Nicholas Berdyaev explores the many ways humanity is enslaved. Enslavement, he argues, begins with self-alienation, which, mythically speaking, can be seen as expressed in the story of the Fall.

Whether we're enslaved by society, civilization, our own egos, or even by more abstract things like nature itself, or being, or even (our ideas about) God, it all stems from our objectivization - the projecting out into these diverse aspects of reality the spiritual qualities we, as conscious, unique persons, made in the image of God, have within ourselves, and then subjugating ourselves to those forces which have been externalized and falsely perceived as something above us.

He argues for the need of a transvaluation of values, in which the human person is placed at the center of life; recognizing that all the diverse form of enslavement which face us are merely aspects of personally with misplaced emphasis on their primacy over the person, and the false necessity they place over the free spirit of persons, who have a divine birthright to be slave to nothing.

Plotinus is the father of Neoplatonism. He lived from 204-270 CE and took the thought of Plato to new heights, deepening the meaning of its mystical and psychological significance.