1176. Out of the Cave....!

The Allegory of Cave by Pluto provides us an insight on what we believe is our life, our religion, our family, our community, our society, our city and our country. Though it is providing a backdrop that shapes our perspective, it is also creating a prejudice from which it is difficult to escape. The cave represents the ideologies which we are stuck with and looking to break free from them. Breaking free does not mean to explore new understandings but to become aware of deceptions. Plato wants us to uncover the biggest deception and to question ourselves as to who we are, what is the purpose of our existence, what should be our actions, and importantly what we perceive in others, their existence, their actions and their perceptions. Even more so, we why presume the action and perception of others.

Allegory of Cave throws light on our corporal existence. As Plato points out, there are those who want to remain in the cave as they have taken the cave for “reality”, and have become hostile towards any effort to enlighten them of the things outside the cave. So let us not focus on those don’t want to get out of the cave. Now, what is it for those who have the zeal to come out of the cave??? And is it for us to step out of our mind and intellect index and get in touch with the pure Light of Consciousness like the person who ventured out of the cave??? This is the question Pluto is asking us? If yes, we have come out of deception.

But the biggest question is how to uncover self-deception and escape from it??? Self-deception is allowing ourselves to believe something about ourselves that is not true, because the truth is more unpleasant.

One must be very careful of this. Coming out of the cave is not to enter another cave. Of course it was not the philosopher’s intention, but we should not take this allegory and create another cave for ourselves. We think there is actually a cave and we need to get out of it. It is quite natural to think so as mind works on these lines only. Mind has materialised it within us and created yet another puzzle for itself. How can mind get out of the puzzle it has created for itself. Mind creates the puzzle and the same mind wants to solve it. It is like a single person playing the game of hide and seek. It is like immovable object meeting the unstoppable force. The trick is to become aware of these mind mechanics. These Mind mechanics can clear doubts on our corporal existence but can never make us understand our spiritual existence.  

    

Without the light of awareness, the mind is lost and only goes deeper and deeper into the jumble. Awareness is what takes us out of deception as well as self-deception. If we look only to address deception unmindful of self-deception and want to ask how to know how it is to be outside the cave, the question is a big welcome sign into yet another cave. This is what Sri Dakshinamurthy said, “The entire universe is like a city seen within a mirror, seeing happening within one’s own self.”

With awareness there are no caves…………!