Chilling in Plato's Cave / OR Why Possessing Knowledge Makes You Look Like A MADMAN to "Normal People"

in #philosophy7 years ago (edited)

When I learn something exceptionally beneficial, I immediately want to share that information with others. It's almost unfair that you have the right info/details that would help someone else out of a situation. You might be the same way.

Do your friends and colleagues look at you like you're crazy too,
when you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you're not?



There was this super cool Philosopher dude named Plato, who studied under another Philosopher guy named Socrates. A key difference between the two is that his student actually wrote books and stories. Sometimes he would even make his teacher a character! One of those stories Plato wrote is called "The Allegory of the Cave", and basically explains that;

You could discover the most profound knowledge, but it will literally be too difficult to explain it to another person- Unless they saw what you saw, and experienced what you experienced. You're basically a crazed lunatic to them.


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"The Allegory of the Cave" (Abridged)

So, there's these three guys obviously in a cave, completely chained up and all they can see is a wall. Behind them, there's a fire- And anything that passes by it, casts a shadow on the wall.

This is their whole reality, their entire experience from birth.

One day, one of the prisoners breaks free and decides; "Hey, Imma leave the cave and go explore." He gets outside and it's so bright, his vision is fuzzy- but he loses his s*** when it clears up. He sees people, houses, animals and things.

Eventually he looks into the sky, and sees the sun- When he looks at the ground he realizes that the shadows are being given off by these things from the light.

Oh man, he has all this knowledge- Including "the truth" about the sun. Better go tell his buddies.

He gets back to the cave; tells them that their whole life is a lie, and that the shadows they believed to be the entities themselves are not real.

His friends of course are like; "What the f*** are you talking about?!" Nobody believes him.



Alex Gendler with TED-Ed did a great animated short that explains this story


Material Society

Even if the information you want to share with others is worthwhile and valuable, if it challenges another person's beliefs or forces them to step outside of their comfort zone for a bit- They're not going to want to do it. Oftentimes people will claim to desire the very knowledge you wish to share. This is the frustration in explaining Philosophical concepts with non-Philosophers that Plato wanted to show us. If the prisoners all knew what the escapee did, I'm sure that they would all love to leave that place behind.

The only thing close to an experience itself is hearing it as a story from another person and using your own imagination. It appears that behind every piece of knowledge there is a foundation in experience. In the same regard, there is always some truth in a lie, and some non-fiction hidden inside of a fantasy.


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Just remember the next time that someone doubts your knowledge, they haven't had the same set of experiences that lead to your discovery. You may just know what you're talking about. They may not be chained up in a cave, but we all are limited only by what we choose to believe.

...For now, we can tell stories.

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Thank you for the reminder. It's hard to be a visionary among fools. Will follow. xoxo

Thanks for the love @amandarichards, hope I live up to it! ♡

nampaknya tidak mungkin manusia akan menemukan kebenaran, bahkan jika beberapa orang menemukan kebenaran pada hal-hal tertentu

Memang ada banyak kebenaran. Namun, saya merasa tidak semua dibutuhkan untuk maju dalam permainan.

Kemanusiaan akan menemukan kebenaran terbaik, untuk bermain sebagai tangan ke tingkat berikutnya.

Thank you @shello
I really enjoy having shared this experience,

I will mendoaka you hope you are healthy always.
continued success

hope me if you have time and opportunity come to my block thank you?

@semy, please don't ask others to visit your blog. If they want to, they will! :D

Asking is bad manners~

i had this experience for a while when friends suggested using steemit
for a while i doubted this was a thing that was going anywhere
then i finally actually read on the site out a week ago and learned better
and here i am :)
experience is key to learning

That's definitely true @arbit! Thank you for stopping by, and welcome to Steemit. You have a great adventure ahead of you :3

This post has been selected for curation by @msp-curation by @clayboyn and has been upvoted and will be featured in the weekly philosophy curation post. It will also be considered for the official @minnowsupport curation post and if selected will be resteemed from the main account. Feel free to join us on Discord!

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@clayboyn and @minnowsupport :D I'm truly grateful and staring at my screen in awe <3
I love Steemit!

I was out of town for a meetup, but I am glad to help! One of my favorite posts I have read lately. :)

The love is real, and I'm glad to hear it!

Hope you had fun c:

You do really hardworking to write post. Like it and for appreciation resteemed :)

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At this point, there is so much information, it seems impossible humanity will find the truth, even if a few people find the truth on certain things, the people who run the world like it very much for the masses to stay under their control, not enlightened

Isn't that why we're here though, to take back our own power through decentralization? I think that the best way to help others isn't always actively, but by doing the best in our own lives thus inspiring others to want to seek knowledge themselves :D

love your abridged breakdown of the allegory... thanks for this little refreshing blog :)

Thank you so much @gotmeens! Glad you enjoyed it~

Hmm thanks for giving me some new reading material!!

No problem, thank you for stopping by! C: