Response to Plato by Chris, John and Tomer

People can be ill informed of the truth for so long that they start to believe their false reality and even cling to it desperately, for that is all they know. That is what we see In Plato's “ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE". Plato represents his metaphor of the way in which we recognize and believe in what is reality. The theory behind his story is the basic belief that all we know are imperfect “reflections”, which ironically also represent truth and reality. In his story, Plato uses the image of a cave in which prisoners are chained down and forced to look at the front wall of the cave and all that they are able to see are their own shadows. The shadows being the false world that surrounds them, it is all what they see and all that they know.

We are living in a world where the truth is in plain sight but is overshadowed by a false reality that is driven by society, politics and the media. Plato represents that with the shadows the prisoners see. That is all they know and all they believe to be the truth. When one is finally exposed to the truth, it is a big shocking blow to the mind. Discovering all that was once reality is now and always was ruled by deception. He will see that what he has seen is what the true realities are and it goes beyond the shadows that he had been forced to embrace. Later, once educated, the same man will look at a person in his prior state of ignorance, with pity and contempt. All this is kindly summarized in this quote from the matrix:

“Morpheus: The Matrix is a system, Neo. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around, what do you see? Businessmen, teachers, lawyers, carpenters. The very minds of the people we are trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inured, so hopelessly dependent on the system, that they will fight to protect it.”

Our reality is our prison and our perception is what binds us to it. In order for us to strive for our freedom we must amass information. The more information we possess the closer we are to being truly liberated. This is especially relevant to our own time. At this very moment, mankind strives to advance more than ever before, progressing further and further with all the new technologies and space exploration for example. It’s a never ending task; they are determined to go as far and as deep in space as they can. And in the end, is that not what man has dreamt of since first he looked up at the stars?

Now the question that arises from this theory is "Can we ever truly be free from our prisons?” The chapter talks about the notion of "street smarts" making the distinction between that types of intelligence, to classical book smarts to show that not only scholastic knowledge is needed to achieve enlightenment but also the ever evasive honing of human skill, intuition and problem solving techniques acquired through experience.

True enlightenment is not measured in silver and gold but in virtue and wisdom. You are not truly rich until you’ve reached enlightenment, happiness and knowledge.

For those of you who care to watch, I’ve also posted a link to a 9min clip of the last cinematic video from the game metal gear solid 3:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGiNVXst9AU&feature=related

Snake, the hero, is awarded the title of "Big Boss" and given the Distinguished Service Cross for his efforts. Prior to that, he found out that the final part of his long time mentor’s mission was to sacrifice her honor and die at the hands of Snake, under the guise of a traitor, to prove the US's innocence in past events. A little before 5min we see Snake is disgusted by his superiors for double crossing him.