WHAT ABOUT THE STATE OF MIND OF SOCRATES MADE ME MORE EMPATHETIC

- Pranay Gandhi

Socrates, one of the great thinkers of all time, in, ” The Allegory of the Cave” gives some valuable lessons to human beings. These lessons are brought out in way that one doesn’t have to go looking for the right answers, but only ask himself the right questions? What does it mean to be an individual or a philosopher? What does it mean, by ascending the soul into the intellectual world? Once asked, he lets these questions go deeper and brings out possibilities, which are most probabilistic in nature to be true. One has to keep iterating over and over again to figure out what is one out looking for. Every time you ask these questions to yourself there is a new revelation in you. And importantly it is alluring enough, to see the way in which the message is conveyed?

When Socrates and his follower, Glaucon just like any other teacher-student relationship, share their thoughts via mediums of dialogue. Both of them are taken to situations by these mediums where different avenues open up in the mind. One has to travel through these avenues to find what one is looking for. Not knowing, what is he here for, and what does he want to accomplish, instead knowing why is he doing this in the first place? Socrates humbly guides his follower to make the choice, a choice, which is more of in line with the truth.

It all starts with a marvelous story of human beings inside an underground den. And the den has a mouth, open towards the light and reaching all along inside. These human beings have their legs and necks chained since childhood, preventing them from turning their heads around. With this, Socrates creates an illusion inside the head of Glaucon and the readers. And inside that imagination where the prisoners are enslaved, a fire is blazing at a distance on a raised platform and the prisoners can see their shadows and the shadow of what’s behind them, right on the wall in front of them. Besides the fire on the platform, there’s an elevated passage, which passes through the cave.

This whole description of the cave, of the men and their situation not only creates a mental picture inside the head but also creates room for metaphors. Man has this unique ability to perceive what he sees by means of light and the reflection of light, the existence of bodies and things in different colors around us. The men, the shackles, the light of fire and the shadows when perceived may be as real as they get in the perception but also inside the subconscious, they start getting associated with different emotions and identities. For a teacher to really influence the minds, he creates dots in the air and then leaves it up to others to connect them for themselves. These dots are however placed in a very thoughtful manner and each dot has a purpose to exist there in space. The purpose is to provide a sense of direction. Socrates, a very wise man choose to leave his legacy behind. Even after centuries, people find themselves understanding themselves after connecting the dots left behind by him, making him one of the greatest teachers of all time.

Socrates draws out more details to the picture through his word. By having other men passing with different items in their hands. Their shadow in the process of doing work becomes the only thing that the prisoners can see. The prisoners, as they grew up confused initially. Man, innate with the instinct of perfecting his senses, the prisoners in their own little work, comprehend the shadows casted by the men seen carrying around items. The sound made by the men moving around too becomes a source of information to them. The prisoners use these sounds in assisting them to perfect their activeness and interpretation of their world. Socrates gives this information, creating vague & strange images inside Glaucon’s head. Prompting Glaucon to empathize with the prisoners. Feeling every sentiment they must be feeling, Glaucon asks questions, as the senses of the prisoner’s must be demanding. Imagining, wouldn’t the motion of the people passing through the cave, create motion in the air? And that would have helped the prisoners to compare the sound and fancy the passers-by. Socrates too asked questions to Glaucon’s in a sense to make sense out of this illusion. To make them believe, how the nature of events would have happened, considering the nature of

human beings? The prisoners even when living on their own, end up creating a language amongst themselves to be able to comprehend the images they are subjected to on the wall. Start honoring amongst them to who identifies the passers-by and gratify their sense.

Socrates, until now explored the sensitivity of man in the limited resources he had to explore. But then he poses another question, that how will man behave if he were to come out his own little world and approach the unknown. What will happen to him and how will his senses react when facing this unknown? Since the prisoners have started their process of connecting with the exterior objects, how will one reflect on seeing either the object or its reflection? Is the glass half filled or half empty? Such paradoxes keep hitting them when one is now seeing the unknown. The symmetric crystal clear phenomenon no longer seems ethereal and the mental framework is completely disoriented. One asks himself, the glass I was seeing instead of half empty or half filled, is this glass a glass in the first place? Instead of jumping decisions just to feel the experience shouldn’t I ask myself why? Initially when the prisoner is shown the light, the illusion of the realities he was living in gets questioned to a level that it gets shattered. He starts slowly to unlearn first, with a lesson in mind, “There’s no right or wrong.” With every step towards the light, with every inconvenience to his rationality he learns that it’s not easy but just the truth. Even if there was a way to get back to living with a bliss in ignorance, even if there was a way to go back, one will always chose not to. In order now to realize the truth and more in it, I only have to bend my mind. Knowledge will guide me, and more than that, without getting to worry about the right from the wrong. Some uncertainty will prevail, but the closer he moves towards the reality of existence, more clear vision will the prisoner have.

If the situation takes a person through highs and lows, he finds himself getting closer and closer to the light with his experience and introspection. And when the reality hits hard, the prisoner is forced into the presence of the sun to confront himself, and circumstances make him adjust to it, in its own gradual sense. There’s so much to absorb for him but still the blindness of ignorance takes its time to wear off. Like they say, “Its hard to find faith and believe. But it’s near impossible to find reason when deceived once.” There’s a lot of pain involved, but one has to believe in oneself then. Socrates also points out that there is an external stimuli too required for the process to initiate, for the questions to start pouring in. Also to instruct when one’s caught up asking the wrong questions.

Glaucon can’t help himself but agree with Socrates cause his mind too finds it to be real. It too see’s the truth for its simplistic actions are based on rationality. When the prisoner finds himself amongst the people whom he used to be with earlier, he sees the others are too dependent in their own systems. Whenever he tries to bring about a change, the environment turns towards hostility. Cause the other’s are not ready to realize the truth. And are too involved with what’s right and wrong, what’s good or bad. The wise prisoner is taken as an outcast cause for he is in control of his life. Even if the wise prisoner shows them the path, the society is too afraid to walk the path. Cause walking on the path unraveled before is full of the unknown. Not knowing the future brings fear into the hearts of people. Denying this very instinct of managing fear and moving towards change, would be denying us to become human. All it takes is an effort to ask, to see for what it is and the answer is out there. And the answer will find you instead when you keep continuing making the effort.

Socrates makes a strong statement, “Better to be the poor servant of a poor master, and to endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner.” Once a person gets a hang of truth, once he sees reality for what it is, there’s no going back then. The soul once is on the way ascent towards the intellectual words, this being Glaucon’s desire and the reader’s as well. One thing that has to be implemented is that one should not get into judging for whether right or wrong. Cause if you do then again the reality is being clouded. The idea of good will appear only at the end of the path of knowledge when one frees his mind from his own prison.

Presuming we are humanly dependent, aren’t we all slaves of some or the other master in the world? It could be an individual, an organization or a vice or anything. When Socrates starts having the dialogue, I picture myself as Glaucon and listening to him. I kept thinking regarding the Allegory and how do I empathize with it myself. What in me makes me believe

that strongly in the words of Socrates? And while imaging myself listening, I imagine again afraid to see myself, in the shackles of the society. It’s an inception inside an inception. Where I have a glimpse of the light of the sun, and enablers like literature, poems, novels, music, art, wine hinting me towards the direction of experience and knowledge I want to travel towards. The norms of the Indian society had developed a mental construct inside my head. I understand and respect them as most of it has a cultural origin, but when people try to enforce them upon me, I just don’t belong there. It was really holding me down to explore and express myself. And I am not the only one I hope. Very few are able to enjoy simple and yet profound phenomenon like the wind on our face, the air we breathe, and the fluidity music brings to our bodies. With rationality flowing in the veins, there’s no need to look for approval, there’s no need to live in contradiction anymore. I accept now for who I am, a misfit in the eyes of the society and I couldn’t careless.