In a time where the pursuit of wisdom was among the highest rank of importance and the questioning of ideas of mainstream beliefs, was enough to be killed for. That was the 4th Century Ancient Greece, the time in this world that Plato; one of the greatest ancient Greece philosopher’s was born. Plato was one of Socrates students, who was among the greatest philosophers, who questioned preconceived ideas. Plato witnessed many devastating human loses due to the Peloponnesian war between Athens and Sparta, in his youth. As Plato witnessed the torture and loss of lives through brutality of fellow worldly men, he thought there had to be a better way to live. He thought of a time when euphoria and an imaginary perfect world would exist. He also believed that children should only be allowed to hear heroic uplifting tails, influencing heroism throughout the world.
One of Plato’s greatest works was ‘The Allegory Of The Cave’, the fictional dialogue illustrates "our nature in its education and want of education". It goes like this . . .
Then one day, a prisoner is released. He is blinded by the light outside the cave and astonished to see a completely new reality of people, animals, and objects casting these shadows into the cave.
H e scurries back to tell the prisoners the news, but to his dismay, the prisoners do not believe his fantastic stories of the world outside of the cave. For the shadows on the wall are the only reality the prisoners have ever known, and therefore, to them, that is all that will ever exist.’
Illustration of the text
This metaphor or illustration used by Plato shows us how true reality is not always what it seems to be on the surface. It illustrates open-mindedness and the power of possibility.
I believe it is also a metaphor for knowledge and ignorance. That we should cause our minds to move up to a higher level of consciousness. To me the metaphor of the person leaving the cave, illustrates that the person has enetred a world of ideal forms, and has no need of the physical body . . . maybe this is an anology of the next world? How the good deeds and things we do in this world are not seen, but when we die, all of these quaties and deeds will combine into what our state of being will be, what plato describes as ‘ the man be blinded by the light outside the cave and astonished to see a completely new reality of people, animals and objects casting these shadows into the cave’.
Could in actual fact, this metaphor illustrate the relationship between our souls and our physical beings. The soul being ‘the focal point for love and compassion, for faith and courage, and for other such "human" qualities that cannot be explained solely by thinking of a human being as an animal or as a sophisticated organic machine.’
I believe when the human body dies, the soul which endures everlastingly is separated and freed from the physical body and this physical earthly world. I have faith that after the separation of our physical body and souls (once we die), the soul begins its progress through the spiritual world. These ideas are that of the Baha’i Faith, Which was founded in the 19th century. Which understands the spiritual world ‘to be a timeless and placeless extension of our own universe--and not some physically remote or removed place.’Once we enter the next life after we die, our beings our in a state of indescribable joy.
Bahá'u'lláh the founder of the Baha’i faith likened death to the process of birth. He explains:
"The world beyond is as different from this world as this world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of the mother. As the womb constitutes an important place ofr a person's initial physical development, the physical world provides the matrix for the development of the individual soul."
So basically life is a sort of a workshop, where we can work on and perfect our qualities, which will be needed in the next life. I don’t believe there is a heaven or hell, just merely a state of nearness to god, and hell is remoteness from God.
"The nature of the soul after death can never be described! It shall attain a station such as no pen can depict, or tongue can describe," Bahá'u'lláh writes.The exact nature of the afterlife remains a mystery. But if we did know exactly what is in store for us once we do die, there would be no use in personal investigation of truth, or developing and perfecting deeds to create unity, as we would be not be doing this out of the interest of our hearts, to bring peace on earth and live in unity. No?
www.bahai.org
In regards to Spiritual Development. I think we can compare Plato's Cave to our own state as material beings.
ReplyDeleteWe are restricted by our own reality to understand the spiritual world, just as the prisoners were restricted by their own reality to understand the world behind them.
We can only see distorted glimpses of the outside world, likened to the shadows and distorted sounds the prisoners hear. The prisoners are part of the outside world, but cannot understand it or fully experience it because they are limited by their own reality.
Well thats one interpretation.
Good work, I enjoyed reading that.