Blindness Cave

gibsondodds · Site Admin Joined: 02 Mar 2006 Posts: 538

Put your paragraph below, the one you wrote in class. Shocked

thirteen · Joined: 06 Sep 2008 Posts: 18

i am one of the prisoners chained to the cave wall, where i only see the shadows of figures behind me. i don't know any better from where i live, what school i go to, my friends, and my family. i don't know what exists beyond the cave but it would be interesting to find out.

in a sense, we are all the prisoners held inside, unexposed to reality. too bad we keep ourselves here.

Hawkline · Joined: 30 Aug 2008 Posts: 15

The Allegory of the Cave applies to my life in the way that Canada is my cave. I feel comfortable in this cave. I know everything in this cave. However, i know extremely little about the world outside of this cave. I believe that if I were to leave for a period of time and explore other people's caves, i would come back a changed person, just like the prisoner in the allegory. However, there are pressures put on by society to stay in my little world and it is up to me to break out of this prison and see the rest of the world.

electrichearts · Joined: 02 Sep 2008 Posts: 10

The Allegory of the Cave applies to my life in the sense that I'm sort of similar to the people who are stuck in the cave because to me, St. Albert is what I know because I have lived here my whole life, so I feel comfortable here. I have the security like they do in the cave. I don't really have to worry about the things outside of St.Albert. Also, like the one who leaves the cave, I too would feel completely out of my element if I had to leave my secure "cave".

Pantalaimon · Joined: 29 Aug 2008 Posts: 50

The allegory of the cave applies to my life. Since grade one to now we/I had to go to school. I guess you could say you/I had structure in our/my life, a routine, a system down. I am confortable and happy with the structure. I see my friends everyday; LIFE IS GREAT!! Next year school is just an option. There will be no structure, no routine and no system down. You wont get to see your friends everyday just when you have time. Everything changes. It's a big change for me at least. And I bet I would want to go back to that system we did for 12 freaking years. WOW!!

UAV online · Joined: 01 Sep 2008 Posts: 7 Location: SNES Land

It applies to me through the fact that I could be one of those people in the cave and not realize it. I could be seeing what I would think is true but is, in fact, not true. To brake out of this jail I could try to look at things from another point of view or try to be more openminded, on topics I don't know much about. I could also question things that might be true, to try and expose false facts.

coffeepot · Joined: 04 Sep 2008 Posts: 5

Allegory of the Cave applies to my life because i have lived my whole life in one city, with one main group of friends: I don't know any better. I plan to venture off as soon as adulthood slaps me in the face and find a place to live that is my own to discover. This process will probably change my life, just like the person who got to leave the cave. I feel safe where I am right now, but that will change the moment i leave the comforts of my bubble.

shoelace · Joined: 29 Aug 2008 Posts: 5

It applies to me because I have lived in the same place basically my entire life, so I am blind to the living conditions anywhere else. I can't honestly say that I could list every country in the world. This means that there are people and places that I don't even know exist. it makes me wonder how many people or other life forms are completely unaware of our existance.

Mighty Mouse · Joined: 31 Aug 2008 Posts: 4

It is similar to my life because I have lived in St. Albert my hole life and we don't see half of the things here as the rest of the world does. We are so sheltered and imprisoned that we don't understand the events going on in the world today. I don't worry about that stuff because it doesnt affect me. Living here my whole life makes me very comfortable with everything and i don't know what i would do if things were'nt this way.

ArmedWithExpression · Joined: 28 Aug 2008 Posts: 30

I dont have my paragraph with me but ill try and reproduce it the best I can...

It's not only St. Albert that is our cave, but all of western civilisation. I mean you can apply the whole cave theory to just about any part of our lives but for now ill focus on north american society as one broad picture. For me what the media projects is much like the shadows on the cave wall. The people on the walkway behind the prisoners choose what forms are projected infront of the prisoners just like how the media gets to pick and choose what it shows us. The prisoners interprit (im not sure about the spelling) the shadows however they want, giving the names and maybe even different values. there is a whole idea of right/wrong or cool/not for us and we also get to pick and choose what we see as cool on, say our tvs. And once something catches our attention it is proclaimed better than the rest we get to see a whole lot more of it! but thats besides the point. Then we laugh at difference just like the people outside laugh at the man emergind from the darkness or the people laughing at him when he finds his way back in.

gibsondodds · Site Admin Joined: 02 Mar 2006 Posts: 538

So, Mighty Mouse, was that your hole life? It sounds as if the Abyss is you, if it's your hole life. Life is a big hole where we find ourselves living most of it unless we question our way out of it. Armed with Expression makes a beautiful analogy between the shadows and the media. Who really cares what happens on 90210? Or the Sarah Connor Chronicles or on Prison Break. or in the Grey Cup. They're just shadows after all.

Beach Girl · Joined: 12 Sep 2008 Posts: 6

The allegory of the cave applies to one self as an individual because it describes how every person in the world is somehow trapped. It does not necessarily have to be in a cave where a person feels trapped however, they could feel trapped in their group of friends or even school. One may feel trapped in their group and of friends and want a way out however, do not know any other friends therefore cannot leave their circle of mates. For school, it is for some people a prison how they come indoors and are not aloud out unless the bell goes off, they eat their meals normally at the school and sit in desks all day unless a teacher tells them they can stand or gives them permission to move. It is the same as in jail they enter in doors cannot leave unless told, eat their meals there and cannot move unless the guard tells them.

Mr.Chang · Joined: 02 Sep 2008 Posts: 2

The alegory of the cave applies to my life because i used to live in France. Moving to canada was a very different experiance "I was leaving my cave" and if i were ever to go back i wound be a total stranger. Its been so long since i have been to france that i have lost most of my french. "Forgoten to read the shadows". Exclamation

gibsondodds · Site Admin Joined: 02 Mar 2006 Posts: 538

Beach Girl: "Your freedom may not exceed your labour." (Author Unknown)

Kalevra · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:43 pm Post subject:

I find that there are so many things that I am blind to, and many causes of this blindness. I am blinded by both the media and government to certain issues around the world (ie. struggles in foreign nations, the treatment of animals for food); and have found that I blind my self to a great number of things. This self blinding is mainly due to fear. I have blinded myself to who I truly am because I am afraid. I am afraid of who I will find underneath my mask.

Ignorance can truly be bliss.

gibsondodds · Site Admin Joined: 02 Mar 2006 Posts: 538

That you are afraid suggests that you might be closer to knowing yourself than the person who hasn't given it a thought let alone a fear. Be afraid and be very afraid, but know that you're closer to knowing yourself than those who have no fear. Take comfort in that.

music · Joined: 11 Sep 2008 Posts: 1

The Allegory of the Cave applies to my life as I am the prisoner who left the cave and came back a changed person. With every big new experience that i go through, i change.i might not notice it at first but as time goes on it starts to show, people start to notice, as do i.

Kalevra · Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2008 11:12 pm Post subject:

I'm definately with you on that one Music. The past few weeks I've spent a lot of time reflecting on my life (however short it has been so far) and trying to figure out who I am, but more importantly, who do I want to be. So far it has been quite the internal struggle. A lot of the questions I'm asking myself, I really just cannot answer, and honestly, I probably won't be able to answer any time soon. Even thinking about certain issues has changed me, or rather, changed how I see myself.

To tie this in, I feel a bit like the Doctors wife. She sits and watches the blind around her, not certain whether to help or not. I have been sitting, with clear eyes, watching myself walk around blindly. Hopefully I'll decide to lead my blind self out of the asylum soon.

guess* · Joined: 23 Sep 2008 Posts: 3

Allegory of the Cave applies to my life because as i grew up i moved around alot and in doing so it was difficult to adjust to the differences within opposite societies. Having to reseddle after moving was a challenge because you become immune to the previous place and the way things are done there. I have never left the country so for me i beleive that would be an uncomfortable experience at first. When leaving my "cave" from province to province, it was hard, nevermind a whole new territory outside of my home country. This is because outside of Canada I am completly clueless/blind to the way society is ran, i'd be an outcast in fashion differences, language, beliefs and basically everything i lived to would be the total opposite to another countries. After visiting such a different location, coming home would be hard to re adjust back to your normal life and you would definatly become a changed person for things would have rubbed off on you while you were in another cave. Exclamation

1OKGO1 · Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Posts: 18

One of the resounding themes that i have noticed from the posts is life experience. That life experience determines who you are as a person. Whatever the cave might be for you is what is holding you back, restraining you from reaching your full potential as a person. Is travel, and seeing the world the only way to develop life experience? Are their ways right in St. Albert or Edmonton that you can get life experience and therefor develop character that you might have otherwise not had?

And make sure to listen to Mr. G-D's stories about his travel. One of the things I remembered most about his class...
_________________
OKGO

PowerThrough · Joined: 10 Sep 2008 Posts: 5 Location: Forever Changing

This summer I went on some amazing adventures; horseback riding in the mountains, sea kayaking on the west coast, a week in the Okanogan and while I wasn’t doing that, I worked. My job wasn’t retail, and it definitely wasn’t food service. I worked at a summer camp for youth on Lake Wabamun. All day I would canoe, kayak, rock climb, do high ropes, run around, laugh, sign and generally just play.
For me to have this amazing summer, I stepped out of my cave. My cave that had comforts like my own bed, lifelong friends and (as sad as is) Starbucks. I discovered new people, new joys, future possibilities, and new things about myself. All summer long, I had only come home for maybe six days, and just a day at a time. In that time I never connected with my friends, just washed my clothes and headed off for another adventure.
When I returned, I felt disconnected from this place, and these people. To simply tell a story could never truly explain the magnitude of my summer. Even though I am back in my cave, chained to this place, I have seen the possibilities. Soon I will break those chains and leave my cave once more.

gibsondodds · Site Admin Joined: 02 Mar 2006 Posts: 538

Yeah! You should read what Poseidon wrote in thread "What will you do when you graduate" a couple of years back.

ABCD · Joined: 10 Sep 2008 Posts: 5

Honestly i think that everything is a cave, and being alive on Earth is just being another prisoner in this giant cave. Governments, politics, more superior groups... etc that control and regulate laws and how our way of life "should" be helps to support in keeping lives in caves. On top of that, the individuals themselves, their family and experiences will put them in imprisonment.
Travelling has helped me see the different caves that exist even the stares that people give can sometimes tell you a little something about them even if they do happen to be complete strangers.

OpenWindow · Joined: 27 Sep 2009 Posts: 1

I think we are incredibly blind to our society's opinion of what is beautiful or good or normal. People try so hard to look good everyday by applying makeup, getting fake nails, backcombing their hair and spraying chemicals in it...its all fake. We should we try so hard to look beautiful when the image of beautiful changes eerywhere you go? Isnt it best to be happy with your natural looks the by comforming to our society's standards of prettiness? Its hard to ignore because cosmetic companies and clothes companies have milions of people working together to sell the image of beauty and it can be tedios to SEE through it all.