“Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.”
―Brene Brown
My dear readers and listeners, today we are trying something new on The Hue-Man Experience.
It has been years since I last read Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” from his book, The Republic. I re-read it this week, and decided to record the reading to share with you.
This classic text has been interpreted many times, and a quick internet search will turn up countless videos and articles about it.
Use the podcast player above to listen to me reading the piece, and read along by clicking the button below where you will find the full text.
Beyond the image break below you will find my comments on the text. Review them after you’ve read the piece. OR, be a rebel and do whatever you want… this is your world, my dear friend.
Making sense of the writing:
There are people in a cave whose bodies and heads have been chained facing a wall for their entire lives. There is a fire burning behind them casting shadows on the wall before them, and those shadows are the only thing these people have ever seen.
If one of those people was able to escape their chains to enter the bigger and brighter reality of the outside world, it would take some time for them to adjust to their new world.
Entering the world outside the cave would destroy all that person held to be true of reality until that point.
If that person did not spend enough time adjusting and went back to the cave to “liberate” the people still chained inside by teaching of the light outside, then they would call him crazy, for all they ever knew were shadows.
Upon returning to teach, the escapee would be challenging the entirety of what the prisoners believed to be true about their world. If they were not ready to say goodbye to the old world, they would gladly cling to their chains instead of leaving the cave.
If the escapee did not fully understand what he was trying to teach the prisoners, along with their engrained outlook, and tried to force them to understand a world they had never experienced, they might be incensed enough to kill him for challenging their beliefs. It would not be their fault that they did not know any better.
In his true understanding of the light, the escapee would realize that he should teach in a way that would lead the others to formulate their own understanding of the light through direct experience, instead of trying to force his unique understanding upon them before they would be ready to receive it.
He would realize that individual participation is required in order to truly understand the truth.
Wisdom can not be forced upon people in the same sense that it is true we can not put sight into the eyes of the blind.
Only by forming our own understanding of the light through our own direct experience do we formulate the mindset that is necessary to not be swayed by the wind as we rule our own lives, and as we guide our fellow hue-mans along the path.
Knowledge is attained by listening. Wisdom is attained by living. Each is only attained by those who earnestly seek.
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In this week’s practice, we are playing outside in the light. Go for a walk to listen to the sounds that Nature offers. Get out of the cave of your home or office and lay in the grass under the direct light of the sun to breathe for a few minutes.
Change something from your daily routine that you know needs to be changed, and feel the benefits that come with shaking things up.
Perhaps a road trip is in order? You might be surprised how a change in scenery will inspire new action in your life.
That said, perhaps you do not need to do any of this because you have it all figured out already… as always, that is up to you.
In life, it is incredibly easy to fall into patterns that overtake ambitions. Over time those patterns become like the shadows on the wall of the cave. We keep ourselves chained to those patterns, and forget what life felt like before we developed them.
Until we decide to break the chains.
My dear friends, go forth and be great, and do not let the wind sway the direction your heart is calling you to travel.
You are loved dearly and deeply.
See you back here next week for another installment of The Hue-Man Experience.
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If you are asking yourself, “Who the heck is this guy and why am I sitting here reading what he has to say”, then start at post #1.
And please remember, I am not your guru, you are :)
Reading "The Allegory of the Cave"