> I think he means either that the chain is made of flowers (shades of
> Genet!) or that the chain has flowers woven into it
I think he's pointing to the use of phantasy to escape a painful reality. It would to better to give up phantasy and "think, act, and fashion his reality like a man who has discarded his illusions and regained his senses." For instance, it would be better to stop idealizing the many and demonizing the few and imagining that everything would be fine if we just got rid of the demonized few.
This is "humanism." it includes the ideas that we have the capacity to perceive truly and that when we fully develop this we will be able to perceive both how we ought to live and how to refashion reality in accordance with this.
Ted