Plato's Cave Allegory

Plato's cave allegory, from his book, The Republic, originally argued for an ideal model of education.  More than a few people in recent decades have noticed, however, that it serves as a perfect metaphor for  the innate human tendency toward a reluctance to change, even when it is the obvious best thing to do -- the old-as-worms idea that a familiar distress, no matter how bad, is much preferred over a new option, no matter how GOOD it may be.  Given this relentless trait, the cave allegory will probably be quite 'timeless' for centuries to come!  Within the present context, as you will soon understand, the cave allegory concerns how and what we define as our fundamental reality.  

Remember all you ever learned about how very difficult it was for the Western world to transition from the beliefs about reality prior to Copernicus, Newton, Bruno, Galileo, and company to the then revolutionary ideas about 'science'?  And no doubt, you've noticed a similar challenge we've faced over the last century into this one and just in our daily lives with inculcating the very steep, ever-evolving learning curve often referred to as "the new physics."  wHeretwoworldsTouch brings into focus still further stretches of that 'curve'.  And Plato had something to say about it more than twenty-four centuries ago ....

--------is any of what follows usable??

Part 1: Imprisoned in the Cave: After a preliminary overview in which terms and mission are defined, I begin in earnest to review the historical background of survival research, concentrating on religious-spiritual and scientific contributions, East and West. Given that our subject is not about cultural contributions per se, I do not go into great depth about this. But the breadth of this material is integral to the fact that EXPLODING THE MYTH OF DEATH is addressed to a global audience, since people from every corner of the physical world have to contend with some fear of death, no matter how enlightened various socio-religious groups may be. In this way, we start with where we've been and where we are, the familiar ground of life as we know it in "The Cave," everybody for the most part shackled, face to the wall, and playing the shadows game to the best of their ability. In this limiting Cave life, we are preoccupied with our skills for identifying the spectral "things" that march across "the wall" of our perceptual limits.

In Part 2: The Shackles Are Broken, we take a closer look at the breaks and ancient rust in the chains that bind us and at active efforts to break free from this nose-to-the-wall existence. The theme of individual beliefs vs. "Knowings" (through direct experiences) serves to reinforce the value of faith as a bridge to Knowing, as well as the value of personal experience as the most powerful key to learning about one's relationship to the physical body and world and to the Larger-Life Reality. I explain how Life can and does give us opportunities to break free now and then of the myopic awareness we tend to adhere to in this consensus physical reality, this cavely existence. We then turn to larger, more concerted chain-busting endeavors in the realms of science; we look at exciting research developments that allow us greater flexibility in order to peek beyond that wall.

Part 3: Coming Forth Into Day. This is the heart of the book and certainly the largest section: the extensive collections of examples and publications about survival studies. If people want to be thoroughly convinced that we do survive, this collection of others' experiences will be their main inspiration. If readers want a resource guide to facilitate their own investigations in this field, the annotated bio-bibliography has plenty to offer.

Part 4. Return to the Cave: A New Worldview. We now have a more comprehensive grip on the issues, the evidence, and new trends in our studies of survival. From this perspective, we are better prepared to ponder and co-create a "New Worldview" that honors a spaciousness of being that lives in and "for Eternity," and not just for the next paycheck, the next new toy or high, the next meal. Here is where we begin collectively to bring into being a new world order, recognizing our Cave for what it is and has always been, a pre-birth chamber, a womb that eventually givers birth into a larger order of understanding, into a larger-life reality. We take a look, too, at the nature of the "I" who eternally IS and at the potential revolution, individual and global, we necessarily undertake by coming to terms in an honest and courageous way with our physical death and "death."² We recognize that choosing to break the "taboo against knowing who (we) are" is indeed a subversive act of great magnitude. The Cave existence can never be the same, once we decide to be free from the old chains.

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Translation of Plato's Cave Allegory

References

Other useful onsite reference material for wHeretwoworldsTouch.com:

Critical Ideas

DT EHE List

DT EHE Characteristics

Glossary and Notes