Shadows in a Cave

[deftarchangel]

The following is a portion from an article I read by Dr. Jerry Beasley as seen in a back issue of Black Belt Magazine.  I've edited parts of it, and included a quote from the literary work that Dr. Beasley references.  Though others have described this particular allegory of Plato's  The Allegory of the Cave, I found Dr. Beasley's explanation rather familiar.  Anyways, thought some might get a kick out of it. 

Socrates, in Plato's The Republic, describes men who are chained to a wall deep within a darkened cave since childhood.  The men sit facing a far wall.  Their arms, legs and feet are held in place, and their necks are bound so that they are forced to gaze in one direction only, that of looking against that far wall. 

Behind them, near the entrance to the cave, is a large fire.  Also behind them, but in front of the fire is a raised walkway or platform, where other men transport statues of animals and men made from wood and stone.  As the men pass between the fire and the prisoners, shadows of the statues are cast on the far wall, making it appear to the prisoners chained below that the shadows or images are real.  The shadows represent their only source of knowledge of the outside world. 

Even though the prisoners cannot see each other, they know of each others presence, and they begin to give names to the shadow images they see on the wall.  As the men who carry the statues speak to one another, the prisoners mistakenly identify their echoes as sounds being made by the reflected images.  The talking shadows become the only reality known to them.  As a result, the prisoners develop a chain of command of sorts, praising and honouring those prisoners who best describe the shadows or who can more effectively tell one shadow from another. 

Now let's suppose, says Socrates, that one of the prisoners is suddenly liberated.  He manages to break free from his physical restraints, stand up and look around into the light.  Of course, the sudden glare will cause him much pain and partial blindness.  And as he tries to look back to the wall, his temporary blindness does not allow him to be enticed by the security of the shadows anymore.  Without being able to see the "reality" of the shadows, which up to that point was his only source of knowledge, he is unable to function and stumbles toward the mouth of the cave.  As he travels towards the entrance, he is able to see real objects: the statues and the fire.  But having known only shadows, he rejects these real images as he tries to find that which is familiar to him: other shadows. 

Socrates maintains that the newly liberated man must be dragged up to the daylight at the mouth of the cave.  There he is almost blinded, having previously been able to see only in the darkness.  No doubt the man would be angry at whomever it was that forced him to stare into the daylight, and would be temporarily distressed because he would not see even one thing that is real.  As his eyes begin to adjust to the sunlight, he sees shadows and reflections of real things and rushes to those shadows.  As he becomes more accustomed to the light though, he realizes that the shadows are actually only reflections of what is real.  For the first time, he experiences reality as he not only sees but feels a real tree or animal.  In time, he feels secure in the real world and has no desire to return to what he recognizes as the "fake reality" of the shadows in the cave.   

But because of the man's new knowledge of reality, he feels compelled to liberate the others in the cave.  The liberated man rushes back into the cave to free his comrades.  But after a period of living in the sunlight, he cannot see in the darkness anymore.  Therefore, he is totally helpless and unable to compete with the other prisoners as they have continued to pursue highly regarded activities such as shadow-telling, devoting a lifetime of study to a specific shadow, and teaching others the ways of the shadows.  As he boldly attempts to tell the prisoners that their world is only illusion, they condemn him for his insults.  If his world of reality is so great, why is he unable to compete in their games?  Has this reality helped him better recognize the shadows?   Has it provided him with insights on teaching the knowledge of the shadows? 

Compared to the masters of the shadows, the liberated man is utterly inept.  He is laughed at and ridiculed for having made the trip to the outside.  The prisoners treat the man as an example of how seeing the light will cause only confusion and corruption, and diminish one's ability to recognize the importance of the shadows. 

"Wouldn't it be said of him that he went up and came back with his eyes corrupted, and that it's not even worth trying to go up? And if they were somehow able to get their hands on and kill the man who attempts to release and lead up, wouldn't they kill him?" – (517a – The Republic).


Food for thought!