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The Allegory Of The Cave, By Plato

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Plato discussed a two layer view of what he perceived as reality; the world of becoming and the world of being. The world of becoming is the physical world we perceive through our senses. In the physical world there is always change. The world of being is the world of forms, or ideas. It is absolute, independent, and transcendent. It never changes and yet causes the essential nature of things we perceive in the world. These two perceptions are what Plato describes as the divided line or the journey of self discovery. This progression of the spirit, that can never be reached, becomes the ideal. Plato’s discussions include the involvement of the soul. It is clear, that the main reason for dealing with the soul is to achieve this state …show more content…

This has similarities with Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. In the Allegory of the Cave, man is chained and suddenly leaves the cave to have his eyes opened. In the Garden of Eden, man is commanded by God to not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “And the Lord God commanded of man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Genesis 16-17) While both describe essentially the same situation, each accentuates only the characteristics that equate with its theme. Plato’s ideas are of the ills of the life of ignorance, in the Bible, the benefits of the life of permanence and purity. Plato emphasizes the lack of freedom in the cave, while Genesis stresses the lack of responsibility; Plato critically describes the lack of change within the cave, while the Bible passage extols the lack of conflict; Plato reveals the perceived truths of the cave as illusions, while the equally surreal truths of the Garden are ascribed to divine power. But both bestow the ideals of enlightenment, individuality, freedom, wisdom, and show a relationship between …show more content…

We must gain a way to conceive spiritually, or at least non-materially. It is from this standpoint that the kingdom of heaven can be within you. Just as the wholeness of your personality is present in each cell of your body, the entire kingdom of heaven is within you. It is significance, a meaning, we call it the spirit. It does not require space to exist. Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is within you. If you empty yourself and transcend materialism, you will stand by the spirit. “Give and it shall be given”, says Christ in the Bible. The Bhagavad-Gita states; “Knowing the fruit of virtue assigned to knowledge of sacred lore, to sacrifices, to penances, and to acts of charity, the man of discipline transcends all this and ascends to the place of pure beginning.”(Gita, 8th teaching pg 83). You must know yourself and then you can transcend into the world of enlightenment. “Those who know themselves are enlightened.” (Daodejing, chapter

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