Plato used the allegory of the cave to describe society, understanding and the quest for enlightenment.

I use the allegory to help describe where the edge is.

You see, we can only know and comprehend what is within our experience. We can only imagine the possibility of more with courage and a willingness to question our assumptions.

Listen, as I describe the Edge using Plato’s allegory of the cave…

Or watch the video…  

Transcript:

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Katherina: The allegory of the cave. How I like to use it!

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Katherina: Imagine a very deep cave with the opening looks out onto a beautiful vista,

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and about halfway through the cave there's a fire,

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and way down at the cave there's darkness,

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So

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Katherina: there are people along the cave at different places within it. Those who are right against the wall.

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Katherina: All they see are reflections and shadows of things, and people who are in between the fire themselves. These shadows are up on the wall, and they only see the shadows. They only see these black and white two-dimensional moving images, that's, all they know of the world.

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Katherina: The people who are closer to the fire they can see a little more dimension. They still have a limited

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Katherina: color spectrum that they can see, but because they're closer to the light of the fire. They know that they can see that there are things that have three dimensions, and they can move in three dimensions.

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As

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Katherina: there are people on the other side of the fire. They can see the fire, but they can also see this opening way down there that looks out onto something bright. It's a little,

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Katherina: whatever it it's way back there. Brightness, fire, and they can't really see the people against the wall, but they do see the other people milling around the fire,

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Katherina: and then, as we move closer to the entrance, we see that beautiful vista, and if we step Outside the cave we see gorgeous greens and blues.

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Here are the birds, and we see the world as it is, and all that is available to us.

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Katherina: The thing is that there are people in our society who are in different places within the cave,

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Katherina: and many of those people are

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Katherina: scared, uncertain, worried, apprehensive, about moving outside their realm of understanding and experience.

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Someone who has been to the opening of the cave can never describe it to someone who is at the wall, only seeing the black and white images on the wall.

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Katherina: They have no ability to perceive color. They have no ability to perceive three dimensions. Even The other people who are around them are very narrow, very thin, very shallow.

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Katherina: As long as they are satisfied in that place they'll never move. They will never move beyond towards the light outside. They can't even imagine it.

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Katherina: If you were to drag someone from the wall kicking and screaming towards the cave opening, they would be terrified. They would fight, fight back.

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Katherina: I believe there are people at every level,

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Katherina: and that everybody will at some point be receptive to learning more about the world, about society and about how we can interact.

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Katherina: I believe in my deepest heart that everyone is good intentioned, and all it takes is a kind word and the introduction of an idea,

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Katherina: and perhaps the support and caring and compassion to allow them to take that scary step beyond the edge of their understanding.

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Katherina: Thank you,