[Neurons] The Philosopher's Series # 7

[Charles DesJardins]

Charles DesJardins

 

The Philosopher's Series #7

 

July 25, 2008

 

 

PLATO AND NEURO-SEMANTICS # 3

 

 

Allegory of the Cave

 

The last article focused on the dual nature of reality; the one of flux,
which was the one a person could taste, touch, smell, feel, and see. The
second type of reality was that of ideas and forms. Plato used an analogy to
describe how he saw this duality and how people needed to see this duality.
The allegory points out what Plato believed would happen to a person when
they finally came to realize that reality was both changing and unchanging.

 

Imagine that some humans have lived inside a cave. They have never seen the
light of day but have spent their entire lives inside a cave. Behind them is
the large cave opening, bright with sunlight, but the humans are prisoners
in this cave and their backs are turned away from the cave opening. The
humans are chained by their necks and legs and live constantly with their
faces toward the inside wall of the cave. 

 

Behind the human prisoners a fire blazes and between the prisoner and the
fire is a small wall. The wall is tall enough to conceal the free people
that walk between the fire and the wall, but it does not conceal anything
the people are carrying. People, free people, are carrying statues of
animals, statues of men, statues of trees etc. The prisoners only see the
reflection of the statues on the wall. Those reflections, shadows cast by
the statues, is the reality for the prisoners. The prisoners believe that
the shadows are real. The only realities the prisoners know are the shadows
and the voices of the people from behind the wall, the voices that echo off
the wall.

 

Now suppose one of the prisoners is freed from his chain and turns to see
the bright light of the fire. They then see the bright light of the cave
opening and walk out of the cave. First the fire would blind their eyes, and
then as their eyes adjust and they go outside of the cave, the sun would
blind their eyes, but then again, their eyes would adjust. What would that
person now believe about reality? Or the deeper question, what would they
believe about their original reality? 

 

What would happen to the now freed prisoner who enters back into the cave
with this new reality and tries to explain it to the other prisoners? Would
they believe him? Could he convince them? How has his life changed in light
of the light? 

 

The prisoners in the cave are living out their lives in semi-darkness, their
legs and their necks are chained and they believe that the mere shadows on
the wall is reality. These prisoners are in bondage but they believe they
have life and that the shadows are reality. The prisoners live a life of
ignorance about themselves and ignorance about reality.

 

Many different people throughout the ages have tried to determine how that
allegory applies to their time in history. Plato wrote it to apply to his
time and to explain by way of story, how there is a reality that people
think and imagine, but there is a reality of what really is which people are
blind to it. If people were to break free and they go back and tell their
fellow prisoners, they would either be rejected as crazy or accepted with
gratitude.

 

Neuro-Semantics is the embodiment of ideas. NLP is a communication model for
running our own brains. The models of Meta-States, Meta-Model, Matrix Model,
Mind-Lines etc. all communicate the reality of an alternative reality. We
are the reality, we are the alternative reality. I often wonder how well
Korzybski understood about Plato and about the Allegory of the Cave. As the
map is not the territory so the shadows on the wall are not reality. Through
the various NLP and NS models we run in and out of the cave. The models are
the keys to break our chains, but how far out we run, and how often we come
back to tell our fellow prisoners is up to us.

 

What shadows do you see on the wall that you believe are real? How bright is
the fire that burns behind you, the brighter the fire, the darker the
shadow? Do you desire to unleash your chains and turn toward the opening of
the cave and run into the bright sunlight of what is? 

 

If I were to re-write the Allegory of the Cave, it would be a series of
caves. Each cave having an opening larger than the last. We wear a tool belt
with keys of Mind Lines, meta-questions, meta-states, language patterns,
etc. In each cave we stop, reflect, see mere shadows, and then use our keys
to free us so we can turn to look to see what cast those shadows. We then
update our model of the world, better aligning the map with the territory;
updating, in a healthy manner our meanings, and garnering more of our
resources. Each time we step into a cave we are playing the inner game, as
we exit we are playing the outer game. We move through the caves, in a
holographic manner, the holograph is set up in quadrants. The exit of one
cave is the entrance of another, we are propelled through the entrance,
through a volcano of constructing meaning, heated up in a crucible, and
finally in the quadrant of Self-Actualization, and into the zone - not the
end zone, but a zone of zones. 

 

As you see the shadows on the wall; do you see them as reality? Are you
still chained in the cave believing that the map is the territory? Do you
have a tool belt of Meta-States, Meta-Model, Mind-Lines, Matrix Model, and
Matrix of Self-Actualization? Do you know how to use each key to unleash
yourself from your cave and allow yourself to be propelled into the next
cave, the next adventure, the next opportunity to self-actualize? Be
unleashed, turn around, enter the cave of Quadrants of Self-Actualization.
Let's go cave exploring!!

 

 

Charles.desjardins at sbcglobal.net

 

 

 

 

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