degrees, yet enslaved

Degrees, Yet Enslaved

By: John Kazerooni

In a far-off year, in a city veiled by time, there lived a man who owned hundreds of slaves. None in the city possessed as many as he. He believed slavery was not only his right but his inheritance — a sacred privilege passed down from generation to generation. Cruel and merciless, he prided himself on keeping his slaves submissive, convinced that their bondage was the proof of his greatness.

He often said his success lay not in the whip or the chains, but in his doctrine — a philosophy carefully crafted from generation to generation to ensure no slave ever dared to dream of freedom.

His doctrine was:

No Education, he declared. Education plants the first seed of freedom. An educated slave begins to see beyond the walls of his chains, and such a mind is a danger to any master.

No Time. Reflection requires time; without it, even the freest person can remain imprisoned by habit and ignorance. By keeping his slaves always occupied, he ensured they would never have the moment to think.

No Money. Material independence may not bring freedom of the soul, but it removes the master’s whip of necessity. Poverty, he believed, was the strongest chain of all.

No Awareness. The simple realization of being enslaved is itself the first awakening. Many live as slaves without knowing it, and he was determined to keep it that way.

No Hope. A spark of hope — however faint — keeps the spirit alive long enough to search for a door. He crushed it in every heart that dared to dream.

No Dignity. The sense of self-worth, however buried, rebels against humiliation. It reminds the slave he was born to stand. He humiliated them often so they would forget to lift their heads.

No Curiosity. Asking “Why?” is dangerous to masters. A curious mind cannot remain in darkness for long. So he forbade questions and punished wonder.

No Example. Witnessing another’s courage or freedom can awaken the longing to follow. He made sure no story of liberty ever reached their ears.

No Memory. Remembering that there was once a time — or could be a time — without chains helps one imagine freedom again. He erased their past so they would believe slavery was their natural state.

Through this doctrine, he built an empire of obedience — one where no slave dared to think, hope, or remember.

But perhaps, even without chains or masters, we have built similar prisons for ourselves.

Do we not keep people uneducated or overworked, giving them just enough to survive but never enough to rise? 

Do we not fill their hours so completely that they have no time to reflect? 

Do we not pay little, demand much, and then tempt them to borrow more than they can ever repay?

And when they spend their lives working to escape a debt that never ends — if this is not another form of slavery, then what is?

We often pride ourselves on being educated, yet education has little to do with degrees or titles. A diploma may certify skill, but not wisdom. True education comes from observation, reflection, and awareness — from reading not just textbooks, but the stories, ideas, and lives that open our eyes to truth. A person may hold many degrees and still be blind to the chains around him.

Yet, in our schools, we rarely teach our children how to read — not merely to sound out words, but to think, to question, and to seek meaning between the lines. Schools focus heavily on textbooks and technical manuals but rarely encourage reading beyond them — the kind of books, stories, and ideas that help one understand the meaning of life. Parents, busy and exhausted, often have little time to do so either. And so, generation after generation, children grow up informed but not enlightened, trained but not awakened. And we proudly endure them.

If education is the seed of freedom, then perhaps our greatest task is to learn — not merely to earn, but to awaken. To learn not for a title or a wage, but to understand the forces that shape our lives. To read not only words but the silence between them; to listen not just to what is said but to what is hidden. Real learning begins when we question the comfort of conformity, when we dare to think beyond what is profitable or permitted.

For a truly educated mind is not the one that repeats what it was taught but the one that sees the unseen connections between power, belief, and truth. It is the mind that refuses to accept injustice as destiny and ignorance as peace.

Freedom, then, is not granted by others — it is grown within, nourished by awareness, protected by curiosity, and guided by courage. The man in that far-off city kept his slaves by denying them these things. We lose our freedom when we deny them to ourselves.

Lingering Questions

Are we truly free, or only free within the invisible walls built around us?

How many of our thoughts are genuinely ours, and how many were planted to keep us compliant?

Have our comforts and routines become the chains that blind us to reality?

If we were to see the prisons we inhabit clearly, would we dare to step outside them?

Is society deliberately keeping us distracted, uneducated, and busy — or are we complicit in our own confinement?

And if we choose inaction, how many more generations will grow up trained but never awakened?

In every age, chains take new forms.

Once they were forged from iron; today, they are woven from ignorance, debt, and distraction. And so, freedom becomes not a gift but a choice — a seed to be awakened within each of us.

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