In these concluding pages I will set out the bigger picture as I see it. I will leave behind the details of earlier chapters. If you have read from page 1, you should be able to follow the conclusions from here on without the need to look up the endnotes. If you have started the book from here, you may need both the endnotes and the index to help you find the detailed workings out for any particular conclusion, and to find detailed descriptions of terms.

These conclusions are contemplations on freedom and captivity. The conclusions are set out with headings that highlight the key ideas discussed in this book: ‘Captivity’, ‘Acts of consciousness and conscience’, ‘Minded’, ‘Persons’, ‘World about us’ and ‘Cubist Psychology’. The idea is to pull together my contribution in a few concluding comments, leading up to a manifesto advocating a Cubist Psychology.

Captivity

We don’t all get taken prisoner – thank goodness – but we can gain insights into everyday life and living from the stories of captivity. Captivity amplifies the familiar features of life and living by turning down the volume on everyday events and thus allowing how it is for us to be heard loud and clear.

If you were to find yourself held in solitary confinement, you would know that the main problem you face is the absence of other people; this may seem obvious but it doesn’t go without saying. Without other people in our lives, we are likely to fall apart. We are sustained as people by other people.