Shadows

I was reading ahead for one of my classes the other day, and read Plato's cave allegory. In case you're not familiar with this, google it. It's fantastic. Plato talks about how sometimes, we're only seeing shadows of what's happening. When we discover the truth, it's blinding and painful--so much so that we disbelieve reality and instead prefer our shadows on the cave wall, because we think that the shadows are more real.

Thinking about shadows for a moment, they distort things. In a nice light, they're crisp and pretty to look at, and sometimes more enjoyable to watch than the object casting the shadow. Shadows make things bigger, smaller, less clear, etc. How can we believe these shadows in our own lives?

What if someone gets out of the cave? He braves the light and takes the pain. After this (literal) enlightenment, he wants to share his knowledge with the cave dwellers. But they bestow prestige based on things that happen in the shadow world. And when the one who went to the light returns, his eyes aren't adjusted. They ridicule him, because he can't decipher things in their world, and ignore his fanciful tales of light and a world that's more real.

I feel lazy and don't want to explain it all, so here's an excerpt that does it for me:

"This entire allegory, I said, you may now append, dear Glaucon, to the previous
argument; the prison-house is the world of sight, the light of the fire is the sun, and you will not
misapprehend me if you interpret the journey upwards to be the ascent of the soul into the
intellectual world according to my poor belief, which, at your desire, I have expressed—whether
rightly or wrongly God knows. But, whether true or false, my opinion is that in the world of
knowledge the idea of good appears last of all, and is seen only with an effort; and, when seen, is
also inferred to be the universal author of all things beautiful and right, parent of light and of the
lord of light in this visible world, and the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual;
and that this is the power upon which he who would act rationally either in public or private life
must have his eye filled."

Some people seem crazy, but they've just found out certain things that they can't explain to us cave-dwellers. We like to believe our shadows. Plato was also a believer that everything in this world had a perfect form somewhere out in the ether, and I think that extends to concepts as well. Concepts like love, mercy, justice--all we can see and comprehend are shadows.

I believe in things that can be rationally explained and proven. However, I also realize that we humans have limits in what we're capable of understanding. God, the creator of this world, works according to laws that we can only glimpse shadows of. We can understand the shadows very well, but we don't always have the full picture. This is where faith comes in--faith that I will understand everything someday. I will be able to see true sunlight and withstand its glory and know truth in its perfect form.

Yeah. Once again, my laziness is prevailing and I'm not going to write a proper conclusion.

Ciao!