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Phaedo Socrates: The Allegory Of The Cave

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Beginning in the Phaedo Socrates said, “There is the explanation that is put in the language of mysteries, that we men are in a kind of prison, and that one must not free oneself or run away.” (Phaedo pg. 101.) In this quotation, Socrates speaks explicitly about the prison of the mind. This is the beginning of the allegory of the cave. The allegory of the cave is that man is trapped in a false reality, but since the imitation of reality and the false reality is all that man is exposed to, they believe that it is actual reality. In the cave it I shown as a shadow of the actual reality. Man must destroy the bonds of this reality mentally to break free and witness the perfect forms of the actual reality. At first, the actual reality will hurt …show more content…

Good karma must be balanced at an equilibrium just as bad karma must be balanced to the same equilibrium. At death, any karma is bad karma as it keeps you from Nirvana since any karma must be repaid. Life is considered painful and it is a shame to be reborn into this reality. It is regarded as monotonous and filled with things such as desire and ignorance to the true word. These desires and evils might also tempt people to commit more sin and increase their amount of bad karma, which at some point must be returned to them. The Buddha attempted to make the information exoteric for all to know and attempt to spread the word to reach Nirvana and the perfect good, but many either ignore it or are ignorant to the information. On top of that, Buddhism has been confused over time since some believe it is a religion while some would argue that it is but a …show more content…

Reality is just a delusion within the cave as the trapped see none of the real forms or the good. This is much like sinning in the Buddhist culture. The sins and the evil are the imitation of the real and the good within the world. The most confusing part of the comparison between Plato’s allegory and the Buddhist belief is the self. In Plato’s cave what people are seeing are an imitation of the good and the perfect forms, but how can any object without a self be imitated? If any object does not have a self, there is nothing to be twisted or manipulated in order for it to be seen in the cave. Essentially, the Buddhist belief relating to the cave must mean that everything in reality is false no matter in the cave or in the

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