Recently I have been watching a great deal of television. Over the past several days several different television programs have mentioned Plato’s allegory of the cave. The appearance of this story in three different programs is weird. The tale of the cave has come up in a ½ hour situation comedy, in an hour-longdrama and in a fantasy show. I am wondering if someone out in Hollywood is teaching producers about philosophy? Maybe philosophy majors are now finding work as script doctors?
If you don’t know the allegory of the cave it supposedly arises from a conversation between Socrates and Glaucon. It goes like this:
Socrates asks Glaucon to imagine a cave. Prisoners are in the cave. The prisoners have been in the cave since birth and now they are all chained so that their legs and necks are immobile. These poor wretches are forced to look at a wall in front of them. A fire burns behind them - they cannot see it. Between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway, on which people walk.
These people are puppeteers, carry objects, in the shape of human and animal figures, as well as everyday stuff pots and dishes, whatever. The prisoners see flickering shadow images of all this stuff on the wall. Remember that they cannot move their heads, so they presume the images to be real.
Socrates claimed, the images on the wall would be so real to the prisoners it would be a point of honor for the prisoner who could recall the most detail about the shapes. Clearly this was meaningless praise, since the images were not real.
Eventually one of the prisoners is taken from the cave and brought into the open, the disorientation is severe; the light of the sun would be much more brilliant than the fire. But, as his eyes adjusted, the newly freed prisoner would be able to see beyond only shadows; he would see the real things, their dimensions and colors. He would also see reflections in the water (even of himself).
After learning of the reality of the world, the prisoner now sees how awful his former life was. If he was taken back to the cavehe would take no pleasure in comparing notes with the others about the shadows because he knows what reality is finally. If he was taken back his fellow prisoners would see him as deranged, not really knowing the reality he experienced.
It is an interesting tale. It focuses on how life changes when we pursue what is real. In our lives much of what we do is like the people in the cave we see images shadows of reality. We accept what others tell us is real. We only glimpse images of what is occurring through third party accounts. We never challenge assumptions, we never ask the hard questions. We never look beyond the shadows.
When we get the chance to see what is real it changes us. People that we used to be able to sit and drink with, sit and have coffee with, sit and make small talk with, well they don’t get us anymore. We, of course, don’t see the point in talking about shadows. We want to know more about the real and we go searching for people and experiences that connect us to the real.
Sometimes I wonder if I scare people with my search for the real.
Every single person should run into this experience. We have all seen one image of what people have told you that life should be. But with each passing day we should be seeing more of what life is. Whatever you do, ask the questions and take the chances that expose you to those things that you will inherently know are closer to the truth of life as you want to live it.
This is my thought for you for today.
No comments:
Post a Comment