Distract Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It

Because you're stuck inside of a human body. I've come to the conclusion a couple times that all we do is distract ourselves from reality. It seems that this is some type of defense mechanism for keeping us from dwelling on the fact that we're stuck inside of a physical body. It's like the human mind is in a permanent prison and is given the illusion that it is free (I'm not talking about America here, DON'T get any ideas!).

On the contrary, I've also had an experiences in which it seemed that the human mind was completely free, and the world was like a playground, but we just weren't aware of it most of the time because we're so busy doing what we need to do for daily life. This would be a pretty cool mindset to have, considering you would have must less limitation on what you felt that you were capable of doing at any point in time.

Either way, I feel that although these mindsets would be intriguing to have, neither would be beneficial to have as a sober state of consciousness in today's world. They would hinder your ability to work, go out in public, etc. I just found it weird that I have had seemingly contradicting thoughts on the matter. Both ideas have one thing in common though, and that is: we distract ourselves constantly, most of the time not being aware that we are doing it.

I've recently been thinking about this, and wondering how does this even affect me? Obviously to reach these different states of consciousness, you're going to need some "fuel". In today's society this is obviously frowned upon/illegal. When is it time to just pick up and walk away? It is ever time to pick up and walk away? Would I be giving in by taking the easy route and just living as a drone? Would it be more beneficial to be ignorant of these experiences? Personally, I feel that I would be a better person if I was given the freedom to explore my own consciousness, but obviously, with jobs/obligations, this is going to become increasingly harder as life moves on (not to mention gov. Intervention, but fuck that for now. I'll just stick to personal reasons at the moment). I feel that I would be able to understand myself, and others much better because of these sessions. Actually, it's not really that much about feeling, it's borderline "knowing" that I would be more understanding in all aspects.

But one must decide what they want out of life at some point: Do I want to be more understanding, or do I want to be more "successful" monetarily wise? Any constructive comments would be greatly appreciated on the topic at hand. Thanks.