This posting is about how what we perceive as real is often a distorted of the underlying truth. This means that in order to find truth, we must search beyond what is immediately obvious to us and challenge our preconceptions of the world.

Plato in Book Seven of the Republic used the allegory of a cave in which prisoners were chained from childhood so that they could only see straight ahead. A fire provided light that reflected against a wall in front of them. A puppeteer manipulated some puppets to cast shadows against the wall, and from time to time other people walked along, also casting shadows. Sometimes the shadows were accompanied by sounds.

The prisoners could detect patterns in the movements of the shadows, and even perceive meanings. Whilst they could make distinctions, their opinions were misinformed, and they were unable to come to a systematic knowledge of their own lives or the operation of the cave from their observations. Since the prisoners had no other reality, this was reality to them. They were unable to imagine any world outside of the cave.

If the prisoners had been taken outside of the cave and had a wider experience, they would be able to see the cave in its context. They would no longer perceive it as reality.

So what is the moral of this allegory? I believe that it is that our view of the world is shaped by our own learned paradigms and may not be enough to understand how things really are. Day to day life does not necessarily give us the experience to see through to reality.

The puppeteers in Plato’s cave are unseen and inscrutable, but they have an agenda in presenting images. Plato doesn’t explain what it is. I believe that they represent those who hide reality from those who are searching for it, so that they can accomplish their own purposes in secrecy. Every major bringer of light in history had opposition from those who didn’t want others to gain light – Jesus had the Pharisees who had no truth of their own, but opposed anyone else finding a new way and Luther had the establishment wanting to maintain their cozy positions.

As I have mentioned, I am not a conspiracy theorist, but I don’t believe that what we see in politics and the media particularly supports the search for truth which is part of the transformation to self actualization. It is in the interests of the status quo to have you remain in ignorance, never achieving your maximum potential. That keeps you as a convenient, low cost slave and a consumer.

In order to find truth, we must look beyond what is in front of our faces and gain additional perspective to put it into context. How can we do this? By breaking out of the mainstream culture. If you listen to the same music, read the same books and newspapers and use the same banal paradigms, you will see the same shadows on the wall as all the other prisoners. Like the prisoners in the cave, you will think you have made sense of the world, but in fact see nothing of it.

Truth comes from the road less travelled – the knowledge that doesn’t come from sound bites on TV, the books that make you think a bit more, the alternative news, the views that don’t have populist appeal and cultures other than the one you have grown up with. At this point, you will gain a broader perspective and will be able to see the world for what it is.

Once you embrace reality, you will be able to start to move from stasis (focussed on and stuck with lower order needs) towards unlocking your potential for self actualization and achieving the joy that comes from understanding the purpose of your life.

Tags: freedom, plato's cave, reality

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 at 10:29 pm and is filed under Self-actualization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.