Some thoughts about the movie The Shawshank Redemption PART 1

The ego is a prison. 

I watched The Shawshank Redemption yesterday. It was around twenty years since I watched it the last time and I almost didn’t remember any of it. 

What I wish to talk about is the prison metaphor and how it can be seen as symbolizing our own mental prison. It is clearly spoken of in some of the dialogue in the movie. And now I want to make it a bit personal, but hopefully in a way which many can relate to. 

This is a movie filled with symbolism. When it dawns on you that you are in fact in a metaphorical prison and that you through your unconscious thoughts, words and behaviors are the ones that got you there, it will feel hopeless and unfair. You messed up, but you didn’t know what you were doing, but no one is going to help you to clean up the mess and you see no way out. And crying and whining about it is only going to make it infinitely worse. Because there are merciless“guards” that are prepared to “beat you to death” if you do. 

In a paradoxical way, we are both innocent and guilty at the same time. “Everyone here is innocent”, as the character Red says, while soon afterwards admitting that he is guilty. He is the only one that actually admits that he is in fact guilty. But he committed his crime when he was young, stupid and didn’t understand what he was doing. But this does not matter. Thirty years later, he is still paying for it with his imprisonment. Whether or not he deserves his sentence, is up to each and everyone to decide.

This is where I’ve found myself. As a teenager and young adult, I adopted a very destructive philosophy of meaninglessness and nihilism. And really by any standard, my behavior was consistently stupid. For someone with an above average intelligence even more so. I often boasted of my intelligence, while constantly engaging in behavior not even fitting for someone with an IQ of eighty. And now, twenty years later, I’ve found myself in a prison cell of bad habits and unconscious beliefs. And believe me, I have cried and whined about it quite a lot. But the world doesn't care, so I'm still left with having to deal with it.

I would actually say that in many ways, my situation is quite unique, as I, in many ways, know and understand myself better than anyone I know. But on the other hand, I’ve made such a mess of myself in my youth, that I’m also facing gigantic struggles. This, I believe, is something that I can put into good use, if I handle it correctly. Because I can chip away at my metaphorical prison wall one day at a time and put into words what is happening while I do it. And since I’ve caused so many problems for myself - problems that I refuse to just ignore - hopefully I will also be able to help many other people as I deal with them a little at a time.