Open,

Great comment. This part stuck out to me: "It's a paradox - we are, and we are not."

Individual self-expression is completely necessary for our peace of mind. If we cannot be who we truly are, it is equal to being locked in a jail cell. The jail cell contains the physical body, but an un-self expressed person's body BECOMES the jail cell for the soul. The Eagles had a lyric that went "Most often times it happens we live our lives in chains and we never even knew we had the key". It's from the song Already Gone.