-


An interesting photo to reflect on in light of Plato's Allegory of the Cave to compare "the effect of education (παιδεία) and the lack of it on our nature."

I could summarize it for you, but instead, I leave you with the photo above and the Wikipedia article, which nicely summarizes this thought experiment by Plato.

For me, the most striking and profound point of this comes when the prisoners try to leave the cave. Seeing the Sun, and reality, they experience too much pain, and so they prefer to return to looking at the reflected shadows on the cave wall, refusing to believe that the shadows are not reality.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_Cave

It explains why so many people don't want to see a better, less negative or fearful way of living. Emerging from the cave and seeing the sunlight, after so long believing in shadows on the wall, causes them too much pain.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

For Pi Day: Why My Religious Symbol is a Circle

-
Image
Many people wear and worship a cross to symbolize their devotion to God. I think that a circle is a far more powerful symbol. Indeed, the Celts seem to have come to the same conclusion, as Celtic crosses incorporate both a circle and a cross. A cross symbolizes conflict. It's a constant reminder of a past wrong done to one group of humans by another. It's a constant call to arms. Indeed, the cross symbolism in Christianity is strongly related to the swords of the Crusaders, who went out and spilled all sorts of blood in the name of religious right. But doesn't the Bible also say that Jesus said to turn the other cheek? If he was alive today, would he be delighted to see all the people killing each other in the name of religion? I think not. But a circle gives us no license for violence.  It reminds us that we are all one, a constant reminder that everything we do will come back to us. That's everything we do to another human being, every act
Read more

What do you want?

-
Image
Somebody asked me in the middle of the night last night, while I was sleeping: "What do you want?" It's a real blessing to have another person interested enough in you to ask that, isn't it? I thought about the answer while I watched the sunrise this morning. What do I want? WHAT DO I WANT? And I listened to my usual "manifest what you want" video  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQqdr2BCSyg and I thought more about what I want, and watched a video Naheed Nenshi shared about the questions to ask to be a good leader.  https://www.gse.harvard.edu/news/16/05/good-questions?fbclid=IwAR12cCZocmAUQmfBDaJT9pyFQht2ZS9S5sTM4gCFfdSDeFEU9_UaM8xRAQc And I read an article from Pema Chodron about holding your seat in a storm. https://www.lionsroar.com/holding-your-seat-when-the-going-gets-rough/ And I realize that the main thing I want right now, and have quite a lot of it but I always want more, is thoughtful people. People who ask questions and think of others. People w
Read more

Smartest guy in the boardroom, dumbest guy on the street

-
Image
Subtitle: How CEOs can improve their emotional intelligence. See the numbered simple procedure at the end of the article.  We measure our own strength by comparing ourselves to the people we are standing beside. This is an essential lesson for business. Understanding it can help us live with less frustration outside of work, too. Coincidentally, Travis Bradbury just recently wrote a post about how the top guys end up having lower emotional intelligence. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-your-boss-lacks-emotional-intelligence-dr-travis-bradberry Well, this post explains a bit of why that might be, and how bosses (and everyone) can use this fact to become a better boss, or parent, or friend. Bosses may lack emotional intelligence partly because they have never put themselves in a different position . We judge our own strength by comparing ourselves to those around us. Therefore, the only way to truly know our own strength is to change our situation, and see how we reac
Read more