a Chris Jaymes place

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave summarizes the illusion of freedom and the enslaved nature of both, man in society, and man with self. It serves as the quintessential summary of both, the corporate conglomerate of the modern day media monopoly and the practices of the Bush Administration and in various other elements, certain practices and strategies carried out in government of all forms, including the United States of America. Sadly, the Cave exhibits that however significant technology has evolved, it is no reflection of the evolution of man. Two thousand years have passed and the most significant transformation is the enhanced sophistication going into engineering the Cave and man’s willingness to financially support the Cave he inhabits. Man is somewhat frozen in time, regardless of the body that seems to be moving and the breath that appears to be breathing.

It’s all an illusion.

The Allegory should be broken into two sections. The first is a parable about a group of men enchained in captivity since birth; the second, a discourse on the transformation of the whole, from the ignorance of darkness to the truth of the light and the difficulties inherent in finding a noble man to govern.

The parable paints a portrait of men held in captivity inside a cave since birth, bound by chains, head immobilized, allowing their eyes to view only the wall directly ahead. Behind the prisoners, people pass holding various objects before a small fire, sending flickering shadows crawling across the wall in front of them. These ambiguous shapes and reflected symbols would be the only images the prisoners had seen up to now. Life outside of this, was inconceivable, or more accurately, nonexistent. Plato suggests that if somehow they had the capacity to communicate, what would they speak of outside of the projected images; any sounds produced outside of the prisoners would inevitably have been generated by the concurrent shadows. Now, within this world of the cave, assume one of the prisoners were forced to exit the cave and accept that this existence was based on trivial illusion. Initially, the prisoner rejects this new reality as trickery and demands that the truth lie in his previous existence. The light of the sun is much brighter than that of the fire and a painful acclimation is unavoidable. His eyes would first find comfort in the shadows and reflections in corners and crevices, slowly progressing towards the light of the moon and eventually, his eyes would open completely to find the radiant light of the sun exposing the true nature of the world surrounding him. Soon he accepts that the sun is the dictator of all things, and realizing this newfound truth, may find sorrow for the prisoners and their ignorance. He
would sooner die than return to his darkened past. Assuming he did return however, his eyes would struggle to see with the same detail in the darkness and the fellow prisoners would laugh at his demise. Witnessing the ruin of the man who had seen the light of the sun, inspired a camaraderie within the comforts of their familiarity. They would sooner kill the man who tried to set them free, than embrace this unknown.

The second section begins with a discourse on the Form of Goodness, which Plato claims to be the last thing man perceives.

In the world of knowledge, the last thing to be perceived and only with great difficulty is the essential Form of Goodness. Once it is perceived, the conclusion must follow that, for all things, this is the cause of whatever is right and good; in the visible world it gives birth to light and to the lord of light, while it is itself sovereign in the intelligible world and the parent of intelligence and truth. Without having had a vision of this Form no one can act with wisdom, either in his own life or in matters of state. (The Republic vol. VII)

Plato then embraces the idea that one who has witnessed this higher level of being, of truth, of the Good, would never consider spending life managing the lives of other men, as the selfish desire to bask in the Good would be far too compelling to deny. With great passion and an instable ethical equilibrium, the liberated one would be compelled to shine the light, desperate to awaken the others in the cave and prosecute those that held the others in chains. However, the sensible man is aware that it is more acceptable to move from ignorance to awareness than the other way around. He moves forward, lashing out at those who claim to educate, claiming that education is irrelevant without guidance towards the light, that Wisdom is harmful if not directed towards the greater good. Had these beings been properly guided away from greed and desire in their youth, they would now face truth.

His resulting question embraces the issue of who the rulers should best be, since those who have never been exposed to the harsh realities of truth cannot lead, and those who spend their existence philosophizing and seeking absolute truth have an awareness much too lofty to attempt to rule. The solution? His sarcasm exclaims the ignorant must be educated; those in captivity must be brought to the light, without being allowed to bask. They must return to their previous state with this newfound knowledge regardless of any newfound ideas or desires, because in the end it’s not about their happiness, it’s about unification of the people for the betterment of the whole. The difference is that now, you will return to the dark and view it with a greater eye, because now you have a much greater understanding. For government to be pure, man cannot be allowed to fill the
emptiness of his soul with the power instilled by ruling another man. Truth will exist in
government only when the rulers have no desire for power. From here, the decision is made. Only the well-intentioned, selfless philosopher who takes the job as a necessary responsibility for the good of the commonwealth as a whole is capable of respectably handling a power of this stature.

Most immediately, the cave could be simplified symbolically as Plato’s statement on man and society. The true prison of man is man’s own ignorance and the architecture of this prison is molded by the ruling class. In more recent times, our architects, or at least, those dictating the design, have evolved, shifting the distribution of power from the individual holding office, to the individual hiding behind the constructs of the corporation. The corporation dictates the media which is somewhat monopolized, so much like the prisoner in the cave, the information is projected from a single source. In the cave, the information is delivered to the prisoners in the form of a shadow; an indirect manipulation of reflected light from a man-made fire pit in the back of the room. Though the breakdown of the arena seems representative of a cinema, the actualization concurs more directly with that of a broadcast television network and the conglomeration of internet service providers. People of the modern age spend proportionally extensive periods of their existence focused on these sources, under the general assumption that the information presented is factual and complete, much like the inhabitants of the cave view the shadows.

The fire is the source of delivery, manipulated by the ruler, or most probably, the servants or slaves of the ruler. Assuming the sun would be representative of information originating from a direct source, the fire becomes a reproduction. The shadows are bent, blocked, reflected and refracted bits of information derived from a source that is already one step removed. This removed source is then influenced by the interpretations of what the Cave’s ruler, possibly even the Cave’s ruler’s second or third-in-command have articulated to those in charge of obstructing the flame. Unless of course, the flame was obstructed solely by people passing in transit, which would then simply amount to basic interference that inhibited the delivery of slightly more direct shadows. In either case, the shadow acts as the voice and teacher, much like the media, the book, the newspaper, the source of knowledgeable information being sculpted by the slave standing before the fire. The shadow is the educating source. The prisoner absorbs and interprets the shadow and is therefore a product of the shadow. Those who control the shadow, control the man.

After extensive discourse, you may convince a man that he exists within a cave and that his
existence is controlled by a wealthy few. His humility may accept this on a myriad of levels,
however, even the simplest of men quietly, yet unquestionably know, the wisdom he possesses far exceeds that of those surrounding him. This opens a passageway from the initial Cave to a secondary cavernous level lying far below the surface of the first; a level where man steps forward, becoming the architect of his own dominion, a state of unconscious sovereignty. Unfortunately, man is stubborn and his desire to govern himself leads him to the distant edges of the cavern. His shrewd vision regarding the expansion of his individual kingdom stimulates a giddy ambition; not only will he assume the position of architect, but also contractor and construction crew. Aggressively, he goes to work, molding the cave into a false identity, a pretense that he will hide behind as a basis for all thought and judgment from here onward, much like a mask, or more accurately, the cave becomes his ego. The essence which makes up the man becomes the prisoner, helpless to the omnipotent dictator. The burning fire is his only hope, it holds his awareness, his human love and kindness, the capacity of unification and the antithesis of isolation. The ego sends slaves to skew the light of the fire, blocking the connection to the eternal
good. They stand with picket signs and megaphones lobbying for greed and temptation,
constantly reminding us that we are eternally alone in this cavernous darkened state. The shadow is distorted, ego-influenced propaganda that the prisoner ingests as truth and then, reverberates the essence of the shadow as a his proprietary identity and sense of self. However, Plato’s prisoner is pulled from this darkness and set free to experience a somewhat forced liberation. Eventually, the prisoner returns to the Cave to find himself awkward and dazed. Exposure to this newfound awareness is extreme. Apparently, acclimation of comprehension is somewhat gradual when you forcibly restructure the core foundation composing the basis of one’s existence. He returns to the prisoners who make fun of him for the ruin of his previously poignant vision within the shadows, as his eyes cannot quickly acclimate to the darkness of the Cave. Plato implies that the prisoners can speak amongst one another in some verbal context, so to stay in line with the tone Plato has composed, you must assume that their training came from dancing, teaching shadows. These shadows were free to teach in any language, with any vocabulary, with any well-
defined grunts and moans they could conjure, which proves that Plato in some ways was a
prophet as he meticulously summarizes the current public education systems offered by the
government of the United States of America with a savvy accidental esoteric insinuation.

Within this communication, the prisoners berate the enlightened one for his ruin and would
sooner kill him than be exposed to a demise of similar ruin. The enslaved will initially oppose what they cannot comprehend, regardless of the liberation that may come. Liberation delivered in a form outside of man’s predetermined conception, whatever that may be, is unacceptable and vehemently disqualified. The desire of enlightenment is only a desire insomuch as it fulfills the illusory form of the preordained enlightenment.

In a broad light, the cave summarizes the illusion of freedom and the relativity of the nature of freedom. Your awareness cannot extend outside the universe that surrounds you. Knowledge is an incarnation of man; a deceptive device initially created for the survival and empowerment of the physically weak. Voluntary participation within the arena of the knowingness of man, subjects the participant to a world of cavernous terrain and an eternity of cave dwelling; a world composed of shadows, as even direct information is interpreted by a subjective perspective. Everything legible could be categorized as misinformation in one form or another.

The caves surrounding me exist in myriad layers extending far beyond comprehension and will continue to compound exponentially for the length of my existence. From the first actualized moments of conception, born into the cavernous uterus of a woman, imprisoned genetically, spiritually and sociologically in the most literal levels of my own allegory. From there, I was born into a cave of specific race and class, trained to breathe, function and think under an umbrella of predetermined ethical content appropriate to the geography of my birthplace. Raised in a Catholic school, I was programmed to believe that religion would dictate my existence in a later life, that Jesus was responsible for everything, and for whatever reason, it was my job to make him happy. The scrutiny imposed upon me extended to various other mythical beings, including religious and holiday icons, both of which were apparently spending the majority of their existence meticulously observing and judging mine. Not only was I being misinformed, but the information began influencing a somewhat egocentric perspective of my place in the universe. As I progressed through my youth, I moved from one cave to the next, from the four basic food groups being the road to optimal health, to the idea that evil Russians were coming to kill me, simply because they were evil Russians and that’s what they do. The layers spiral and compound from here without limitation or impartiality, and more recently, the caves have evolved into a cynical form of entertainment. The idea that Saddam Hussein was a danger to the people of the United States, the idea that electronic voting machines are objective and that our current elections were honest and fair, the idea that a skimpy man with a bad-kidney was responsible for the largest attack this country has ever seen, the illusion that words in print are accurate and that the spoken word is true and honest and more than anything, the idea that someone outside of my innermost circle actually cares for my better good.

Plato speaks about the form of Goodness which though he presents in what seems to be a
somewhat exoteric display of ideas, it reads much more esoteric and less grounded than the
passages both preceding and following. When he speaks of the Cave, there is a farcical humor and authority within his tone. There is also a profound and grounded quality within certain stages of the final ideas, summarizing a philosopher’s lack of desire to rule; however, the adjoining section regarding the Form of Goodness feels like an entirely separate passage, almost as if it were inserted at a later period. Either my lack of conceivable perception cannot interpret it in a grounded manner, or this is the area where Plato is least grounded, assuming the translation is intact. As he states early on, the Form of Goodness is the final and most difficult thing for man to perceive; if man is a prisoner to his awareness, and awareness can decipher only what it has been previously trained to conceive, then man has never been properly exposed to the Form of Goodness, and this Form holds the place, as what Plato indirectly summarizes as the most esoteric Form that man has encountered up to date.

Freedom is relative to circumstance. The empowered entity, be it a ruler, a government or the ego of the self, will always dictate the reality of the enslaved. Man can only interpret the
presented reality and one’s awareness cannot exceed the unknown. Man’s inherent state is one of fear, and this fear cannot subside as long as survival is in question. Human nature will first deny and destroy the unknown, rather than objectively welcome the possible convergence of the new, regardless of the potential validity this new may present.

So, please move forward and don’t panic, there is plenty of space for everyone, the Cave is much larger than it looks from the outside.