Is not the dreamer, sleeping or waking, one who likens dissimilar things, who puts the copy in place of the real object?.
-- Plato
Like everyone else, you were born into bondage, kept inside a prison that you cannot smell, taste, or touch. A prison for your mind.-- Morpheus
Symbolism:
The World Outside the Cave = The Intelligible World
The Sun = The Form of the Good
Objects in the Outside World (Trees, ducks, etc.) = The Forms
Shadows and Reflections in the Outside World = Concepts
The World Inside the Cave = The Physical World
The Fire = The Sun
The Objects (Statues) that Cast the Shadows = Particular Objects
The Shadows on the Wall = Images
Imagine prisoners, who have been chained since their childhood deep inside a cave: not only are their limbs immobilized by the chains; their heads are chained in one direction as well so that their gaze is fixed on a wall.
Behind the prisoners is an enormous fire, and between the fire and the prisoners is a raised walkway, along which puppets of various animals, plants, and other things are moved along. The puppets cast shadows on the wall, and the prisoners watch these shadows. When one of the puppet-carriers speaks, an echo against the wall causes the prisoners to believe that the words come from the shadows.
The prisoners engage in what appears to us to be a game: naming the shapes as they come by. This, however, is the only reality that they know, even though they are seeing merely shadows of images. They are thus conditioned to judge the quality of one another by their skill in quickly naming the shapes and dislike those who play poorly.
Suppose a prisoner is released and compelled to stand up and turn around. At that moment his eyes will be blinded by the sunlight coming into the cave from its entrance, and the shapes passing by will appear less real than their shadows.
The last object he would be able to see is the sun, which, in time, he would learn to see as the object that provides the seasons and the courses of the year, presides over all things in the visible region, and is in some way the cause of all these things that he has seen.
Once enlightened, so to speak, the freed prisoner would not want to return to the cave to free "his fellow bondsmen," but would be compelled to do so. Another problem lies in the other prisoners not wanting to be freed: descending back into the cave would require that the freed prisoner's eyes adjust again, and for a time, he would be one of the ones identifying shapes on the wall. His eyes would be swamped by the darkness, and would take time to become acclimated. Therefore, he would not be able to identify the shapes on the wall as well as the other prisoners, making it seem as if his being taken to the surface completely ruined his eyesight.
Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our cave. The things which we perceive as real are actually just shadows on a wall. Just as the escaped prisoner ascends into the light of the sun, we amass knowledge and ascend into the light of true reality: where ideas in our minds can help us understand the form of 'The Good'.
Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our cave. The things which we perceive as real are actually just shadows on a wall. Just as the escaped prisoner ascends into the light of the sun, we amass knowledge and ascend into the light of true reality: where ideas in our minds can help us understand the form of 'The Good'.
Quoting: ~GAIA~
I think you will find that knowledge enslaves rather than liberates. When you claim to understand anything without understanding everything, then you are deceiving yourself.
~GAIA~ I'll think about it tomorrow... User ID: 335823 12/5/2007 4:03 PM
Re: Plato's Allegory of the Cave -The Matrix and The Truman Show-
Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our cave. The things which we perceive as real are actually just shadows on a wall. Just as the escaped prisoner ascends into the light of the sun, we amass knowledge and ascend into the light of true reality: where ideas in our minds can help us understand the form of 'The Good'.
I think you will find that knowledge enslaves rather than liberates. When you claim to understand anything without understanding everything, then you are deceiving yourself.
Quoting: Sky441
I see you are new...welcome !!
Do you believe that knowledge enslave ?
I guess the chained men ,down there, prisioners in the cave didn't had much options....the shadows were all they knew.Do you prefer to ignore or to know?
I'm not sure Plato's allegory is adequate to explain the modern life under a security state. The modern situation is more akin to escaping one delusion and finding yourself living in yet another even more spectacular delusion built like labyrinth with little prospect of escape. The best you can manage is to play a role in the theater of deception.
~GAIA~ I'll think about it tomorrow... User ID: 335823 12/5/2007 4:19 PM
Re: Plato's Allegory of the Cave -The Matrix and The Truman Show-
I'm not sure Plato's allegory is adequate to explain the modern life under a security state. The modern situation is more akin to escaping one delusion and finding yourself living in yet another even more spectacular delusion built like labyrinth with little prospect of escape. The best you can manage is to play a role in the theater of deception.
Quoting: Anonymous Coward 326428
Plato's allegory goes further than that.
I see myself chained , looking at the shadows and not quite understanding what I am seeing.
I believe is in each one's hands whether or not to remaind chained.
Two options : living in a world of fantasy, shadows and lies, or to go out to the real world. “I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”
[link to israelitkan.ning.com]
[link to israelinsider.ning.com]
Evil Twin Senior Forum Moderator User ID: 9991 12/5/2007 4:27 PM
Re: Plato's Allegory of the Cave -The Matrix and The Truman Show-
Great post GAIA, I have not heard this story since I was a boy. To visualize the coming apocalypse, imagine, if you will, Oprah & Rosie O'Donnell wrestling for the last rib at an all-you can-eat Bar-B-Q...
Hi Gaia , good to see you. I have been thinking about you.
It`s been a long year.
I think you will find that knowledge enslaves rather than liberates. When you claim to understand anything without understanding everything, then you are deceiving yourself.
Quoting: Sky 441
How does anybody know what you know?
Great post Gaia, you knew that.
Lets see what we can do this coming year. Something for each of us , the same something.
Love to you Gaia.
Love x
~GAIA~ I'll think about it tomorrow... User ID: 335823 12/5/2007 4:36 PM
Re: Plato's Allegory of the Cave -The Matrix and The Truman Show-
Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our cave. The things which we perceive as real are actually just shadows on a wall. Just as the escaped prisoner ascends into the light of the sun, we amass knowledge and ascend into the light of true reality: where ideas in our minds can help us understand the form of 'The Good'.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I think you will find that knowledge enslaves rather than liberates. When you claim to understand anything without understanding everything, then you are deceiving yourself.
Quoting: Sky441
"Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our cave."
JUST FOLLOW THE LIGHT AND BELIEVE YOU WILL GET SOMEWHERE ___________________________________ KNOW THY ENEMY:
THIS IS NOT YOUR MOTHER'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY
___________________________________
COUNTDOWN TO 12/21/2012
STARTED ON 04/26/2009
We need REVOLUTION
a. a turning round or rotating, as on an axis.
b. a moving in a circular or curving course, as about a central point.
c. a single cycle in such a course.
___________________________
[link to www.sarahpac.com]
There is no thing endowed with life - from man, who is enslaving the elements, to the nimblest creature - in all this world that does not sway in its turn. Whenever action is born from force, though it be infinitesimal, the cosmic balance is upset and the universal motion results.
~GAIA~ I'll think about it tomorrow... User ID: 335823 12/5/2007 4:56 PM
Re: Plato's Allegory of the Cave -The Matrix and The Truman Show-
Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our cave. The things which we perceive as real are actually just shadows on a wall. Just as the escaped prisoner ascends into the light of the sun, we amass knowledge and ascend into the light of true reality: where ideas in our minds can help us understand the form of 'The Good'.
--------------------------------------------------------------
I think you will find that knowledge enslaves rather than liberates. When you claim to understand anything without understanding everything, then you are deceiving yourself.
"Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our cave."
JUST FOLLOW THE LIGHT AND BELIEVE YOU WILL GET SOMEWHERE
Quoting: jarha
In Matrix, Morpheus said....follow the white rabbit....do you remember?
Reality, what matters, and the Matrix by Iakdvos Vasilou
The Matrix is, at its core, a film with a moral plot. We, the viewers, like the heroes, are in on a secret: The reality that forms the lives of millions of human beings is not real. The world that seems real to most people is in fact a computer-generated simulation, but almost no one knows it. In reality human beings are floating in liquid in machine pods, with tubes connected to them in a grotesque post-apocalyptic world where the sun is blotted out. Things seem, of course, to the average person to be the ordinary world of 1999. Although some details of the history remain untold, it is an essential part of The Matrix that we are provided with a specific account of how all of this happened. There was a battle between human beings and machines whose cognitive capacity had surpassed their own. In a desperate attempt to win, human beings blocked out the sun's light in order to deprive the machines of their power source. Despite this extreme tactic, the humans lost, were enslaved, and are now farmed to supply energy sources for the machines. The machines induce the appearance of ordinary 1999 life in the human beings with a computer generated "virtual community" for the purpose of keeping them docile and asleep so that they and their offspring can be used like living batteries. While humans seem to walk around in an ordinary life, their minds are radically deceived and their bodies are exploited. The heroes are thus depicted as fighting a noble battle for the liberation of the human species.1
I have so far drawn out two aspects of the "moral background" of the film: enslavement and deception. We should also note the perspective we have on the Matrix as viewers of The Matrix. We have what is sometimes called a "God's eye" perspective: we can see both the Matrix reality and "real" reality. We are let in on the truth about the situation, and we are not supposed to question, for example, whether the battle between Morpheus and his friends and the Agents is itself being conducted in another "meta-matrix", or whether the view of the human pods we see might only be some sort of dream image or illusion. As viewers of the Matrix, we are in on the truth and we can see for ourselves that human beings are both enslaved and deceived. Given the outlined history, we are meant to understand the situation of the humans as a terrible and unfair one.
Trinity: I know why you're here, Neo. I know what you've been doing... why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night, you sit by your computer. You're looking for him. I know because I was once looking for the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn't really looking for him. I was looking for an answer. It's the question that drives us, Neo. It's the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I did.
Neo: What is the Matrix?
Trinity: The answer is out there, Neo, and it's looking for you, and it will find you if you want it to.
Hi Gaia , good to see you. I have been thinking about you.
It`s been a long year.
I think you will find that knowledge enslaves rather than liberates. When you claim to understand anything without understanding everything, then you are deceiving yourself.
How does anybody know what you know?
Great post Gaia, you knew that.
Lets see what we can do this coming year. Something for each of us , the same something.
Love to you Gaia.
Quoting: Femto
Well thank you...happy to see you too around.
I am glad you are enjoying....
Morpheus: I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?
Neo: You could say that.
Morpheus: I see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, that's not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?
Neo: No.
Morpheus: Why not?
Neo: Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.
Morpheus: I know *exactly* what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Neo: The Matrix.
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?
Neo: Yes.
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.
Plato is saying that humans are all prisoners and that the tangible world is our cave. The things which we perceive as real are actually just shadows on a wall. Just as the escaped prisoner ascends into the light of the sun, we amass knowledge and ascend into the light of true reality: where ideas in our minds can help us understand the form of 'The Good'.
I think you will find that knowledge enslaves rather than liberates. When you claim to understand anything without understanding everything, then you are deceiving yourself.
I see you are new...welcome !!
Do you believe that knowledge enslave ?
I guess the chained men ,down there, prisioners in the cave didn't had much options....the shadows were all they knew.Do you prefer to ignore or to know?
g
Quoting: ~GAIA~
The sad truth is that they never had a chance. The funny part is, the closest they ever were to liberation was at the moment of conception; from there, they become more lost and brainwashed by their own minds. The mind is what enslaves us, knowledge is its crutch. The truth of the world is that the world was created to enslave us, and there was no escape door included. Not even death is the escape door, that is what reincarnation was set up for - to send us right back in to work on our "karma."
My posts below are from a previous thread back in 6/06, but still apropos:
A question i've been pondering much of late is:
"after enlightenment, zen what?"
In Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," after the instructor helps to break
the chains of the masses of people (introducing them to various ideas),
he sets them upon their own individual quests by revealing to them the
conflict between those who would keep them ignorant & complacent by
presenting 'false fire' (illusions of truth) & the upward journey leading out
of the cave into the sunlight, symbolizing the struggle for true freedom &
enlightenment. Here the hero/student must choose between the upward
struggle for true knowledge or returning to the cave of darkness, illusion
& ignorance.
For those who have chosen knowledge & have been, therefore, guided
by the instructor up the 'steep ascent' into the sunlight of truth & reality,
after experiencing the joy & freedom of the sunlight, the hero/student soon
comes to a realization & remembrance of all those still 'in chains' back
down in the cave.
It seems to me that in order to 'pass it on,' the hero, after enlightenment,
must then return to the cave to set others free from their chains & to offer
them the opportunity to seek knowledge... & eventually.. wisdom.
Thus, the hero/student is transformed into an agent of change by
becoming an instructor, & the story has come full circle.
~~~~~~~~~~
"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the 'Universe,'
a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself,
his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest -
a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion [the world of sight] is a kind of prison [cave] for us,
restricting us to our personal desires [shadows & illusions] and
to affection for a few persons nearest us [fellow prisoners].
Our task must be to free ourselves [with help from an instructor/agent
of change] from this prison [cave] by widening our circles of compassion
[universal, unconditional love] to embrace all living creatures and the whole
of nature in its beauty."
~Albert Einstein... [but words in brackets are mine]
"I should've been a plumber."
~ Albert Einstein
Beam me up, Scotty! Beam me up soon!
Never mind, Scotty, cuz... "there is no spoon"
At the moment, even within the coldness of this world of concrete and stainless steel, . . . I still regard myself as (relatively) sane. I hope to maintain that status.
Such thoughts remind me of a scene in an old movie, “Lawrence of Arabia,” which you have probably seen on the tele at one time or another.
The British Counsel General, played by Claude Raines, asks, “Lawrence, are you mad ?”
Lawrence, played by Peter O’Toole, replies, “No sir. I am not mad, and I don’t wish to become mad.”
Having studied madness / insanity at some length in my time, . . . but having no desire for the personal experience, . . . I can appreciate the overtones of the dialogue from that old movie.
'What’s past is never past.
Just residue in the glass.'
_________________________________
'I am NOT a number. I am a free man. . . . My life is my own. . . . I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered.'
_________________________________
In the ‘Update Your Information’ section, MY ‘Country’ is NOT on the available list of selections. That is because I have NONE.
Perhaps ‘Countries’ -- like ‘Friends’ and ‘Home’ and ‘Family’ and ‘Community’ -- are only another in a long list of FICTIONS.
_________________________________
~GAIA~ I'll think about it tomorrow... User ID: 335823 12/5/2007 5:42 PM
Re: Plato's Allegory of the Cave -The Matrix and The Truman Show-
At the beginning of The Matrix, a black-clad computer hacker known as Neo falls asleep in front of his computer. A mysterious message appears on the screen: "Wake up, Neo."1 This succinct phrase encapsulates the plot of the film, as Neo struggles with the problem of being imprisoned in a "material" world that is actually a computer simulation program created in the distant future by Artificial Intelligence (AI) as a means of enslaving humanity, by perpetuating ignorance in the form of an illusory perception called "the Matrix." In part, the film crafts its ultimate view of reality by alluding to numerous religious traditions that advance the idea that the fundamental problem which humanity faces is ignorance and the solution is knowledge or awakening.
.............................................
Morpheus: Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?
Morpheus: Welcome to the real world.
Morpheus: The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.
[Neo's eyes suddenly wander towards a woman in a red dress]
Morpheus: Were you listening to me, Neo? Or were you looking at the woman in the red dress?
Neo: I was...
Morpheus: [gestures with one hand] Look again.
[the woman in the red dress is now Agent Smith, pointing a gun at Neo's head; Neo ducks]
Morpheus: Freeze it.
[Everybody and everything besides Neo and Morpheus freezes in time]
Neo: This... this isn't the Matrix?
Morpheus: No. It is another training program designed to teach you one thing: if you are not one of us, you are one of them. “I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”
[link to israelitkan.ning.com]
[link to israelinsider.ning.com]
Anonymous Coward User ID: 177741 12/5/2007 5:56 PM
Re: Plato's Allegory of the Cave -The Matrix and The Truman Show-
My posts below are from a previous thread back in 6/06, but still apropos:
A question i've been pondering much of late is:
"after enlightenment, zen what?"
In Plato's "Allegory of the Cave," after the instructor helps to break
the chains of the masses of people (introducing them to various ideas),
he sets them upon their own individual quests by revealing to them the
conflict between those who would keep them ignorant & complacent by
presenting 'false fire' (illusions of truth) & the upward journey leading out
of the cave into the sunlight, symbolizing the struggle for true freedom &
enlightenment. Here the hero/student must choose between the upward
struggle for true knowledge or returning to the cave of darkness, illusion
& ignorance.
For those who have chosen knowledge & have been, therefore, guided
by the instructor up the 'steep ascent' into the sunlight of truth & reality,
after experiencing the joy & freedom of the sunlight, the hero/student soon
comes to a realization & remembrance of all those still 'in chains' back
down in the cave.
It seems to me that in order to 'pass it on,' the hero, after enlightenment,
must then return to the cave to set others free from their chains & to offer
them the opportunity to seek knowledge... & eventually.. wisdom.
Thus, the hero/student is transformed into an agent of change by
becoming an instructor, & the story has come full circle.
~~~~~~~~~~
"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the 'Universe,'
a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself,
his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest -
a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion [the world of sight] is a kind of prison [cave] for us,
restricting us to our personal desires [shadows & illusions] and
to affection for a few persons nearest us [fellow prisoners].
Our task must be to free ourselves [with help from an instructor/agent
of change] from this prison [cave] by widening our circles of compassion
[universal, unconditional love] to embrace all living creatures and the whole
of nature in its beauty."
~Albert Einstein... [but words in brackets are mine]
Morpheus: I imagine that right now, you're feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?
Neo: You could say that.
Morpheus: I see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, that's not far from the truth. Do you believe in fate, Neo?
Neo: No.
Morpheus: Why not?
Neo: Because I don't like the idea that I'm not in control of my life.
Morpheus: I know *exactly* what you mean. Let me tell you why you're here. You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me. Do you know what I'm talking about?
Neo: The Matrix.
Morpheus: Do you want to know what it is?
Neo: Yes.
Morpheus: The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Neo: What truth?
Morpheus:That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind.
Quoting: ~GAIA~
THAT'S WHY GOD GAVE US BRAIN AND IMAGINATION.
USE YOUR IMAGINATION, DREAM AND YOU ARE FREE
EVEN IF IT IS FOR SHORT TIME.
REMEMBER, IMAGINATION GIVES YOU WINGS. ___________________________________ KNOW THY ENEMY:
THIS IS NOT YOUR MOTHER'S DEMOCRATIC PARTY
___________________________________
COUNTDOWN TO 12/21/2012
STARTED ON 04/26/2009
We need REVOLUTION
a. a turning round or rotating, as on an axis.
b. a moving in a circular or curving course, as about a central point.
c. a single cycle in such a course.
___________________________
[link to www.sarahpac.com]
There is no thing endowed with life - from man, who is enslaving the elements, to the nimblest creature - in all this world that does not sway in its turn. Whenever action is born from force, though it be infinitesimal, the cosmic balance is upset and the universal motion results.
Anonymous Coward User ID: 263473 12/5/2007 7:10 PM
Re: Plato's Allegory of the Cave -The Matrix and The Truman Show-
... and I wonder if people posting here actually think they're exceptions to the norm. :P Surely the chained ones wouldn't dare consider that they are chained and illusion-ed.
Anonymous Coward User ID: 299977 12/5/2007 7:10 PM
Re: Plato's Allegory of the Cave -The Matrix and The Truman Show-
Wonderful thread Gaia, yes the soul is enslaved into captivity by parents that indoctrinate parents into their belief systems, religions, etc etc One can call it conditioning that closes down human consciousness, imposes judgement, erodes boundaries and fragments the soul. The will of the divine child is crushed in childhood, the soul weeps and the Spirit rebels.
My father taught me that we were born FREE....free spirits.....
After parents, education then entraps further into socially acceptable norms and sometimes that can be to process people through the system so that they get what they want. For instance in the late 90's governments feared we did not have enough scientists and engineers; so children were purposely pushed in this direction. Now they fear we will not have enough 'social sciences' so they are pushing people into the humanities. They start them young and in the UK it is called 'citzenship'. Some parents live their dreams through their children, hence why most young degree students do not follow their own hearts and this can lead to depression and a lot worse.
As we know Western society is changing and more and more children are being allowed to follow their own heart. Parents are just guardians of the soul, nothing more and nothing less.
The captivity of the dark cave can also be understood as samsara and not being able to see the light. Walking blindly from negative cycle to another, so many robots on automatic pilot in the hamster wheel. So may sheep that do not have the confidence to lead but only feel worthy to follow.
Plato like Buddha and Yeshua believed in original goodness and that man could break free from their conditioning, if they were prepared to put the effort into their own self development.
THE LAMP/MIRROR OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Here is another quote from Plato
"Do you not see that in that region alone where he sees beauty with the faculty of seeing it, will he be able to bring forth nor mere reflected images of goodness but true goodness, because he will be in contact not with reflection but with the truth? And having brought forth and nurtured true goodness he will have the privilege of being beloved by GOD, and becoming, if ever man can, immortal himself' Plato
This is then repeated again in a different way by Yeshua.
The Lamp of the Body
33“No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he puts it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light. 34Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. 35See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. 36Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you.”
Matthew 5:15
15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.
The Buddha
"To hope for miraculous blessings and still have wrong opinions - that prolongs the bondage."
"The fair tree of thought that knows no duality, spreads through the triple world. It bears the flower and fruit of compassion, and its name is service to others".
'Be a light unto yourself"
"Unshakable is freedom for me, this is my last birth, there is now not becoming again".
Plato also talked about moving from 'being to becoming'.....he understood spiritual alchemy.
Lotus
~GAIA~ I'll think about it tomorrow... User ID: 336038 12/5/2007 7:16 PM
Re: Plato's Allegory of the Cave -The Matrix and The Truman Show-
In Book VII of The Republic, Plato tells a story entitled "The Allegory Of The Cave." He begins the story by describing a dark underground cave where a group of people are sitting in one long row with their backs to the cave's entrance. Chained to their chairs from an early age, all the humans can see is the distant cave wall in from of them. Their view of reality is soley based upon this limited view of the cave which but is a poor copy of the real world.
In addition to the chained people, there are other people in the cave. Plato refers to them as the puppet-handlers and they are the ones holding those in the cave captive. (It is important to realize that the prisoners do not realize this--in fact, the prisoners do not even realize that they are being held captive since this existence is all they have ever known.) Walking behind the prisoners, the puppet-handlers hold up various objects found in the real world. Due to a fire that is burning the mouth of the cave, the prisoners are able to see the objects and each other only as distorted, flickering shadows on the cavern wall in front of them.
Unfortunately, the prisoners can not see the actual objects or the puppet-makers because they are unable to turn their heads. From childhood, "...their legs and necks [have been] in bonds so that they are fixed, seeing only [what is] in front of them.... As Plato goes on to later explain, "the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images."
The movie, "The Matrix," parallels Platos's Allegory Of The Cavein a number of ways. Similar to the prisoners of the cave, the humans trapped in the matrix (the cave) only see what the machines (the modern day puppet-handlers) want them to see. They are tricked into believing that what they hear in the cave and see before them is the true reality that exists. Furthermore, they accept what their senses are telling them and they believe that what they are experiencing is all that really exists--nothing more.
However, Neo is forced to face a painful truth when he is removed from the pod that has kept him trapped in the virtual reality of the matrix.
Neo discovers that what he has been presented with his entire life is only reflections, or merely shadows of the truth. This theme is carried throughout the movie as we see many objects (as well as Neo himself) reflected in other objects.
The Shadows
The shadows in both stories play a crucial role in shaping the prisoners' view the world. In fact, it is the shadows (which are only half-truths) that serve as the basis for the prisoners' false or distorted sense of reality.
The repetitive use of mirrors and reflected images in the move "The Matrix" serve to remind us of this fact.
In "The Matrix," the machines use "shadows" (series of code which together make up the matrix world) to occupy the humans and keep them under their control. The prisoners of the cave and the matrix are shown only shadows of the real objects, in part, because the puppet-handlers believe that the truth would be too painful for the prisoners to accept. Besides, it is easier to pacify the prisoners and keep them happy (and under control) by supplying them with only half-truths since most will be uncooperative and try to escape if they learn that are in captivity.
The Freed Man
In "Allegory of The Cave," Plato goes on to present the hypothesis that one of the prisoners (who he often referred to as the philosopher or intellectual) would eventually be released or escape from his chains and flee the cave.
After turning around in his chair, this philosopher/intellectual would then be able to see the real objects that are casted as only shadows on the cave wall as well as the puppet-handlers who are holding these objects.
In the movie, "The Matrix" this scene directly parallels with Neo's scene in the matrix pod. Looking around in shock, Neo sees, for the first time, his true surroundings. He is actually living in a human factory.
At first, Plato says that the Freed Prisoner would be confused at what he saw. "He [would] suffer sharp pains; the glare [would] distress him, and he [would] be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows....he'd be at a loss and believe that what was seen before is truer than what is now shown." As for Neo, when he is finally confronted with the truth surrounding the matrix, Neo is in a state of confusion and denial. In fact, the realization of the true is so overwhelming that he throws up and passes out.
As pointed out in "The Allegory Of The Cave," the Freed Man might even feel that what he was seeing now was the illusion and the shadows on the wall were actually more real. Like Cypher tells Trinity, "I think the matrix can be more real than this world."
Plato also goes on to sugguest that the freed prisoner would not only be shock over the realization of his true existance, but that he would suffer physical pain: "And if he is compelled to look straight at the light, will he not have a pain in his eyes which will make him turn away to take in the objects of vision which he is able to see without pain, and which he will conceive to be in reality clearer than the things which are now being shown to him?" Like Neo, who says "I can't go back, can I?" the freed prisoner's first reaction would be to turn around (return to the false reality) because it is less painful and more familar to him.
Interestingly enough, Plato even ponders with the ideas that the bonds holding the prisoners to their chairs may actually be mental rather than physical in nature; in another words, if the prisoners really wanted to escape from the cave, they could do so by simply willing themselves to get up and walk out. (Note that in "The Matrix" that Morpheus is able to break free of his handcuffs with the use of his mental powers as well as physical strength.)
With these thoughts in mind, it is important to realize, at least accorind to Plato, that the Freed Man must have started to question what he saw in front of him and wondered about the origin of the shadows and if there was anything else beyond the cave wall that he saw before him. He must have sensed something was wrong and he sought out the truth. In fact, this is the only way that a prisoner is able to escape--it has to be the result of him making a choice and wanting to learn the truth.
This theme is also found in the movie, "The Matrix." Neo is portrayed very must like the freed prisoner. As Morpheus tells Neo, "You're here because you know something. What you know you can't explain. But you feel it. You've felt it your entire life. That there's something wrong with the world. You don't know what it is but it's there, like a splinter in your mind driving you mad. It is this feeling that has brought you to me."
Disclaimer: This website exists for entertainment purposes only. The reader is responsible for discerning the validity, factuality
or implications of information posted here, be it fictional or based on real events. Moderators on this forum make every
effort to review the material posted on this site however, it is not realistically possible for our small staff to manually
review each and every one of the more than 10,000 posts GodlikeProductions gets on a daily basis.
The content of post
on this site, including but not limited to links to other web sites, are the expressed opinion of the original poster and are in
no way representative of or endorsed by the owners or administration of this website. The posts on this website are the opinion of
the specific author and are not statements of advice, opinion, or factual information on behalf of the owner or
administration of GodlikeProductions.
This site may contain adult content and if you feel you might be offended by such content, you should log off immediately.
Not all posts on this website are intended as truthful or factual assertion by their authors. Some users of this website are participating in internet role playing, with or without the use of an avatar. NO post on this website should be considered factual information on face value alone. Users are encouraged to USE DISCERNMENT and do their own follow up research while reading and posting on this website. Godlikeproductions.com reserves the right to make changes to, corrections and/or remove entirely at any time posts made on this website without notice. In addition, Godlikeproductions.com disclaims any and all liability for damages incurred directly or indirectly as a result of a post on this website.
This site is provided "as is" without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. You should not assume that this site is error-free or that it will be suitable for the particular purpose which you have in mind when using it. In no event shall Godlikeproductions.com be liable for any special, incidental, indirect or consequential damages of any kind, or any damages whatsoever, including, without limitation, those resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether or not advised of the possibility of damage, and on any theory of liability, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this site or other documents which are referenced by or linked to this site.
Some events depicted in certain posting and threads on this website may be fictitious and any similarity to any person living or dead is merely coincidental. Some other articles may be based on actual events but which in certain cases incidents, characters and timelines have been changed for dramatic purposes. Certain characters may be composites, or entirely fictitious.
We do not discriminate against the mentally ill!
Fair Use Notice: This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Users may make such material available in an effort to advance awareness and understanding of issues relating to civil rights, economics, individual rights, international affairs, liberty, science & technology, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C.Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information please visit: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
Please be aware any communications sent complaining about a post on this website may be posted publicly at the discretion of the administration.
This Disclaimer is subject to change at anytime.
Mail Webmaster with questions or comments about this site.
