Investigating “what is” for a clearer perspective
Plato's Allegory of the cave describes a thought experiment. In a cave, prisoners are bound and witness from birth what they get to believe life is: on the wall in front of them shadows talk and sound can be heard, projected from behind and through the cave acoustics. It makes logical sense to associate the sounds echoing off the walls and the shadows as the things themselves, it's what was there when they came about, it's what's there at the moment.
The story also talks about the prisoners who are unshackled and let to leave the cave. Seeing what is casting the shadows after a life of shadows as existence is enough for most to want to return to the shadows. Others are brave enough to peer towards the opening of the cave, only to be blinded by the light, in turn resigning back to the shadows.
Then there's the lucky and brave (or foolish, or plain curious) ones, which beyond being unshackled, have ventured outside despite of the immediate strains the change brought. In time, senses and perception adjusted to the more expansive view. The punishment of being let out was soon seen as a gift and freedom. They couldn't imagine a worse life than to return to the shadows. They wished upon those shackled to be able to see and experience the outside world too. Yet when returning back to the cave, the ones subjected to a lifetime of shadows on the wall didn't get what the returning ones would say. To the ones stuck in the cave, the returning ones didn't know more, quite the opposite, they got worse at "shadows", outsiders' eyes now accustomed to the outside brightness. Regardless of how much the ones that ventured outside would tout the incomparable freedom, the ones that never got a glimpse of it wouldn’t follow, too convinced the shadows are, from personal experience, the actual world,
Just because we hear a sound and there's a shadow on the walls of the cave, it does not mean without a doubt that the shadows are creating the voices. Immaterial gives us the tools to unravel what is assumed of the world, encouraging personal investigations and fundamental truths, all to remove assumptions and bring a clearer more relaxed, objective perspective. It's safe to say, if the prisoners shackled in the cave had Immaterial, they'd know not to trust the shadows, and would all be up for hearing more about some "outside". They might even deduce there can be an outside without leaving the cave. They might even demand to be taken outside to see for themselves.
- Claudiu
