"We are living in a culture entirely hypnotized by the illusion of time, in which the so-called present moment is felt as nothing but an infinitesimal hairline between an all-powerfully causative past and an absorbingly important future. We have no present. Our consciousness is almost completely preoccupied with memory and expectation. We do not realize that there never was, is, nor will be any other experience than present experience. We are, therefore, out of touch with reality. We confuse the world as talked about, described, and measured with the world which actually is. We are sick with a fascination for the useful tools of names and numbers, of symbols, signs, conceptions, and ideas."
― Alan Wilson Watts
You need to be aware of the prison you are in before you have any chance of breaking free from it.
Few people can see the prison around them. This prison is invisible. It's there only through the mind, and since your mind loves to dupe the beholder, you can't see the walls until you go deep into your mind and force it to reveal them. It will fight you every step of the way.
Your mind and Ego are a cruel, self-interested, self-protecting, paranoid master that wants to lead you into shallow pursuits of the flesh and doesn't like being questioned, pierced, or prodded.