Is Reality Real? - Plato's Allegory of the Cave || Theory of Forms Explained 

Hello everyone, I am so floored by the amount of people reached out to ask about the next episode and my well being. I am so thankful for your support. I moved to another country to start a new job. The past year had been incredibly busy, with adjusting to the new schedule and all. But slowly things are calming down. I found a coffee shop near my house, where I can write new stories and episodes. Life is normal again. You will start seeing new videos from this channel very soon. Please stay tuned. Much love - Sudharsanan

"When I was a child, I caught a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of my eye, I turned to look, but it was gone, the dream is gone, the child has grown, I have become comfortably numb."

The existential crisis that comes with moral relativism is a common feeling before revelation. Consumed with science and reason, the programmer eventually realizes that he must decide the objective function after all.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us." It took me quite a while to understand this quote, and I think it has a lot to do with why we choose the cave, even after we know of light. It's too bright. Especially if you have spent a long time inside.

This is the first episode I'm watching, very good! I really enjoyed it. I love how you end the episode with sharing the feeling of fear of exiting the cave. And you also mention how you feel like you still have the chains, but sometimes you feel like they are off. What I would add to that is that I don't think that The Cave "process" is linear. Meaning that it's not happening in sequence: 1. you go out; 2. get blinded 3. see; 4. go back and help 5. repeat (I guess). I think it's happening more in the parallel. At the same time, you are still a prisoner, a wanderer, a student, a guru. Using your example, on one hand you describe that you see yourself as a prisoner, but on another, you are making this videos in some sense bringing some knowledge to the enslaved (at least in theory). So, I believe that process never ends. Or it's just a blinded slave me talking. :)

Damn, if only I could use this as my essay without getting knocked for plagiarism! Great job man. Absolutely wonderful.

This is honestly how I’ve felt my entire life. Everything seems to well made to seem real. Sometimes I’m at college sitting down outside waiting for my next class and I look around. I see people moving and chatting while birds fly around chirping and the occasional deer walking around since they are abundant in our campus and I think to myself, this seems stage. I’ve always thought this way for some reason. Everything seems so planned and I’m amazed how many people are immersed into their lives instead of thinking outside the box. Nobody’s questions anything and it’s really sad.

Truly Underrated

Appreciated brother you are not the only one to feel that way that last statement you made well that's me. Also greatly produced Love and support from Nepal.

great video, not only was it well made and very polished, The relatability and understanding is magnified because you add personal view on the allegory. I feel it is this personal digestion of the material that makes the allegory so powerful. great video and great perspective.

I've had these same difficulties with reality too--sometimes looking at a beautiful night much like the one you described, sometimes just standing in my grandmother's garage. Moments when reality just feels paper thin, like I'm pressed under the plastic film covering a microwave food product, but it's being punctured with a fork. (Sorry, not the most elegant metaphor, I know.) I've come to believe that Heaven is what's outside the cave. I know a lot of people flatten Heaven to some sort of puffy cloud city with feather-winged choirs where there's basically nothing but singing and shiny gates, but I think that's not any more like Heaven than a pencil eraser is like the Earth. I believe Heaven is the place where everything will be right and real, and right now it's painful to think about because my mind can't quite reach it, but that's what I believe I'm growing towards. It's a good and hopeful feeling that some day this strangely lacking reality will give way to the Truth and the Good of Heaven--I've always seen God as the sun in the cave allegory as well, the ultimate brightness of pure Goodness. I don't think we can ever understand these eternal things with our temporary and physically bounded minds, but I believe it's good to try, and good to stretch for it. I enjoyed this video greatly. Even though I've heard about the allegory and connected with it before, it's very nice to connect with someone else who feels this thinness to reality and has experienced it like I have. It's always reassuring to know that others feel what you feel.

Very well produced video, good job, keep it up.

Great video! You really did an excellent job. I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Damn dude. That was beautiful! Thank you so much!

Nicely done, brother! ❤

Hello Sampath!! You videos have always been the best answer for my existence crisis...

I can relate to your videos and thoughts on life... glad I’m not alone on these thoughts. Thank you

Brilliantly explained! Thank you so much.

this messed with my head so much! i love it!

Love your work!!!

This blew my mind. So would our minds then, if disconnected from this reality perhaps by meditating, perceive things as they are when we shut out all the outside noise and biases? Because when we draw a triangle it is still imperfect, but in our thoughts it has perfection regardless if we are able to accurately translate that thought of a triangle into this reality.

Outstanding on every level!

Thank you very much! This video is truly underrated.

Good work!

Man, with all of this content and editing your channel should be popular, underrated

under rated channel

Wowww well done!! All the way to the last couple sentences!!

Dude thanks for the upload! I learned about this in philosophy a few weeks ago. Really profound stuff!

Here from the /r/philosophy subreddit. Will tweet about the video. Great stuff. I've heard about the allegory of the cave before and can certainly relate to your feeling of the boot on your neck. Looking forward to seeing more great content.

Great work man 👍

Very good explanation of this topic.

I love what you do and thank you for all of that!

Amazing! Thank you.

Good job. Great video.

Amazing!

Very thoughtful video.

Thanks for this amazing video it's really help full 💚

Fantastic video, kudos to Sudharsanan, he explained these concepts so well that I nearly feel as if I've escaped the cave.

Thank you for this

I've created a Patreon account for this channel where you can support me by donating anywhere from $1 and up per month and help bring incredible stories to life. Thank you. I've included the link here: www.patreon.com/northerndiaries

Cool video, thank you!

Great video, second watch and still as fresh as the first

Check video: DO YOU DO IT OR DOES IT DO YOU?

great stuff

That's it!! We have our own reality, what we think of this world is just a reflection of what is subconscious perceive, our inner world (the world of forms).

Thank you.

How do you only have 2k subscribers???

Salam Alaikum! 🙏 Thank you for clarifying on the false reality and thank you for more empowerment toward stepping out of the familiarity that is this world. -Nico

Beautiful video...

"You are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch. A prison for your mind"

Thanks!

This is a perfect metaphor for our reality. Indeed, our everyday existence, even the physics of our reality is a series of perfectly obfuscated illusions.

Thank you 🙏

Nice!

The feeling is alienation.

when I was a child.. 3 or 4 i used to draw shapes on my wall when I was sleeping. when I woke up, I didn't remember doing it but I knew it was important and when my mom saw I drew on the wall she snapped. and I remember being livid when she washed it off. and I couldn't remember what they looked like, so I could redo them. they weren't basic shapes either. and I understand why she would be mad. but I always wished I had drawn them elsewhere or had a copy of them. the first time I saw the drawing.. the flower of Life? I said that's it ! that's the shape. I drew 4 more images on the wall back then, 5 shapes in total.. and they're all things i couldn't have known at that age. in 1995. before internet.. I swear past lives most are real.. i sleep walk, i have very lucid dreams.. and when i wake up from them .. its really trippy the things i learn/ know.

Waiting for your next...

Love your accent.

cool video! thanks Reddit, for bringing me here :)

Hey, very nice video. Sends out a sense of calm! Keep making these videos ! Thank you! Also have you heard of vipasana meditation ?! I had attended a 10 day course 2 months back and it was a eye opener though my eyes were closed for almost 10 hours a day for 10 days without speech or contact with the outside world. If you havent heard of it , im sure there are courses conducted where you live. Check for vipasana courses near you. For someone who has a lot of questions about this waking reality that we live in, vipasana can give you a different perception to reality. It was funny how, at the end of the 10 day course when we were allowed to talk to the fellow meditators, the conversations were all philosophically motivated. The feeling of finding a group of people who were on the same path as you was a immensely satisfying experience. This meditation has noting to do with religion. Hope you get to try it out one day !

Ty

How do you know the called the object a book? Who gave them language if they’d been tied up there since birth? Was it a tonal language of grunting?

I cried

You sound apologetic about Plato. Let me make few points, please: 1. Does your personal emotional experience of unreality of the world have an epistemological value? 2. Do you think your experience and your issues with depression could have affected your judgement? Creating an attachment to these ideas? Maybe the self hatred triggered some kind of split and denial of what is. 3. We see only Plato's Socrates. An idealised version of the philosopher filtered through Plato's ideas. 4. Plato's Republic is a horrifying book. Filled with ideas of censorship, strict social hierarchy, breeding humans and lying on purpose to society just to control it. Plato's family and students were heavily involved in tyrannies in Athens and Greece. I believe it's very important to read Plato in the historical and political context. The main idea behind his philosophy was tyranny. They were supporting dictators thinking they would control them. And enforce Plato's political views. History showed how much mistaken they were. See Plato's relationship with Syracuse tyrant Dionysius. 5. If there's another "higher reality", if we deny what is, then we allow other wishes to enslave us. Everyone can claim enlightenment and there's no way to disprove it. A philosopher can say: follow me, I'll show you the Truth... Maybe this is Plato's "noble lie" indeed? The Cave. It enchants human minds, makes us wonder, search for a better world, a better understanding. Enslaves us. We surrender to a "wise one".

Very good presentation. We live in more than one society at all times. There only about ten percent of the people at stage six of moral reasoning. Those are people who can understand life contextually. We understand our existence is at all times connected to eternal mystery as well the most familiar seeming things. Enlightened people must walk among those who are taught by society to only see one dimension of a multi- dimensional existence. We don't want kings. We want a shared enlightenment of the human family.

Yes!! You are not alone with those feelings. A few years ago, I said to myself, nothing is real, and that I am on some sort of feedback loop and I'm sick of coming back here for this same crap, over and over.

Great video, I have been trying to explain the cave to my friends, but they are not willing to leave. I'm crazy blah blah blah. So I am singing them songs and playing guitar. They have a short emotion span, and attention span. They go from "feeling all the pain of the world" to let's go and kill fish and build our egos.

I can relate

I tried to purchase the kindle book but it says not available in my country :(

The Form of the Good is the Form of the Personality of Godhead, which is the sole object and ultimate goal of the Vedas: oṁ pūrṇam adaḥ pūrṇam idaṁ pūrṇāt pūrṇam udacyate pūrṇasya pūrṇam ādāya pūrṇam evāvaśiṣyateThe Personality of Godhead is perfect and complete, and because He is completely perfect, all emanations from Him, such as this phenomenal world, are perfectly equipped as complete wholes. Whatever is produced of the Complete Whole is also complete in itself. Because He is the Complete Whole, even though so many complete units emanate from Him, He remains the complete balance.

Beautiful! 15:18

Reality is all in the mind 🌦🏛🌕

What makes us think we're awake now? Every time when I think I have the answer, there is always another video that reveals that I don't.

...these days one might ponder this thing we call reality... Plato's cave lends itself to ponder the shadow phantoms many give credence to...for in fact these dark shadows seem to hold power over our understanding of reality...but only if one gives power to these aspects of the world...there is an axiom, "the only constant is change"...take this to heart for the source of light stays true, our world constantly moves and change as does our perception of...ideas, forms...shadows...

if this was actualy the cave then you cant leave it . even if you looked behind you . you still at the cave ( this world ) and if this world was the cave then you need a window (the hole of the cave or the fire) to look outside . . where or what is the window to look at the truth ? what is the fire ?

A long wait...

Dear Sudharshan sampath, you almost told my story.I understand that you are a sincere seeker of the absolute truth .As you know this story of caves is a scientific reality. I found answers in the writings A C Bhaktivedanta Swami Srila Prabhupada Founder Acharya of ISKCON.First chapter first verse gave me the answer.Kindly try to read His Bhagavatam.Its amazing.

While I do like the allegory of the cave and I think it is a good metaphor for society I don't agree that ideas can exist by themselves. Like the triangle example when you said that we can imagine a perfect triangle. I don't believe that to be true since we get ideas from the material world not the other way around. Every idea we will ever get is connected to our existing reality and the things we've encountered in it. That's why it is impossible to imagine a perfect triangle since we haven't seen it and don't know how it looks like so we can't imagine it. We have ideals of the things existing in our reality but that doesn't make them greater than the ones that truly exist in our own reality. We may imagine a perfect version of our partner but that doesn't mean that the real version needs improvement. Things are the way they are for a reason. Ideals are stupid because they are impossible, childish and unnecessary.

Plato's Allegory of the Cave is the Matrix of course. We are trapped by the Demiurge who could be nothing more than a smart pimply adolescent in a highly advanced computer culture. It will end when the parents find out. Or something else. The possibilities are legion. However nothing good I fear. Rather than one super famous Plato who will likely meet a bad end it's better to have a lot of awakened nobodies telling the truth to a handful of people. Those who awaken will awaken somehow anyway. We don't always need a Plato. Lots of ads for such a short video but I'm guessing you really do put a lot of effort into these because they are excellent. I get sick of the same add over and over and why I quit TV about 40 years ago and I'm not in a position to pay as the hangmans noose is waiting for me to run out of cash. lol. Your's are worth going through this bs for now.

The Matrix isn’t just an exciting sci-fi/fantasy action/adventure movie. The Matrix is a very serious philosophical discussion of the nature of reality. The Matrix is very much in the tradition of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. The question "what is real" can now be answered scientifically in terms of modern physics. The answer of course is nothing is real. See the Science and Nonduality website: scienceandnonduality.wordpress.com/2020/05/18/all-movies-are-a-footnote-to-the-matrix/ or read the PDF document: scienceandnonduality.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/all-movies-are-a-footnote-to-the-matrix-2.pdf

ok around the 3rd time I get it now

I'm always amazed that Plato's Allegory of the cave is not connected to language. Words are shadows of the multidimensional realm they represent. Socrates was sentenced to death for his rhetoric not for escaping some fictional cave. 2300 years later we're still stuck in the linguistic cave I believe Plato suggests we should escape. First we must define the language problem: THE GOVERNED CANNOT SOLVE MULTIDIMENSIONAL CULTURE PROBLEMS WITH A POORLY DEFINED LINEAR LANGUAGE SYSTEM

Bro, I don't know if you're pursuing a career in being a philosophy professor but if you did, You'd be a KICKASS professor. I went to a lecture this evening on the cave allegory and she was meh compared to how you esplained it.... Fuck this is awesome. I'm done staying home and smoking weed. I'm gonna go out and learn shit. Fook yes. Weed still gonna be in play but more for study purposes ;)

How can reality be real if it originates in the same place as your imagination. What if your thoughts and your reality are just one in the same. Shit keeps me up at night. Lol

Once you go flat you never globe back

Maybe the real world is 4-D

John 14:6 King James Version (KJV) 6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

I feel his interpretation meant to say to me that the majority of the human race is destined to be slaves and live a non existent life and if those that really listen can share the knowledge with others will flourish in life and in spirit.

The cave is mostly the story of Jesus. He went around healing and revealing truths. He existed outside of creation, he came in and told us who he was and what was real. He exposed our limited vision of the shadows of his own creation, which are only shadows of a more permanent reality. He also exposed that we are prisoners of Sin and he came here to set us free. Just like the cave dwellers, the people hung him on a cross and beat him instead of accepting his salvation. We rejected his release from the chains of this world and the our fleshly delusions. 1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then (after death if you accept christ) shall I know even as also I am known Luke 1:79 (Speaking of Jesus) He came: To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace John 1 3 All things were made by him (Jesus); and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light (Jesus is the light) shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light (named Jesus) is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil Even so, I'm sure I will be attacked for posting these truths of Gods love for you. I will be attacked bc Plato was right. These verses reveal your shadows that you chase. The shadows that you want to be your reality, when they are not the real story. You are the guys left in the cave if you reject Gods son and our Lord Jesus, who suffered to reveal the big picture to you.

Simulation universe.

this makes no fucking sense to me sorry but I don't get it you were just talking about a field and boots and shit I'm confused

God is truth..God is wisdom.

Ukrainians Russians in reality same people however they are divided on the attempt of being conquered. 🤔 Normans celts goths all the same visigoths Bretons & saxons. Rhénans Merovingians 🤔🍁🍀🌿🌲😉🫖🛸Russia EU cannot be divided. American ideology is too far away, Geography, culture history & clovis. 🍁 😥🫖 CHINA IS CLOSER TO RUSSIA as Russia is closer to EUROPE 🤔🫖😥 divided to be conquered. A pause to study the subject 🤔🫖🍁 how about poems to the minister of justice. 🤔 😥🫖😉🎨🖼️🎭🎪🩰🎵🍀🍷

Plato lost me at TRUTH DOESN'T EXIST IN NATURE. Religious people have been enabled by this king of nonsense for 2400 years. 🙄😬

Can you hire someone with a less annoying and understanding voice? Thank you