In this classical allegory, Plato's Allegory of the Cave explains exactly our reality construct. What is shocking is that we still live in the same exact reality construct that Plato observed during his time! It is alarming to see that the allegory still applies to us today and this was written in 514 AD -520 AD. That means nothing has changed! In reality, we are people chained to this 'world of shadows' illusion. The cave represents our Thinking Mind which is enclosed in a skull. We believe we are our Thinking Mind and therefore since our thinking mind is enclosed in a skull we are left literally like in a darkened room.
Light, such as sunlight, is absorbed by our eyes and is obstructed by our own mental projections (the labels we give all kinds of phenomena). We then only refer to what the 'mind sees' and instead of looking at the environment right in front of you (without any mental interceptions). What your mind sees are the shadows. How can a truth be found in a shadow when a shadow does not have a conscience? They are just projections of the mind and not the real thing. Our mental projections filters light of the real images and the shadow is what is being seen by the mind, which serves as the shadow of the truth. So we are blocking the total real image with our own labels that we project onto the real image, a kind of filtering of the truth, therefore we only see the shadows of the truth and not the actual truth, which is the life essence right in front of you. When we allow all light to pierce through (such as sunlight piercing through our eyes by itself), we can see all as it is, the Truth and most importantly the Essence of the Truth. So the world is staring at shadows of the truth and what is alarming is that people think the shadows ARE the truth. Truth can not be found in the skull, our true mind stretches beyond the skull. Our whole being sees.
The best we can do is give labels and personal beliefs (opinions) to the shadows if we want to try to understand it. But we do not understand the conscience nature of these things if we don't see ALL of it instead of filtering out parts of it. Our Thinking Mind does not have the capabilities to comprehend things in totality on its own, it needs the whole being to totally understand. The problem in putting names to things we don't truly understand is that our minds jump into asserting that it already knows it buy using personal labels to identify it. This is what is meant by 2-dimensional. If we only see shadows, our world becomes 2D.
Let’s take a flower. A flower is not a flower, the effect of the whole is actually stem, leaves, root, petals, cells etc but we call the whole thing a flower so now that every time you look at a flower you think you know what it is just because you labeled it. Now apply that ‘label’ identity to everything you do in life. If you remove labels (the definitions you give to all kinds of phenomena), you see life in 3D, for what it actually is. We see life in labels in other words. So that now when you look at a flower you see it as a label, which is coming from your mental image and now juxtaposed onto the actual real flower in front of you, which you can’t see because you are now looking at your mental label of it. So therefore we go about life looking at our own mental images, the reflection of what’s actually in front of you. In other words, life becomes more and more 2d the more you label things. So a flower, the label you define it to be is now your belief of what you ‘think’ it is, therefore the filter of the truth so that you only see its shadow from the invisible eye of your mind, your label belief.
One of the people in the cave is freed from his chains and steps out of his skull or steps outside the World of the Mental Plane and into the World of the Awakened, where all light pierces through without any kind of mental interceptions. He realizes he is not his Thinking Mind at all but his actual being part of actual life. and now can see the world as it is -- which is Absolute Reality and 3-dimensional, outside of the mental plane, the World of the Awakened. Our being extends everywhere and can NOT be located in any fixed place such as our Brain, which is enclosed in a skull. He finds that there is much much much more to this world than what the enclosed Thinking Mind can perceive, since the thinking mind is only seeing its own shadow -- the illusion. He enters the light (allows light to enter him with no blocks, he can perceive all brightly from the REAL SOURCE. When he returns to save all the other people that are chained in the cave, they all laugh at him, thinking what he is saying is not logical and absurd because they can only see the shadows and not understand beyond it since they've looked at the shadows their entire lives, especially the 'intellectuals' among them who thinks he knows the shadow world best, he thinks he is intelligent. This is how we are like. We are the ones laughing. It is interesting to point out that other esoteric films such as The Wizard of Oz and Life of Pi, the 'normal' people also have the same reactions, not capable of understanding the main character who has been awakened.
Now watch again Plato's Allegory of the Cave:
What are the shadows?
"A shadow is an area where light from a light source is obstructed by an object." - wikipediaLight, such as sunlight, is absorbed by our eyes and is obstructed by our own mental projections (the labels we give all kinds of phenomena). We then only refer to what the 'mind sees' and instead of looking at the environment right in front of you (without any mental interceptions). What your mind sees are the shadows. How can a truth be found in a shadow when a shadow does not have a conscience? They are just projections of the mind and not the real thing. Our mental projections filters light of the real images and the shadow is what is being seen by the mind, which serves as the shadow of the truth. So we are blocking the total real image with our own labels that we project onto the real image, a kind of filtering of the truth, therefore we only see the shadows of the truth and not the actual truth, which is the life essence right in front of you. When we allow all light to pierce through (such as sunlight piercing through our eyes by itself), we can see all as it is, the Truth and most importantly the Essence of the Truth. So the world is staring at shadows of the truth and what is alarming is that people think the shadows ARE the truth. Truth can not be found in the skull, our true mind stretches beyond the skull. Our whole being sees.
The best we can do is give labels and personal beliefs (opinions) to the shadows if we want to try to understand it. But we do not understand the conscience nature of these things if we don't see ALL of it instead of filtering out parts of it. Our Thinking Mind does not have the capabilities to comprehend things in totality on its own, it needs the whole being to totally understand. The problem in putting names to things we don't truly understand is that our minds jump into asserting that it already knows it buy using personal labels to identify it. This is what is meant by 2-dimensional. If we only see shadows, our world becomes 2D.
Let’s take a flower. A flower is not a flower, the effect of the whole is actually stem, leaves, root, petals, cells etc but we call the whole thing a flower so now that every time you look at a flower you think you know what it is just because you labeled it. Now apply that ‘label’ identity to everything you do in life. If you remove labels (the definitions you give to all kinds of phenomena), you see life in 3D, for what it actually is. We see life in labels in other words. So that now when you look at a flower you see it as a label, which is coming from your mental image and now juxtaposed onto the actual real flower in front of you, which you can’t see because you are now looking at your mental label of it. So therefore we go about life looking at our own mental images, the reflection of what’s actually in front of you. In other words, life becomes more and more 2d the more you label things. So a flower, the label you define it to be is now your belief of what you ‘think’ it is, therefore the filter of the truth so that you only see its shadow from the invisible eye of your mind, your label belief.
One of the people in the cave is freed from his chains and steps out of his skull or steps outside the World of the Mental Plane and into the World of the Awakened, where all light pierces through without any kind of mental interceptions. He realizes he is not his Thinking Mind at all but his actual being part of actual life. and now can see the world as it is -- which is Absolute Reality and 3-dimensional, outside of the mental plane, the World of the Awakened. Our being extends everywhere and can NOT be located in any fixed place such as our Brain, which is enclosed in a skull. He finds that there is much much much more to this world than what the enclosed Thinking Mind can perceive, since the thinking mind is only seeing its own shadow -- the illusion. He enters the light (allows light to enter him with no blocks, he can perceive all brightly from the REAL SOURCE. When he returns to save all the other people that are chained in the cave, they all laugh at him, thinking what he is saying is not logical and absurd because they can only see the shadows and not understand beyond it since they've looked at the shadows their entire lives, especially the 'intellectuals' among them who thinks he knows the shadow world best, he thinks he is intelligent. This is how we are like. We are the ones laughing. It is interesting to point out that other esoteric films such as The Wizard of Oz and Life of Pi, the 'normal' people also have the same reactions, not capable of understanding the main character who has been awakened.
Now watch again Plato's Allegory of the Cave:
PLATO - Allegory of the Cave(animated)
When we see the world we are literally looking a it through our own information and not the information of the actual world. Allow all the sunlight to pierce through your entire Being. Surrender to Light.
When we see the world we are literally looking a it through our own information and not the information of the actual world. Allow all the sunlight to pierce through your entire Being. Surrender to Light.
