Plato’s Allegory of the Cave distinguishes between people who mistake sensory knowledge for the truth and people who see the bigger picture.  In other words, people who believe that knowledge comes from what they see and hear in the world (empirical evidence) and those who find that believers of empirical knowledge are trapped in a ‘cave’ of misunderstanding.

The prisoners in the cave could only see the stone wall in front of them, and since birth have never seen outside the cave.  They have seen the shadows of objects on the wall, but never the real objects.  They believe the shadows of objects were ‘real.’  One of the prisoners then escapes from the cave and is shocked at the world he discovers, not believing it could be real.  As he becomes used to his new surroundings he realizes that his former view of reality was wrong.

He goes on an intellectual journey and discovers beauty and meaning.  He returns to the cave to inform the others, but they do not believe him and threaten to kill him if he tries to set them free.  This reaction illustrates that people are often scared of knowing philosophical truths and do not trust or pursue further thinking and possibilities.

 

 

There is also the story of the two twin fetuses communicating with each other in the womb.  The one goes on and on about their dream that they were soon to go down a tunnel toward the light and discover a whole new world.  The other refuses to accept such a story and claims that is ridiculous – this darkness is all we have ever known and all there ever could be.

 

We must transcend our logical reasonable mind.  (like the person searching for his watch under the street light, even though he lost it in the alley – but he was looking where the light was)

 

Our journey is towards simplicity and quietness, to a kind of joy that is beyond time, a journey where we leave behind all our models of who we are.     Ram Dass     (a journey from body to psyche to soul to G-d)

 

What we are today comes from our thoughts of yesterday, and our present thoughts build our life of tomorrow:  our life is the creation of the mind.     Buddha

 

This may be one of many transitions …