The Mind is a Mirror or is it a Cave?

Ask yourself this question: Is your mind a mirror or a cave? In a philosophical way or an allegory of a cave?

If we look at the Allegory of the Cave by Plato, we can deduce that through education there are 4 houses of cognitive activity or education of the spirit. To me these are nature, nurture, philosophy, and flow of movement. It is anything that inspires another to move forward within thought and feelings of the self, which becomes the mirror. Porter Robinson sings a lot about a mirror in his music, as a reflection of self or reflection of inspiration. The cave shows us a way out of containment through metaphors of fire, shadows, and puppets. Though, Plato theorizes that the sun is the fire within the cave and the shadows are shape and language to those suffering in confinement. Though there are some that are so deep in darkness that they can only see shadows. Which can be equated to dark traumas within the human psyche. Traumas of life These people use their confinement within trauma and suffering to reach higher forms of imagination (hopefully not psychopathy, could go both ways.) Plato mentions that those confined eventually find a way out of the cave or did they go deeper within themselves and create ego for protection becoming a new light for humanity. Or they could have made it out of the cave, seeing a new sun reflect at them. The moon, another form of self-reflection as a mirror to the sun and light source at night. How do we put this in modern terms?

If we look at nature, nurture, philosophy, and flow within movement, could we find our lost spirits our ancestral powers that we collect by dancing around fires? To me it seems that majority of humanity has lost our internal spirits and is experiencing a loss of soul? What is sucking it away, becoming slaves to a system that doesn’t see them? Probably. We can look at the symbolism of the snake, both positive and negative in nature. Depending on its speculative color patterns and poisonous color ways. Positively the snake is indeed a symbol of rebirth and transformation. On the other hand, could be a negative reflection of Christianity and the concept of temptation of education when everything was provided to them by God. The quest for higher knowledge? Or the plucking of low hanging fruit, which could symbolize the devil.  When we think about education like this, we initially think of secondary schools or schools for delinquents. When we think of rebirth and transformation we look to higher education or apples at the top of the trees. Though in reality, we should look at cartoons, movies, and video games that are now raising our children. Especially those who are raised by social media and YouTube.

According to the media, there is a high percentage of kids in Gen Y that are unable to read. Public Schools in general have a lack of teachers that care and do not get paid enough to babysit kids who haven’t learned how to respect people.  Have we lost education to corporations and the largest donors? The government gives out so much federal loans to students because of the raise in college tuition, but they raised those because the government would pay them, leaving young people in massive loads of debt, that the job market cannot handle to pay living wages anymore. It’s the biggest crisis for Millennials and Gen X. Many Gen Z are becoming their own entrepreneurs because of this. Seeing what mistakes previous generations have made and learning from them. So why is there a giant “class” war, when it’s a generational one? Ok boomer we all say, because we are rejecting traditional values. Which one specific religion has passed down, through many different branches and interpretations of the bible.  Maybe we are just looking at it in a completely different way due to rampant evangelical take-over, which is very Freudian in my opinion and destructive to young women and children everywhere.

Well after reading all those facts of the world, I’ll go back to the philosophical aspect of this which are we mirrors or caves? I believe the cave is a metaphor for a downward spiral within the mind, unable to find the “sun” … Though I believe since the sun was described as the fire that kept them warm; it actually is the moon reflecting the sun back. Becoming the Mirror as the upwards spiral of freedom of exploration and expression within an Earthly Garden of our planet. Some get lost in the cave, more tied up within their own experience and trauma that they cannot face due to fear.  The mirror is the freedom of emerging from the cave and seeing, hearing, and being wo[men]. For me it’s finding freedom of expression and being your authentic self. It is a blend of both, some are trapped within their generational traumas as well as personal ones. We all have ancestors and we should connect with them and build them up through ourselves and who want to be.