06 June 2010
I have been thinking about the Allegory of the Cave a lot recently. In particular, I have been considering our purposed obligation to descend back into the darkness of the cave in order to help others free themselves. In the “Matrix,” Cypher seems afflicted by a lack of desire to fulfill his duty in this respect. Because of his disillusionment, he prefers to be rebound into the falsehoods and ignorance of his past. Deception is better than danger and adversity. In conjunction with this, Morpheus also cautions Neo about the level of danger of people still inside of the Matrix pose to him. He warns Neo those people still trapped in their dream worlds would do anything to protect the system which enslaves them.
Bearing these two points in mind and as the macabre tale of Socrates himself illustrates for us, enlightenment seems to be dangerous business. Not only do we risk the inability to handle the isolation and removal from everything we once thought true, but we also risk peril from the hands of those very people to whom we are trying to deliver this fine gift.
So how do we avoid becoming Cypher when sometimes it seems too much like the world would just prefer its darkness? Why jeopardize life and limb for those who might destroy us? Does Socrates offer us any torch by which we might light our way as we descend back into the hazardous depth of the cave? Because a “philosophical test for kinship” just does not seem sufficient….
