Jesus and Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
Introduction
John 20:29 . . . Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
Deuteronomy 29:29 . . . The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever.
If you think about it, we believe without seeing every day. We listen to the news on the radio or television and believe what they say is true. Even though we may see the broadcast, we did not actually witness the events. We listen to the gossip of others and believe their words to be fact. However, when it comes to believing that God is God, and that the Bible is holy and true, many people struggle. Why is it that we have a much harder time believing in a sovereign God, than we do a story on the news or from a friend? Why is it difficult for some to comprehend and believe that God created the universe, is in control of everything, and ordains life?
Photograph by Larry Ricksen
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Summary
From Theologetics Web Site
I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. (C. S. Lewis)
The world and the life we lead are extremely complex. We simply can’t understand them. The deeper we go into reality; the more difficult it becomes for us to know and interpret. Since no two individuals are the same, so is the interpretation of reality. We also are highly ignorant and imperfect human beings, prisoners of our own habitual and conditioned thoughts and behavior. To encounter the reality of the world around us we must venture beyond the realm of the physical world.
In Plato’s famous work The Republic, written around 380 B.C., he gives an allegory commonly known as The Cave. In this discourse he describes people who are trapped in a cave from birth. The inside of the cave is all they know. They are chained by the feet and neck so that they can only face the back of the cave. Behind them is a fire. Between the people and the fire, objects pass by casting only shadows for the prisoners to see in front of them. From these shadows they come up with all types of stories, theories, and philosophies. Their reality is based on the shadows they see on the wall, not realizing they are only illusions of real objects. In fact they take great pride in their abilities to interpret the pictures on the wall.
One day one of these people is freed from his lifelong prison. He finds his way outside the cave into the glorious sunlight. However, since he’d been in the dark all of his life, the sunlight hurts his eyes. After a while, his eyes become adjusted to the bright light and he begins to see plants, animals, trees, himself. He comes to realize that the shadows in the cave are mere representatives of actual objects and people. He sees that these objects have colors. He then realizes that it is the sun by which he sees everything and after a while he can even gaze upon the very source of light itself.
In time the man returns to the cave. The sunlight has not only exposed the true world to him but it has also made the cave seem much darker than he remembers. Because his eyes haven’t readjusted, the darkness doesn’t fit like it used to. Neither does the ignorance of being in the dark. He tries to explain to his fellow man that they are being kept in darkness and to help them understand what he discovered outside the cave. But they are so set in their perception of reality, that they are deaf the man’s words; even though he is speaking the truth. His new found freedom and attempt to free the others is met with so much disdain and mistrust that they plot to kill him.
The Christian and the Cave
By Brother Mannes Matous, 2012
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is a great analogy for the Christian life. Let’s say that the cave is the world we live in, the shadows are created goods, and the outside is the spiritual realm. Just like the many cave dwellers in Plato’s story, it’s very easy for us to get consumed by the things around us. We can be so focused on the shadows inside the cave, lured by the promise of riches and material goods, that we forget there is more to this life. But like the man who escapes the cave, the Christian faces the bright light. This walking out of the cave is the very journey of the Christian here on Earth. The Christian walks out of the cave, realizes there is more to life than this passing world, and which leads to a conversion of heart. Just as the bright light was painful to the cave dweller’s eyes, so the Christian life is not easy. For “if any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”. The journey involves facing our imperfections and embracing the trials in our life, always aware that these difficulties are oriented towards something good. We don’t embrace the cross because the cross is pleasurable; we embrace it for the sake of life with Christ.
Heeding the advice of Plato, we too must return to the cave. We cannot be content with our own faith and keep it locked up for ourselves, but are commissioned by Christ to tell others about Him, so that they might also encounter the beauty of the Truth outside the cave. Plato only has one prisoner leave the cave, but Christ “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:4). In our journey of faith, may we as ambassadors take the light we have received and return to the cave, sharing the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the one who declared, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”
Magic Eye Image – The Invisible Made Visible
By Nathan Jolly
Like a large percentage of the population, I have never been able to see a Magic Eye picture. It’s never really bothered me, although I am acutely aware this is actually layers of defense built up over years of “It’s a horse! Look there’s the hoof, there’s the tail. It’s sooo easy, no wait it’s a fairy. A fairy. Those are wings” and that, deep down, it bothers me greatly. It’s easy though. Kids can do them.
I’ve tried all the recommended techniques but none work for me. I was beginning to believe that I was just one of those people who simply cannot see Magic Eye pictures. Whether it’s something to do with my physical eyesight, my brain’s perception of various light waves, or unexamined childhood trauma, I was convinced it was hardwired. So I went to the Magic Eye website to find out.
Jesus on the Cross
“Can anyone see a Magic Eye image?” was one of the questions asked on the site, although no metric was given to define the frequency of such requests. “DEPTH PERCEPTION depends on having two eyes”, they explain bluntly. “Most people who have depth perception can see a Magic Eye image. People with impaired depth perception or people who have one eye which is extremely dominant (as in amblyopia) will have more difficulty seeing the image.”
Seeking more scientific reasoning, I spoke to Stuart Marlin, who is Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Newcastle. He teaches Neuroscience and Perception to first and third year Psychology students.
“There are a couple of reasons why people can’t see the Magic Eye images”, he begins. “The most basic one would be poor or no stereovision.” Stereopsis — or depth from retinal disparity — is a perceptual ability that develops between about three months and four years of age. It requires both eyes being able to lock the eye’s fovea on targets at a specific distance. He explains that specific tests were designed in the ’40s during the war to screen for the disorder, as people who are stereoblind cannot be pilots.
A second reason [for failing at Magic Eye] might be they just have relatively poor stereoacuity”, he continues. “Other eye disorders can also affect this such as astigmatism which will distort the image in one direction making the brain’s calculations more difficult.
“These stereo acuity tests and most simple 3D stimuli have simple objects that are matched between the left eye and right eye. So that is fairly simple for the brain. But Magic Eye pictures are based on the work of Béla Julesz from the 1960s. His work shocked the perception world because it showed the brain takes a point from the right eye’s image and tries to find a match from the left eyes image. And it does this for every point in the image.
“The number of possible matches is infinitely large, but the brain tries and tries and tries. Once a pattern of matches starts to occur, the brain locks on to that dot disparity as its starting place for all the dots and then looks for places in the image where that does not work. This is not as hard as it sounds because in the Magic Eye images most of the dots make up a single depth that is the background and a smaller object floats in front. Depending on how complex the Magic Eye image is, that process can take a short time or a long time even for people with good stereovision.”
Marlin explains there are actually scientifically-based techniques for seeing a difficult image. He lays out a few common ones.
1) You have to get the viewing distance right. There is a sweet spot where the brain works on these problems best and that is often determined by the computer algorithm that made the image.
2) You have to look PAST the actual depth of the printed image. For example, if the image is about 25 cm from your eye, you have to fixate your eyes at 50cm distant. This is made easier if the picture is behind reflective glass or on a computer screen where you can simply look at your own reflection.
3) When the brain starts to get the solution it creates a false 3D image and your reflex is to look at that implied depth location which of course breaks strategy 2, and the whole thing falls apart.
Therein lies the third, and perhaps the most under-reported reason for failing to see the image; a failure to sustain one’s attention. Or as Marlin explains, “People who are impatient do not do well with this task. People who can’t learn to inhibit the reflex that happens when the image starts to resolve also don’t do well, but with practice that can get better.”
Finally, don’t despair. This stuff was designed to bend our brains. So maybe it’s a horse AND a fairy.