These are just some reflections on Plato's story about the man in a cave... first half is summary of what happened and the second half is just some thoughts. I hope you enjoy~
This section of the book starts out with a telling of a story of a man who has been kept in a dark cave for his entire life. The only available view he has of anything that is going on around him is a shadow, not unlike the ones created by children standing behind a sheet and using a light to make shadows and tell a story though that. Plato makes the point that if all the man knows are these shadows, then how is he to know that these shadows are not real and that they are made by other objects? To the man, these shadows would appear to be the ultimate reality, as this is all he knows.
As time passes, the man is allowed to see the objects that create the shadows, but is still kept in the cave. Now, he might believe that the shadows created are not the ultimate reality, but rather these objects that created these shadows. Although this is a slightly more accurate view of the world, he has still not seen any real objects; that is, to say that the items he is seeing are merely an imitation of their counterparts in the real world. Instead of seeing a live dog, he might be seeing a paper cut-out of a canine and before, he would have seen the shadow of this paper cut-out. In order to experience the real object, the man must be allowed to leave the cave.
Plato then continues to explain that the man is allowed to leave the cave and sees his own reflection in a lake and is able to view such objects as the trees, the sun and everything else that a regular person would be used to seeing. He makes the case that since the person has been living in a cave and watching shadows for his entire life, it will take a fair amount of adjustment to seeing real objects. He must get used to one object (ie, the sun) before he can get accustomed to the world at large and before he can learn to function in such a place.
This analogy is a familiar one, as it can be likened to a Christian living in this world. To a Christian, the ultimate reality is what is to come when the new Heaven and new Earth are created. What a Christian sees in this world is merely a shadow or a faulty imitation of this ultimate reality. The edges are blurred and people have no definite way of knowing whether or not what they see is real.
The idea of having to spend time to grow accustomed to physical stimuli draws a strong comparison to what happens in CS Lewis’ The Great Divorce. In this story, the narrator takes a journey from a town where the ultimate reality is thoughts and where people construct their houses simply by wishing for a house, but these houses are little more than shadows and do not protect them from the weather. As he journeys into Heaven, he notes that the sun is much too bright for many of the passengers and how the grass is sharp enough to cut his feet. He must spend time in this new place to get accustomed to the reality.
If a person believes in the Christian philosophy that what he sees here on Earth is not the ultimate reality and is merely a shadow of things to come, he must prepare himself or, like the man in the cave or the narrator in The Great Divorce, this reality (that is, Heaven) will come as a shock.
What is so fascinating about this story that Plato relates to the listener is how many different ways it can be interpreted. Here was a man who lived in the time of the ancient Greek empire and obviously had no knowledge of the Judeo-Christian themes and heritage, yet Christians have used this point to argue that what happens on Earth is not the ultimate reality. Even CS Lewis, arguably one of the greatest Christian apologists of all time and most certainly in the twentieth century, draws inspiration from this piece that was written over two thousand years prior.
Another interesting thing to note is that, while Christian arguments have probably used this illustration by Plato more often than arguments for other religions, Plato’s analogy does not necessarily point to the higher reality that is described by Christianity; it merely makes the case that a higher reality is possible and that in order to fully experience it, one must take the time to prepare himself for all possibilities.
This section of the book starts out with a telling of a story of a man who has been kept in a dark cave for his entire life. The only available view he has of anything that is going on around him is a shadow, not unlike the ones created by children standing behind a sheet and using a light to make shadows and tell a story though that. Plato makes the point that if all the man knows are these shadows, then how is he to know that these shadows are not real and that they are made by other objects? To the man, these shadows would appear to be the ultimate reality, as this is all he knows.
As time passes, the man is allowed to see the objects that create the shadows, but is still kept in the cave. Now, he might believe that the shadows created are not the ultimate reality, but rather these objects that created these shadows. Although this is a slightly more accurate view of the world, he has still not seen any real objects; that is, to say that the items he is seeing are merely an imitation of their counterparts in the real world. Instead of seeing a live dog, he might be seeing a paper cut-out of a canine and before, he would have seen the shadow of this paper cut-out. In order to experience the real object, the man must be allowed to leave the cave.
Plato then continues to explain that the man is allowed to leave the cave and sees his own reflection in a lake and is able to view such objects as the trees, the sun and everything else that a regular person would be used to seeing. He makes the case that since the person has been living in a cave and watching shadows for his entire life, it will take a fair amount of adjustment to seeing real objects. He must get used to one object (ie, the sun) before he can get accustomed to the world at large and before he can learn to function in such a place.
This analogy is a familiar one, as it can be likened to a Christian living in this world. To a Christian, the ultimate reality is what is to come when the new Heaven and new Earth are created. What a Christian sees in this world is merely a shadow or a faulty imitation of this ultimate reality. The edges are blurred and people have no definite way of knowing whether or not what they see is real.
The idea of having to spend time to grow accustomed to physical stimuli draws a strong comparison to what happens in CS Lewis’ The Great Divorce. In this story, the narrator takes a journey from a town where the ultimate reality is thoughts and where people construct their houses simply by wishing for a house, but these houses are little more than shadows and do not protect them from the weather. As he journeys into Heaven, he notes that the sun is much too bright for many of the passengers and how the grass is sharp enough to cut his feet. He must spend time in this new place to get accustomed to the reality.
If a person believes in the Christian philosophy that what he sees here on Earth is not the ultimate reality and is merely a shadow of things to come, he must prepare himself or, like the man in the cave or the narrator in The Great Divorce, this reality (that is, Heaven) will come as a shock.
What is so fascinating about this story that Plato relates to the listener is how many different ways it can be interpreted. Here was a man who lived in the time of the ancient Greek empire and obviously had no knowledge of the Judeo-Christian themes and heritage, yet Christians have used this point to argue that what happens on Earth is not the ultimate reality. Even CS Lewis, arguably one of the greatest Christian apologists of all time and most certainly in the twentieth century, draws inspiration from this piece that was written over two thousand years prior.
Another interesting thing to note is that, while Christian arguments have probably used this illustration by Plato more often than arguments for other religions, Plato’s analogy does not necessarily point to the higher reality that is described by Christianity; it merely makes the case that a higher reality is possible and that in order to fully experience it, one must take the time to prepare himself for all possibilities.
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