new ideology, a new obsession.
This purpose provides a temporary rush of inspiration. But inevitably, the mind gets tired. When the high fades, internal turmoil sets in, and the mind spirals toward sorrow, pain, repentance, and an unbearable emptiness.
This emptiness is the terrifying experience of loneliness. To cover this helplessness, we rush to become someone’s slave. We trade our freedom for a sense of belonging or importance.
The Ultimate Addiction: Trading Freedom for Comfort
We become slaves through religious fervor, spiritual devotion, piety, discipleship, or the pursuit of some elusive ‘divine state.’ This slavery creates a toxic cycle:
- The priest becomes obsessed with the donors or the audience—dependent on validation and support.
- The disciple becomes obsessed with the priest or the spiritual master—dependent on guidance and approval.
This exchange is built on mutual dependence, trapping both parties in a shared illusion of importance.
The Courage to Bear Yourself Alone
Only a very few people understand this slave mentality and choose to live a moderate life free from it.
These are the people who have done the hardest work: they have borne themselves alone. They have quenched their spirit’s thirst not with external sources, but by understanding the madness of the minditself.
They are not slaves to anyone, and crucially, they never create slaves. Their freedom is non-transferable and non-dependent.
The tragic reality is that most people do not hate their bondage enough to be free. They actively prefer the comfort of familiarity, choosing to act like slaves trapped in eternal darkness. They are addicted to the mind—to its drama, its desires, and its dependencies.
Wisdom will not descend within you until you are free from the disease of the mind. Break the chain; choose to be your own refuge.
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