Plato’s Allegory of the cave

I took a Philosophy class last year in college.  During that semester not only did I develop  a crush on my professor (who was a woman) but I also fell in love with Plato.  Now, I am not sexually attracted to women at all, what I am attracted to is a women’s brain; when a woman can enlighten me with her wisdom, whether it be because she is extremely educated or because she can enlighten me with her life’s trials a tribulations, then I want to be around her and learn from her.  

That is how I felt about my Professor.  She was so extremely passionate about Philosophy and she explained everything so well, that whatever this woman said just made complete sense to me.  Many in my class were wowed by how well she explained things.  Philosophy is an extremely indepth subject, that only few are able to really brake down in a way that people can really understand it.  Sohia was awesome!

But besides having a girl crush over the delightful Sophia and her magnificent brain, I also fell in love with Philosophy, which last night I learned that Philosophy comes from the Greek and it means Philo=Love and Sophy=Wisdom.  This blew my mind, Sophy is short for Sophia. 

I read in a book once that throughout life there are signs everywhere, "signs" or things that happen to us that we think "what?!" these things happen to us to help guide us in the right path, however, most often then not, we are not paying attention to these signs and therefore we don’t identify them.  Imagine if we began to pay attention to these "signs" how much better we could live our lives.  Basically, paying attention to these "signs" will lead us to do what’s best for us. 

Think about it, has there ever been a time in your life that something happened to you and all of a sudden in your mind your like “that was a sign?” that was a sign that I should or shouldn’t have done xyz?  Well that’s because we have that almost sixth sense or gut feeling which sort of tells us or makes us feel that we should or shouldn’t do something.  It's not even our heart that is telling us this, it's more like our own being, our soul.

One of the stories that most stuck with me after ending my College Philosophy class was the story of Plato’s Allegory of the cave.  Which my professor summed up something like this..........Excuse me as I try to be even one percent as accurate as my Proffessor was, but this is deep.

Plato says that there were these people that since birth were tied up in a dark cave.  These people could only see shadow’s on a wall, the shadows on the wall were reflected by a fire that was always lit.  These shadow’s looked like human siloutte’s, however, they were not real people, what they really were, were puppet like images being moved back and forth past the light, but to the people that were tied up, these forms or people like shadows were the only reality they knew.  

One day, one of the people that were tied up, were let loose and sent to go outside of the cave, at first, the prisoner was afraid to go outside and leave their reality, however, after it went out and saw all the beautiful things like flowers, cats and the sun, this person did not want to go back to it’s “old reality” The person did however, want to go back and share their experience with the others who were still tied up, because what the person had experience was so completely wonderful, they felt they must share it with the rest. 

When this person went back to the cave to tell everyone else what it had seen, no one believed him, because to them, the reality was what they had seen all their lives in the cave.  

Ok, so my explanation is probably way off, of how Sophia explained it, her explanation was way better! and I'm definitely way off of how Plato told it (Plato oh how I love thee).  But the story stuck with me, because after her explanation the whole class including my professor laughed about the fact that in Plato’s mind, we are all stuck in a cave and that we won't experience "true reality" because we are often afraid to let go of what our "reality" is in our lives. 

After laughing about it, I kept thinking and thinking about what a magnificent man Plato was and I believed what he had to say.  However, in my mind as I was hearing and visualizing the story I had my own interpretation of the point Plato was trying to make.  

So, here is Jazzy's interpretation of Plato's Allegory of the Cave....... 

We sometimes go through our lives blinded by things that appear to be real to us, or what is taught to us by our parents and teachers.  We see things the way we want to see them because that is what makes us comfortable.  Then, something happens to us, that takes us out of our comfort zone and all of a sudden we are confused and scared and don’t know what to do because we are afraid to take chances or try new things (most of the time).  

Then, we will ask people "who have already left the cave" or lived that certain experience, for advice, and we get all different sorts of opinions, and we will think or say “yes that makes so much sense” yet we will continue to do what we shouldn’t or stay stuck in the same situation because we are so accustomed to our "old ways" "our cave" "our comfort zone" that we are afraid to try or are afraid to change.  

But basically, what the person who has already “left the cave” or experienced "their own reality" meaning they might have lived through a similar situation then our own and already had experiences in life where they felt maybe the same way you are or something like that, what this person is telling us, although it might sound good, or the advice may sound like "wow you are absolutely right" that advice to us is not "our own reality" therefore we ultimately dismiss it and do not allow that person to "enlighten us with their wisdom."   And so we dismiss their "advice" and then ultimately, end up making all sorts of mistakes because, until we don’t live through the whole process of that specific situation for ourselves, we won’t “see the light” and accept that, that is our "own true reality."  

That is my weird interpretation of the Allegory of the cave.  I love to write, but that doesn’t mean that I am putting my thoughts forth the way they are going on in my mind, but I hope I am making a valid point or at the very least making sense.  

Last night, I went to the Practical School of Philosophy to start a 10 week course.  If you live in NYC, you might of seen the signs on the train that read “This poster can make you happier than any other on the subway”  I have been wanting to go to that class since the first time I ever saw the word PHILOSOPHY on the advertising.  And last night after going there and listening to the teacher and listening to what people were saying, I kept thinking about Plato’s Allegory of the cave and how the people there including myself, were looking to get out of the cave and find true wisdom or guidance to change something within ourselves and find inner happiness or find what to each of us in that class is “reality” find out what should I do? why, and to try to make sense of certain situations in life.  

My co-workers joked about the fact that went, they told me that soon a spaceship would come and pick me up to take me away.  I don't live by the rules and I don't care what people's opinions about my choices are, because this is my life, my movie and I will live it my way. 

I was really happy that I went, because I am sure that if nothing else, I will come out of there that much wiser by listening to other people’s experiences and learning from others.  Who know’s maybe one day, I can even give someone advice about something that I have lived through or that I have learned and it may help that one person to come out of "their cave” or what they are used to, and find their own reality.  Or maybe going there was a sign, that I am ready to get out of my "own cave” or comfort zone and find my “true reality” we shall see.  

I strongly believe, that when it comes to things we live through and challenges we are faced with, it is not our age that determines the choices that we make.  I believe that wisdom has no age, although as we get older we most certainly learn more and more, still, that does not mean that you can't be young and still have "wisdom" I personally have learned very powerful lessons from people much younger than I am.  All people have that six sense, we all have a soul that if we listen to it, it will guide us in the right path.  In the path of life, all we need is love.  Love will help you through it all, love of self and love of others. 

You can google "Allegory of the Cave" and read the real story :)