“You must philosophise, but why must you bore me to tears?”
(Fairport Convention 1969)
Sorry ... I’m afraid that it’s time for a spot of (largely uninformed!) philosophical rambling...
In some of my recent reading, I was reminded of some philosophy.
What I am talking about here, is Plato’s cave allegory (The Republic - Book VII).
This is essentially, a story that is discussed by Socrates and Glaucon – Plato’s mentor and brother respectively.
In the outline, the story is as follows.
Some men are (and almost always, have been) imprisoned in a cave, and are forced to face one of its walls, and not to turn around. Behind them is a fire and between that and the prisoners is a low wall. Behind this wall, their guards walk and while they are hidden by it, they hold above it, representations of some (obviously, very far from all!) real world objects. These cast shadows on the wall that the prisoners face, and this is all that they can see, or have ever seen. (Needless to say, the guards are only carrying representations of the objects; so, we are only talking about shadows of shadows).
As you might imagine, the reality perceived by the prisoners is necessarily limited, and as such - distorted. As it is all that they have ever seen though, they believe that this is the true extent of the world.
At some stage one of the prisoners is permitted to leave the cave.
After being initially blinded by the light of the fire, and then the sun, the liberated prisoner’s eyes adjust to the light and the real world is truly visible.
Plato had some further views regarding (in his opinion) its infinite perfection - but let’s not go there!
Suffice to say that it is (at least) a vast improvement on the shadowlands (to borrow an expression of CS Lewis).
Our prisoner then re-enters the cave, to tell his colleagues what he has found. His eyes though, are no longer used to the dark and he has great difficulty in finding his way around, down there. He tells them about what he has witnessed, but they believe that it has done nothing more than blind him; and they are having none of that and choose to continue their blinkered existence.
As an allegory, Plato, of course, used this story as a vehicle for the presentation of an underlying message.
Over the years, philosophers have debated heavily, and written much on the true message to be construed from this allegory.
My very simplistic view (influenced by a little further reading), is as follows:
A narrow and negative world view will often be a product of our limited (and often incorrect) perception, which can shadow much of the real (and better) world. To see the bigger (and preferable) picture, we need to shake off some of these shackles.
So how do we do this?
A common interpretation of the allegory is that it can be achieved through education – but not just any old education.
In a way, the guards, in casting their shadows, were educating the prisoners - in that they were imparting information.
Through leading the prisoners to believe that the shadows constitute the entire world, this was, however, miseducation.
Through its acceptance at face value, the prisoners had developed an entirely incorrect and limited view of reality.
What they needed, was to take steps to see things, more widely (get out of the cave, and look around).
Many have argued that what getting out of the cave and making fresh observations, means, is subjecting information provided by others (be it written, spoken, or otherwise observed), to critical philosophical consideration.
I believe that, in practical terms, Plato is advocating thought, and a sense of critical questioning, before we leap to conclusions (in my case, often negative ones), based on information that we have acquired.
It is fair to say, that we shouldn’t take everything at face value (or – very true for myself - a misunderstood face value).
I appreciate that this post uses rather a lot of words, to make what might seem to be, a straightforward point and I proffer my apologies. In all fairness though, the questioning approach that is implicitly advocated in Plato’s cave allegory is widely considered to be fundamental to the discipline of philosophy. I took the view therefore, that a thorough exposition was well deserved.
Anyway, as previously alluded to, Plato attached to the allegory, a lot more, on the nature of reality, and I’ve spared you that!
Having considered it, I have concluded that the thinking behind the cave allegory, is something which I ought to keep at the forefront of my own mind.
As I have said in earlier posts, I now tend towards much negativity.
Of course, in my position there are things to feel negative about.
I do though, tend to focus on such shadows to the whole or partial exclusion of other (much brighter) things.
If I critically ponder my negative perceptions, I am sure that many of them can be cast aside and replaced by good things; for there are plenty of these out there, waiting to be grasped.
If nothing else, perceived losses can often be re-cast as opportunities.
I do know that my perceptions are narrow and focused upon my self-perceived difficulties.
Time to start a bit more, “thinking outside the box”!
Adoption of a “mindful” approach (coupled with mindful meditation) is a good place to start.
When I am feeling bad, I need to slow right down and generally ponder whether everything is really all that bad...
...and it isn’t just limited perceptions that trouble me. It is also sometimes, incorrect perception through a misunderstanding of information (and the motivation behind its provision).
Again, when I am upset by or angry about something that is communicated to me, it is always worth a moment’s reflection before jumping to conclusions.
I must tell myself that there is a world out there, beyond the limited shadows that, too often, flicker before me.
As per William Blake (1790)
If the doors of perception were cleansed then everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things through narrow chinks of his cavern".
