Hermetism: The Allegory Of The Cave

Has someone ever looked at you and immediately disregard you for you are just because of your ethnicity? Have you ever done it someone? Racism is a huge culture issue that we have not only in America, but in other parts of the world, but it does not matter the color of one’s. What really matters is the character they have withheld inside but are not given a chance to express because someone didn’t even bother to give them a chance. This is idea comes from the book written by Plato, “The Allegory of the Cave” where in the book Socrates speaks of man being in a dark cave all their lives not realizing the truth until once they reach the end of the cave to see that the light is the truth. The truth is the reality of life.

My first reaction to this reading was, "What in the world did I just read?". I honestly didn't comprehend anything that was said in this reading other than the fact that two men were having a very intense conversation. I'm honestly not used to reading older books or books that use older versions of the English language. I took me a few rereads to finally understand what the story was about. Furthermore, the story is indeed based on two men having a conversation but the conversation was based on how a man named Socrates starts questioning his friend about the workings of the world.

Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” is just one small part of his work The Republic. In this piece, in particular his use of allegory and dialogue become the two main rhetorical devices he uses to

In Allegory of the Cave, Plato conveys his message through the use of rhetorical device, repetition, and educational format, the Socratic method. The message explains that humans have preconceived ideas of reality, but they do have the power to achieve the truth or true knowledge. Ergo, it is necessary to spread the upper echelons of knowledge to others who do not possess it.

This philosophical inclination really gained momentum when I decided to do a research project on Buddhism. During a month long research period, I became exposed to the core of eastern philosophies and spiritualism. It changed everything for me. I started to spend more time alone and think about abstract concepts like karma, soul, reincarnation, nirvana, the theory of cause and effect and so on. At times, I used to get out of my dormitory late at night to think about things in utter silence and solitude of the night.

In the Allegory of the Cave, there is a symbolic representation of an event that did not happen in real life. Is a fictional story in where Socrates asks Glaucon to depict an image of the needs for education, specifically he wants Glaucon to imagine humans as prisoners in a cave and turn sous to the light. In the underground caves prisoners are kept there since childhood incapable of moving their necks, legs and heads because they are all sitting in rows with chains. In general, prisoners are forced to live in a world were they are not able to see and reflect reality. The cave predominantly depicts how individuals are raised in a world were they feel secure throughout their life, and for this reason it was difficult for them to understand the truth outside the real world. Prisoners were living in a world were shadows reflected images of what they believed was to be true. The source of light prisoners have is a fire located above and behind them, more importantly a wall is divided between them, and in this case fire allows the shadows to be viewed which shows the puppet-masters. These are individuals who are making the shadows, noises and using objects to show over the wall. Their focus is to make society be blind and abstained from the real world. Moreover, those shadows allowed prisoners to become comfortable and adapt to the way in which they were living. The shadows also represent the knowledge prisoners may have and for this reason they as society were to live away

Explain the allegorical significance(s) of the cave in Plato’s Republic. How is the cave an allegory of Plato’s philosophy? How is the allegory of the cave an allegory for enlightenment or philosophical education? How and why are most human beings like prisoners in a cave? Who are the puppeteers? What does the world outside the cave represent? What does the sun represent? Etc. What is Plato’s Theory of the Forms? What is a Form? How does the allegory of the cave express Plato’s Theory of the Forms? How is philosophy the art of “turning around” and what does this mean? Is the allegory of the cave relevant to contemporary social and political life? Can the allegory be used to critique contemporary social practices?

In Plato’s novel, The Republic, we analyzed throughout book VII the allegory of the cave and the aspects that contribute towards its meaning. Through symbolic and allegorical context, the reader is about to decipher the meaning behind the cave and the various “levels” contributed towards it. The concept of the caves allegory holds a substantial influence over humanity by stating that things in the physical world are flawed perceptions of ideal forms. The connotation pertaining to the cave can be interpreted as metaphor about the prisoners, detained their entire life in a dark, isolated cave with no direction or perceptual experience of the literal world.

In the allegory of the cave Plato tries to show us two scenarios where the prisoners experience emotional and intellectual revelations throughout their lives. Plato’s theory was that the ones who truly understand knowledge should guide the ignorant people out of their unenlightened states of being and into true knowledge. The cave symbolizes the people who think that knowledge come from what they see and hear in the world. It also indicates people that make assumptions about life based on the substantial things they experience through hearing and seeing. Plato’s main focus was to convey a story to the world about the difference between beliefs and truth. Anyone can believe in something they see, but that belief is really just a shadow of the truth.

In conclusion, while transcendental meditation appears to benefit some practitioners, the presence of conflicting research and data causes me to question the validity of the practice. I believe the presence of negative data has caused the movement to die down in recent years. While transcendental meditation might not be the next endeavor that I pursue on my own spiritual journey, the insight that I have gained during this class gives me hope for other possible spiritual practices in the

In Book VII, Socrates and Glaucon are discussing the Allegory of the Cave. An allegory is “a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms.” This is simply a story or image with a hidden meaning. It says one thing, on the other hand, means something different. The allegory of the cave is an analogy of the human condition or perception. The idea of the cave is one must escape darkness and seek light and become enlightened, open-minded or knowledgeable.

In the story “Allegory of the cave,” Plato, makes a great understanding by telling an allegory of three men stuck in a cave since their childhood and never could see what really is out in the world. Until one of them is let loose and gets to experience, understand, and have a better visual of the world. He then returns to the two men that are still in the cave to tell them everything that is out there but they didn’t recognize him or his voice. Plato illustrates the meaning of the story by highlighting what he wants people to understand, How it impacts literature,and lastly why it is important today .

After watching the video about Plato’s allegory I have came to know that there is a correlation between our semester studies and Plato’s allegory. I believe that everything that we learn at any level, it helps us to determine and understand the other knowledge, so my semester studies help me to understand the Plato’s allegory. By keeping in view the concepts that I have learned about Plato’s allegory I can say that the allegory of the cave has additionally allegorical significance since such a large number of typical proposals are utilized as a part of this writings. The dark cave symbolically proposes the contemporary universe of lack of awareness and the chained individuals symbolize ignorant individuals in this ignorant world. The raised divider symbolizes the impediment of our reasoning and the shadow symbolically propose the universe of tangible recognition

Because we live, the true reality is not obvious to most of us. But we are confusing what we see and hear through reality and truth. This is the basic prerequisite for the allegory of the Plato cave, where prisoners sit in a cave, chained and observe the images projected on the wall. They accept these views as reality and are incapable of grasping their general situation: the cave and the images are a deception, a mere drama of the shadow that is staged by invisible people for them. At some point, a prisoner is released and is forced to see the situation in the cave. First, one does not want to give up the security of their family reality; The person has to be towed over the fire and the entrance. This is a difficult and painful struggle. When people enter the sunlight, their eyes slowly adapt to the light and their basic vision of the world, the reality, is transformed. They come to see a deeper, more authentic and authentic reality: a reality that is characterized by reason. The individual then returns to make the painful rearrangement in the darkness of the cave to free the prisoners. But because he now appears crazy and describes a new strange reality, they reject him to the point that he threatens to kill him. The allegory of the Plato cave is a direct representation of the human condition, the circumstances under which we are today human beings, circumstances such as conceptual framework or basic convictions, and our typical behavior in society. Allegory describes

Over the past weeks or so I have read two very informative articles that gave me insight on many different aspects of life. While both passages had their own point to get across, Prensky focused on then and now on technology, while Enlightened Engineer based their beliefs on meditation worldwide. Similar themes where brought to my attention that I feel would be great for anyone to read and be informed on.