Disposal – Part 2

One learns with the discomfort of being so used to the darkness of an unquestioned perception...

Who owns the truth? Who – by experiencing the world outside the cave he lived in for years – has the right to pull others out of their own shadows? What is the privilege that was given to this someone who sees himself as wise, in order to mock those who decide to remain where they are? Did he not have his eyes blinded by light when he came to know the intelligible world? In the article “Alienation – Part 1” I brought the philosopher Michel Foucault to clarify us about the concept “alienated” so that we are aware of our fragility when we choose to be alien to ourselves, that is, on the opposite side of self-care (stultus). In this article, we will briefly reflect on the “myth of the cave”. Such an allegory is recorded in the work called "The Republic", by Plato (430 BC - 347 BC). Let's go to the myth of the cave:

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Specifically in the seventh chapter, the author brings a dialogue between the characters Socrates and Glaucon in which the first imagines an underground cave. In it, men lived with their necks and feet chained since childhood, unable to turn their faces back, but only able to look forward where they saw a wall.

The lighting came from a bonfire that was on a hill, behind the prisoners. Between them and the bonfire, there was a road that people used to transport objects of different kinds. Those chained saw nothing but the shadows of that movement on the wall in front of them, taking for themselves a truth that such projected images were reality, as it was all they could see.

By continuing, Socrates proposed that one of those prisoners be pulled out of there, being led to look back and walk through the cave. He would see everything that, in fact, happened and - being a great astonishment to him the truth that the wall presented him only phantoms of reality - his mind would be in conflict.

Seeing a light coming through a gap, he would have been thrown out of the cave and his eyes would have been blinded for a few moments, due to the sunlight. He would need to get used to appreciating the intelligible world and seeing water, animals, the origin of shadows, the sun, moon, people and everything that could be seen in this discovery, he would be happy for himself, but he would be sorry for his comrades who were still imprisoned. Thinking of his childhood friends, he would decide to go back to the cave. When sitting in his place, his eyes would go blind again from moving away from the sunlight. His intention would be to tell them the news and that everything that appeared on the wall was not the reality they needed to know. However, when observing their spoiled view, they would mock and laugh, concluding that it is not worth knowing what exists in the region above. To defend the reality they were seeing on the wall, they would remain in the same place, chained. Considering the possibility that their chains could be ripped off, they would kill him without any regrets.

(PLATÃO, 380 BCE).

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Let's stop for a while... For Plato, the intelligible world is what is outside the cave, that is, light, wisdom. The cave symbolizes the visible world and, as the name implies, everything that is seen is only apparent.

Chains prevent the necessary suffering to achieve self-autonomy, because as Plato himself said: “the idea of good is the last to be learned”. This idea is learned with discomfort because we are so used to the darkness of an unquestioned perception. However, it doesn't mean owning it because when we return to the cave, we can delude ourselves again with the comfort of darkness. Exiting the cave means seeing the world through suspicion, as it leads us to truths we don't want to accept. That's why it's amazing when wisdom pulls us out of the cave, because everything is painful and not at all comfortable. Blindness, in turn, is necessary because it is the intermediary between shadows and reality. The return to the cave represents coexistence with those who have not yet allowed themselves to be blinded by the light. Once they are comfortable and sure of their convictions, they make assertions and get into personal disputes to defend the truth of what they see. All caused by an alienation that may have existed since childhood, shaping behavioral patterns that keep them trapped in ideas they acquired from those who were “owners of the truth”. In the end... Knowing the intelligible world drives us to pull those we love out of their caves, so that they can appreciate a totally different reality and that is legitimate. But, what to do if those who are chained do not accept to be freed? Should he who is free feel superior to the one who is looking at the wall?

Wisdom blinds us to see reality beyond the ghosts, but it does not give us the right to impose on someone to abandon their shadows, because understanding – at least in this case – is the principle of wisdom. Anderson Cruz.

Writer, therapist and graduate student in philosophy.

< Also check out the article "Disposal - Part 01".