The Human Escape

    In every human, there is a need to retreat from existence, and the bondage it offers. Because of this, we flee to that which proposes hope beyond reality; things that we could potentially cling to for our own uplifting. In this, our very life - that which could drive us to a productive purpose and a truly better existence - can be replaced by the fickle foundations of our mislead spirits that constantly search for that which will offer us freedom from our own reality.

    Yet, at the same time, we as humans cannot truly exist without such an escape. Everyone has a place they can call their own; a place, be it within themselves, within another, or outside of the heart, where our fairytale dreams can be experienced and turned into a vision of reality. And, as there are many different types of people, so are there many methods by which we retreat into our own corrupted imagination.

    The most simple version of escape is found in the root of relationships; the Cinderella story. Some seek in the celestial promises of religion; a hope of heaven, and the bettering of one's self on Earth. Still others look to the things of innocence; places where they find no faults, where love is shown and the evils of daily life are never evident. In all this, we find a fault with humanity - we search for a life away from this one; a life where all is perfect; a life where stress holds no ground in our mind, where love is as it was constructed to be, and where our dreams come to life to build our reality - Such as the “Happily Ever After” ending we all crave.

    From this, I question why we act in such ways. It is as if it was wired into our code- that we should search for that which we don't have - we search for perfection in all things, not out of a selfish mind, but because we were not purposed for imperfection. We search for love, not only out of a lonely heart, but also because our heart aches for a connection we have yet to make in our life. We look to our heroes – though they are just as human as we are - to save us from ourselves.

    Though escape seems to us like an idea that can grant us sanity, it appears to bind us further, into a box of our own creation. Within this box, we begin to define our reality obsessively, until, soon, it consumes our mind. We believe there is nothing outside of this box we now so quickly deem the container of all things absolute. So, as reality tends to be what we make it, this defining of reality restricts us, suppressing the truth that is all around us. We are not free within the boundaries we set for ourselves; we are only free when we can let ourselves go and accept the vast, infinite truth outside.

    There are so many complexities within this one revelation:  we search aimlessly to define ourselves, our beliefs and ambitions within a small, understandable section. This, we deem our life, and within it we lock ourselves away.

    Though it is a constant struggle, we must fight ourselves for our own freedom; to escape the box we naturally build for ourselves. Maybe it is in the choice to stop our search - our retreat from life - that we truly find what we once sought. But now the question arises, what defines the true reality? What limitations are there within it that define it? Or is it in the very defining of it that we entrap ourselves deep inside.