What is more oppressive: a mental prison or a physical one? There is this saying: "A man in chains is just as free as one without any.". More reflection is needed in order to say that I completely agree, but I can see its point. All the freedom comes form the soul, said Berdiaev and I must agree. Stupidity is the greatest slavery, the greatest inprisonment for that it doesn't even allow you the freedom to see your chains. Outlander, you said that a mental prison cannot be escaped, I would disagree, but I believe I see what you mean. A mental prison is just extremely hard to escape and you can't do it completely by yourself, you need either some sort of luck, like the right book to fall into your hands, or someone to guide you out of it. Why? Because being a fool is not a choice, if one chooses to be a fool than said one is already a fool, and therefore unfree.