Why is it so hard to see things differently
then what we believe?
In the Allegory of the Cave prisoners have lived chained to the wall
of a cave all of their life, facing a blank wall. They watch shadows projected
on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them. The shadows are
as close as the prisoners get to view reality.
The "Allegory of the Cave"
by Plato
represents an absolute metaphor that compares what we perceive and believe what
is reality.
Socrates explains how the prisoners are mistaken on what reality
really is. When the prisoner is finally released they make him look at the fire
and the objects that he once supposed as reality. He then is forced to realize
that these new images in front of him are the true forms of reality.
Seeing this truth is hard for the prisoners. The prisoners want to
fight this new phenomenon. Naturally they would want to go back to view what
they have always thought was the truth. It is less difficult and painful for
them to imagine things the way they thought they were.
The allegory of the cave represents the world that we live in and
believe to be reality.
Having ignorance is the best way to put it. We are all ignorant
until we step out of our comfort zone (our reality) and go see what else is out
there.
Dr. Phil says, “Perception is reality”. What one perceives to be the “truth” is what becomes their reality.
Why does it hurt us so bad when we find out things are not what
we believed they were?
Example #1: Santa Clause
Your whole life as a child you were told that on December 25
Santa Clause delivers toys to all the little boys and girls around the world.
Christmas was such an exciting time as a kid. You would leave out cookies,
write a note to Santa, meet him at local malls, and get fed a bunch of other
lies that seemed so real.
Santa Clause had to be real.
1.
You would unwrap a bunch of presents that
you asked for
AND
2. He would eat the cookies that you left
out…
You didn’t know Christmas to be anything
else. So when that brat let is slip at school, or your parents/sister/brother
(whoever) finally said the dreaded words….
“Santa Clause isn’t real”…
Your whole life flipped upside down. HOW?
WHAT? NO? WHY? Plus+++ a lot of tears. We all remember when we figured out, who
told us, where we were, and how old we were.
Santa Clause seemed so real. That
was all we knew as kids. But then when we figured out that Santa wasn’t real.. After
hours of explanation, we finally accepted the new normal. Accepting this new
normal was not easy at all. It was heart breaking, it was hard, and it was
devastating.
Example #2: The Wizard of Oz
We have all seen this classic. After the
tornado drops Dorothy’s house on the Wicked Witch of the East the Wicked Witch of
the West (sister of East Witch), threatens Dorothy. But Glinda, the Good Witch
of the North, gives Dorothy the dead witch's enchanted Ruby Slippers, and the
slippers protect her. Glinda advises that if Dorothy wants to go home to
Kansas, she should seek the aid of the Wizard of Oz, who lives in the Emerald
City. To get there, Dorothy sets off down the Yellow Brick Road.
Dorothy simply wants to go home (“there is no place like home”). In order
to get there she truly believes that the great wizard of Oz will help her.
After she meets all her friend (scare crow, tin man, etc.), and they go through
extreme struggles to arrive in the Emerald City, she eventually gets to meet
with the Wizard of Oz. The Wizard of Oz continues to yell at them to leave
until Toto pulls aside a curtain in the corner to reveal an old man pulling
levers and speaking into a microphone -- the so-called wizard.
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
He's ashamed and apologetic, but quickly finds ways to help Dorothy's
friends: a diploma for the Scarecrow, a medal of valor for the Lion, and a
testimonial heart-shaped watch for the Tin Man. Then he reveals that he's from
Kansas himself and came to Oz in a hot-air balloon, in which he proposes to
take Dorothy home. The wizard appoints the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion rulers
of Oz in his absence. Just as the balloon is about to take off Toto runs after
a cat and Dorothy follows him. Unable to stop, the wizard leaves without
Dorothy.
Not only did Dorothy have to find out the Wizard was not a Wizard but at
that moment she thought she would never make it home. Everything she thought
that would lead her home was a lie. She was devastated and could not believe
her fate. She began to cry because 1. She wasn’t going home and 2. Her belief
of the Wizard of Oz was a lie.
But then we all know Glinda appears and explains that Dorothy has always
had the power to get home; Glinda didn't tell her before because Dorothy
wouldn't have believed it. Bidding her friends a tearful good-bye, Dorothy taps
her heels together three times, repeats, "There's no place like
home," and the Ruby Slippers take her and Toto back to Kansas.
Even Glinda knew that it was hard to change people’s perceptions and
views on things. Glinda knew that Dorothy was not going to believe her because
she had already thought/believed other wise.
In all of these examples, it is clear that we don’t want to believe
differently from what we think we know/what we think is right. I think the
reason is because we are naturally stubborn and people don’t ever want to be
wrong. I think that it is easier for our selves and less painful to try and see something differently. Seeing something differently takes a lot of effort, time, and even heart break.
Why do you think people have such a hard time realizing the truth?
Allison,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your article! I had never thought about Santa as being an example of the shadows on the cave wall.
Santa and the Wizard of Oz are really interesting portrayals of Plato's Allegory of the Cave, and I think you did a great job of explaining why. Your argument could even be expanded further to include the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy, and a host of other childhood folktales. If these imaginary figures are the shadows on the wall, then maturation (or the kid at school) must be the prison guard that frees us and forces us to face the reality: all of the shadows are contortions of our parents (eating the cookies, putting money under the pillow, hiding eggs).
However, I think that the reason that we don't want to believe the truth is not because we are stubborn, but rather that it is hard to accept that what you once accepted as real is really not. Someone has told you that what you once accepted to be as real as the ground you stand on is nothing but an illusion. Naturally, it would be hard for us to accept that the ground we stand on isn't really there.
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ReplyDeleteAllison,
ReplyDeleteThis blog post was very well thought out and written. I really enjoyed reading both examples relating to the allegory of the cave!
In response to your last question, I would say that yes humans do in fact deny the truth as a result of stubbornness. However, I believe that often we deny the truth because sometimes beliefs offer more comfort than the truth could ever offer. One example could actually be the recent election. Politicians in general don't often accept the truth of a certain situation; this past election the example could just have easily been the economy. Does any one know for certain whether the economy will in fact improve in coming months? The answer is in fact no; despite the speculations and predictions no one can know for certain. This uncertainty causes politicians to attempt to remedy the situation and remain optimistic to constituents however the truth is difficult to accept. Harry Truman once said, "I never give them hell. I just tell the truth and they think it's hell." This quote epitomizes human nature's often resistance to anything that can alter the current state of life.
On the other hand, who is to say that resistance to belief in truth is necessarily negative? The steadfast belief in certain ideas has lead to advancements in every single aspect of human life. Refuting apparent truths such as the earth being the center of the universe has led to much more progress than one may have ever predicted.
Malini
First off entertaining way to look at the allegory of the cave, I felt really bad for that guy in the video and how he found out about Santa. To answer the question though I just think humans just simply don't like admitting they are wrong. We don't want to think we were foolish enough to believe in something that now seems so clearly false. Think about the last time you got in an argument with someone and after being presented with information that proves you are wrong how you felt. You probably made some excuse for why you thought the way you did and tried to prove to everyone and yourself that you're not dumb. When we talked about Hobbes we discussed how reputation was very important to humans and that't why I think we don't like accepting the truth.
ReplyDelete