Manacles Of The Mind
In every cry of every Man, / In every Infants cry of fear, / In every voice: in every ban, / The mind-forg'd manacles I hear
Blake wrote these lines in "London," walking the streets and hearing suffering in every voice he passed. He names the visible chains of his age, poverty, child labor, a corrupt church, but the phrase that cuts deepest points inward, to manacles forged not by law but by the mind itself. Writing in 1794, as Britain grew fearful and repressive in the shadow of the French Revolution, Blake dared to suggest that the harshest tyranny is the one we build and accept ourselves. His warning still holds, freedom starts with noticing which limits are real and which we simply agreed to.
Reflection
Blake believed the deepest chains are the ones the mind builds for itself. What belief am I ready to set down today?