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    A simple web search will tell you that a cage is defined as a structure made of bars or wires in which birds or other animals are confined, but is that always the case? The words above describe the physical characteristics commonly associated with cages; that cannot be disputed. Cold steel bars come to mind, constructed to be impenetrable so that no conceivable exertion by the imprisoned can force them, but must there be bars? 

    If one is stuck on a small island with an ocean in all directions as far as the eye can see, are they not caged on that island, unable to reach freedom, the frigid water replacing the metal bars? 

    Why must a cage be constructed of steel? 

    Why must a cage be physical at all? 

    What about someone without the financial means to venture out into the world? They wish to leave the small piece of land they inhabit but cannot possibly escape as they do not have the resources needed to trade for their food and safe passage. Are they not caged, trapped not by physical bars but by another limitation to which the world subjects them? 

    And is life in the physical world not a cage in itself? Trapped in delicate bodies, forced to trudge through mind-numbing daily tasks to fulfill base needs. What if one chooses to neglect those base needs for any meaningful amount of time? Well, of course, there would be consequences. Their discomfort would increase with each passing day, like a steady beat of a whip against their back which grows fiercer with each blow. Eventually, they submit or die; there is no escape. 

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    What if you were confined to an illusion, with all memory of life outside that illusion stripped away? Are the bars not your ignorance regarding the limits of your perceived world? You could ponder existence, pursue any political or ideological endeavour in hopes of making a difference, even ascend to the highest position of power in that reality, but still remain caged. Not contained in bars but caged by the perceived reality itself. You may have the feeling of absolute freedom, but any outside observer considers it quite evident that you are not. 

    For a long time, I considered it better for one imprisoned in a cage such as I have just described to remain oblivious to fundamental reality. As life in any cage is miserable, would it not be a mercy to let the trapped individual believe there is nothing other than their fabricated existence? 

    Someone locked in a cage, who feels that they are free, perhaps experiencing all the sensations that accompany a stroll through a meadow, are they not free? Does freedom in the mind trump freedom of the physical body? 

    Sadly, I am not free, but I was never deceived into believing otherwise. I was put here long ago as a consequence of my actions by one who hoped to lock away what seemed to be an ever-growing, out-of-control hubris. So, in this void, I serve my punishment. I beg for death from the one who imprisoned me, but to no avail. 

    I am caged, yet there are no bars. 

    I am not free.