Importance Of Mental Freedom Essay

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Recommended: Tolstoy's view of war from war and peace

The Importance of Mental Freedom The mind is a powerful machine, whatever it perceives, the body can achieve. Citizens of modern society often disregard the importance of mental freedom, however, in the book War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, we see a battle between the French and the Russian troops, but mainly a Russian troop named Pierre, that is won through mental freedom. This book proves the importance of mental freedom over physical freedom. This book also shows us the benefits of mental freedom such as, mental freedom can change your mindset, improve your well-being, and improve your chance of success by improving your confidence. To begin, freedom is nothing but a state of mind. This means, even when one is physically captive, they still …show more content…

. . he endured this position not only lightly, but joyfully” (Tolstoy 2384). This quote takes place after Pierre, one of the main characters, is locked in a French prison, where he is tortured, and nearly executed. This quote proves the thesis, mental freedom is more important, because it did not matter that Pierre was physically imprisoned, but that he was mentally free. This was feasible because Pierre kept an open mind throughout the entire novel, this is shown through the various religions Pierre switched through. Pierre was able to be mentally free, because he had an open mind, or as ancient Greek author Sophocles explains, “If my body is enslaved, still my mind is free” (Sophocles). Expressing a similar message of mental freedom is only possible if you have an open outlook towards everything. Likewise, if one were to keep a closed mind, then they would believe the value of their life can decrease, because they do not trust their own opinions. This would lead to a self-induced restriction of both physical and mental freedom, because this causes one to think their life is not good enough, meaning they will spend the rest of their lives trying to fix their life, instead of enjoying

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