States of mind can be prisons. Some are like parasites. They have their own distorted selfhood, which takes over. These states of mind use disinformation to maintain their dominance. It’s possible to see them objectively. It’s possible to see the state while in the state–some objective part can take a sort-of quick picture of the state. And this gives the possibility of being free from it. It’s a key to the cell door. To see one’s own state of mind is essential.
There is a false self and a real self. There are small “I”s & there is Real I. The false self is a manifestation of addiction to a sort of comfort zone, a place constructed out of fears and floundering habitual attempts to engage with the world in safety. Self protective but protecting a false self we mistakenly identify as our real self. False self uses various guises–small personhoods–in which we reactively center ourselves. We get lost in them. Real self is That Which Sees.
False selves steal energy, and freedom; they steal our ability to make genuine choices…Hence they’re parasitic.