David Stromberg:

In the end, [Milosz’s] The Captive Mind also speaks to those left on the other side of the curtain, warning them against letting the tension of their political reality replace their own internal tension—acknowledging their captive times but maintaining the inner life that animates their loves, fears, and fantasies. Miłosz cautions the artists and writers living under repressive regimes not to let the outer pressure determine their inner core. The times may be captive, but the thinking has to remain free.