The title of this blog "Shadows On The Cave" is obviously derived from Plato's Republic and his "Allegory of the Cave." Plato was a student of Socrates and the Allegory of the Cave is told as a dialogue between Plato's brother, Glaucon and Socrates. The scene is described as mankind chained facing a wall. Shadows are cast on the wall by a fire burning behind them. Objects are passed in front of the fire but still behind the prisoners, creating distorted reflections of their reality on the cave wall. The chained prisoners can only perceive reality as these distorted shadowy reflections. (I actually think Socrates should have taken the Allegory a step further and had each prisoner chained in his own cave, as we each perceive reality different.)
I read Plato's Republic at NCSU and our intimately small class spent a great deal of time discussing the "Allegory of the Cave." It was a pivotal point in my intellectual maturity. Prior to this point, learning had always been superficial consisting of memorization, regurgitation and occasionally problem solving. Each class, I sat dumbfounded thinking how easy it was to comprehend the words and ideas but completely miss the deeper meanings. I was one of those prisoners chained to the wall. My education to that point had been one of learning but not truly insightful. It really opened my mind to questioning preconceptions and that learning was more about an endless pursuit of knowledge.
Please do not interpret what I just said as being hubris on my part as having any insight into anything. Rather, my point is that we all view life through our own paradigms of experiences. I recognize that my thoughts, perceptions and thus reality are all somewhat distorted. They are my fire. My thoughts and beliefs of reality are the imperfect reflections cast by that fire. Thus, that is why I believe so strongly in Mill's metaphor of the 'Marketplace of Ideas'. I tend to believe the more layers of imperfection that are laid upon one another, the sharper truth comes into focus.
Now with ALL that said, if you are reading this, you know I do not take myself very seriously. I can assure you this blog will not be a tome of ideology. First, this all presupposes I do not simply allow it to wither on the vine from inattention and second, it will simply be whatever is on my mind, implying my absurd, self-absorbed, exploration of life on this planet. I will post about the shadows I see on my cave wall. Please share your thoughts and perhaps together we can one day break our chains, exit our caves and emerge from our ignorance.
"Employ your time in improving yourself by other men's writings, so that you shall gain easily what others have labored hard for" ~ Socrates
