My philosophy: Plato's Story of a Cave
This is a story told by the Greek philosopher, Plato:
Some prisoners have been held in a cave since childhood.They are all chained in such a manner as they can only stare straight ahead at the cave wall.A fire burns in the centre of the cave behind them,which casts shadows onto the walls.The shadows they can see are cast by various animals and plants that the jailers carry along a raised walkway on the other side of the fire.The prisoners play a games,naming the shadows, and when the jailers respond,the prisoners believe it is actually the shadows who are speaking.The prisoners,being unable to more or turn around,mistake the shadows and the voices for the only reality.What would happen, asks Plato, if one of the prisoners was forced to stand up and turn around?He would be blinded by the fire,which he would at first take to be less real than the shadows to which he's been accustomed to for so long.And what if then the hapless prisoner were to be taken outside the cave altogether?The sunlight would have an even greater disorientating effect upon him.Eventually, once the prisoner has realised the enormity of what he has experienced,he will understand that the world he has lived in for so long was unreal, with the greater, true reality being above and beyond him. It is a reality to which he can gain access, but first he must be freed from his confinement. The prisoner then goes back into the cave and tells the other prisoners about what he's seen and found out. But they believe they are better than him because he can no longer see the fine details in the shadows and they have not seen this "outer world" for themselves.That's basically the gist of the story.
The sad thing about today is that most people are prisoners in the shadows, just like in the story.
Reality pertains to something that is permanent, something that is unchanging... We all know that all the things that we see around us are not permanent. Therefore, all the material things that we see are just illusions. Even our life here on earth is an illusion... (our life is not permanent, we're all gonna die, death is inevitable...)
People have become attached to material things and the temporary "happiness" that they bring not knowing that these things are merely illusions. These people will not even begin to believe anything they have not seen or experienced for themselves.
The only way to escape this world and become free is to know our purpose of living, and to know who and what we are.
Some prisoners have been held in a cave since childhood.They are all chained in such a manner as they can only stare straight ahead at the cave wall.A fire burns in the centre of the cave behind them,which casts shadows onto the walls.The shadows they can see are cast by various animals and plants that the jailers carry along a raised walkway on the other side of the fire.The prisoners play a games,naming the shadows, and when the jailers respond,the prisoners believe it is actually the shadows who are speaking.The prisoners,being unable to more or turn around,mistake the shadows and the voices for the only reality.What would happen, asks Plato, if one of the prisoners was forced to stand up and turn around?He would be blinded by the fire,which he would at first take to be less real than the shadows to which he's been accustomed to for so long.And what if then the hapless prisoner were to be taken outside the cave altogether?The sunlight would have an even greater disorientating effect upon him.Eventually, once the prisoner has realised the enormity of what he has experienced,he will understand that the world he has lived in for so long was unreal, with the greater, true reality being above and beyond him. It is a reality to which he can gain access, but first he must be freed from his confinement. The prisoner then goes back into the cave and tells the other prisoners about what he's seen and found out. But they believe they are better than him because he can no longer see the fine details in the shadows and they have not seen this "outer world" for themselves.That's basically the gist of the story.
The sad thing about today is that most people are prisoners in the shadows, just like in the story.
Reality pertains to something that is permanent, something that is unchanging... We all know that all the things that we see around us are not permanent. Therefore, all the material things that we see are just illusions. Even our life here on earth is an illusion... (our life is not permanent, we're all gonna die, death is inevitable...)
People have become attached to material things and the temporary "happiness" that they bring not knowing that these things are merely illusions. These people will not even begin to believe anything they have not seen or experienced for themselves.
The only way to escape this world and become free is to know our purpose of living, and to know who and what we are.
posted by tadz at
6:13 PM
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