So my last blog....
Was only half of what I intended. Im a bit uninitiated in the Cyber Arts so I accidentally posted the first half of an idea. So,heres the second half of the blathering.... So with Plato, our journey to the real is guided from another. A person who is already liberated brings to us the idea that we are bound in unreal. Also, he explains how the two worlds are separate from one another. The Bhagavad Gita, another well known allegory, gives us another look. Arjuna is struggling with the thought of going to war. His charioteer, Krishna, engages him in a dialogue (very similar to the Socratic Method) when Arjuna asks, "Why do I do what I do not want to do?". This is his recognition of the unreal, why am I living out of tune with myself? Arjuna is looking at himself and noticing inconsistencies. These inconsistencies are casting shadows and illusion over the world of the Real. Arjuna is both the prisoner in the cave and the fire which casts the shadows. If this is the case, then he is also the one who will drag himself from the cave. There have been times in my life, and Im sure there will be more, when I simply don't 'get' something. A scientific idea, a philosophical theory, a subtle asana or a shape in the clouds. Sometimes I just cant see how that cumulus cloud is an orangutan, no matter how many times my friends say "See? Its right there! See?". The harder I look, the less apelike the clouds become. No matter how loving and/or influential my friends may be, they can't click the Orangutan Vision on for me. Krishna urges Arjuna to meditate on his love for Krishna, and the answers will come. Spending time on the exact question will only bring more shadows and illusion, let Love be your guide. Guided by Love, his own love for Krishna, Arjuna recognizes his true self, a warrior, and the shadows fade. There was no dragging into the light, no pulling from the cave. Rather a subtle introspection into the inconsistencies of the self that lead Arjuna into the real. This seems to me to be the biggest difference Socrates and Krishna (both of which may or may not have been quoted accurately), Socrates speaks of being guided, Krishna speaks of guiding onself. Socrates shows us the shadows and illusion, Krishna waits until we see it on our own. Still, what does it take to see it on our own? What skills or lack of skills are needed to recognize the shadows? Hopefully somewhere between the fourth and seventeenth CD Ravi will reveal it to me.
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Submitted by kira on Fri, 2011-12-02 20:32.
#2
Seeing into darkness is clarity. Knowing how to yield is strength.
Use your own light
and return to the source of light.
This is called practicing eternity.
- Lao-tzu
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Submitted by DonBurningham on Sun, 2011-12-04 01:00.
#3
Yeah...you should probably go with Lao Tzu...he seems to know what he's talking about ;-)
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If you don't mind, I'll throw in my 2 cents just because I'm in one of those moods:
I don't think we can see the "shadows and illusions" completely on our own since I think it takes interactions with others to truely see ourselvelves (our true selves). Not necessarily a liberated other either (although that probably wouldn't hurt). And from what I understand, to truely see ourselves is the source of truth of everything else. But although it takes others to show us this, it takes awareness to see what others are teaching or mirroring for us...and this awareness is what we must cultivate on our own. I believe this is the only skill you really need since with awareness, other skills will manifest as they're needed.
Even in cases like Siddhartha Buddha, where he was said to have meditated on his own and ultimately found "enlightenment," it took others to show him that there even were shadows to enlighten.
Some people even become aware of things about themselves through interactions with others that they might not want to see (some even call them shadows), but it takes others for them to learn these things about themselves. If they have awareness to truely see those things and either try to change them or live with them, that's when the "real" work begins (perhaps this is another topic, but still in the arena).
I don't know if this is even in the ball park of what you were trying to figure out, but this is what I thought of when I read your blog. So that's my tid bit of input for what it's worth...
P.S. And perhaps there are different paths for different people. Maybe some can do it on their own...ah, the age old contradiction...this is why many people hate philosophy (my dad being one of them) :-D