Facets of a Diamond - Blog

William Blake’s “mind-forg’d manacles”* instantly cause me to think of obstetric forceps which when applied incorrectly (a common problem, at least in my experience) distort the baby’s head and thus its brain. And then I think of the need for them: the tight and twisted passage into our world. Unlike the other primates, a big head through a small pelvis. And we emerge with our bodies distorted, especially the head and neck, and thus the brain. This birthing trauma causes what I call brain misprocessing, basically the inability to Know love and live accordingly.

All of our higher endeavors throughout our lives are attempts – usually to little avail – to overcome the effects of this misprocessing. The “mind-forg’d manacles” have been imposed, not by society as such, but by the evolutionary process itself which, due to the attainment of the fully upright posture, has given us a bigger foetal head but a smaller maternal pelvis for it to pass through. That is why we need to take a 180 degree twist to emerge from the pelvis.

This is our challenge, the challenge evolution has handed us: can we overcome the distortions of body and brain due to this corkscrewing? I believe the “mind-forg’d manacles” are not primarily in society, but within each of us as members of society.

(2007)
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*”Mind-forg’d manacles” refers to Blake’s poem “London”: “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.”  In the context of the poem, the phrase refers to the psychological constraints that individuals place upon themselves due to societal pressures, expectations, and ingrained beliefs.