Heart Doctrine - How to Escape from Plato’s Cave
by Erwin Bomas
In this lecture we will apply the conference theme “The Heart of Wisdom, A Concurrence of Science and Spirituality...from the Theosophical Perspective” to education. What is a Theosophical education? How to present Theosophy this day and age? How to reach the Western minds, still very much attuned to pure scientific and mostly materialistic thinking?
Theosophy, as the synthesis of Science, Philosophy and Religion, throws new light on Modern Science. In Theosophy we find the Doctrine of the Heart, revealing the “spirit,” stimulating the highest of our aspects. It presents the entrance to the world of noumena.
Modern Science is still mostly a science of phenomena. It follows the Doctrine of the Eye, paying attention to the “letter,” stimulating the intellect. The separation of Science and Ethics is leading to much conflict. Many are ignorant of the consequences. The focus on phenomena is due to our own nature of thinking. This is exemplified perfectly by Plato’s Allegory of the Cave.
Education based on the Heart Doctrine can lead man to much greater heights than we can now imagine. How? Following the lessons of the Socratic method and the Râja-Yoga System, which we will apply together in this lecture. We will show the perfect escape plan from Plato’s Cave.
The Heart Doctrine – How to Escape from Plato’s Cave
Abstract
Inside the Cave
Return to the Cave
Release from the Cave
1.2 Plato’s Explanation of the Allegory
1.3 Man’s Composition
Human Ego
Lower aspects of thinking
Higher aspects of thinking
2.1 Transmitter and receiver – The Heart Doctrine
The Eye Doctrine and The Heart Doctrine
2.2 Education, harmony, return
1. Education is ascending to our inner light
2. The “turning of the soul” has to be harmonious, using all our aspects
3. Instead of escaping alone we can help others escape by passing on the light!
3. How to help others escape, lessons for Theosophical Education
3.1 Passing on the Light
Student
Teacher
Ambiance
Conclusion
Introduction
The Allegory of the Cave has a central role in Plato’s dialogue Politeia or The Republic [1]. In The Republic the central question is: “What is Justice?”. In the dialogue Plato explains the nature and composition of the human soul by comparing it to a republic. After having concluded that the ideal republic should be governed by those who have knowledge of the highest wisdom, who know The Good and have seen Truth, the question is how these Philosopher-Rulers can be found. The answer Plato provides: by education. And to introduce his explanation of what type of education this should be, Plato makes Socrates tell his companion Glaucon about the Cave.
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave encloses a wealth of symbolism and deeper meaning, especially about education. A closer look into this classic piece of dialogue can help to answer the question the Education Committee of International Theosophy Conferences has challenged itself to answer: How to present Theosophy in this day and age?
Below you can read a short synopsis. While you do, try to picture the elements in the Cave and try to think about what they would stand for. The sketch accompanies the allegory.
- Socrates speaks to Glaucon:
<514a> (...) Consider men as in a subterraneous cave, with <514b> its entrance expanding to the light, and answering to the whole extent of the cave. They have been in this cave from their childhood, with chains both on their legs and necks. They are only able to look before them, by the chain incapable to turn their heads round. Suppose there is the light of a fire, burning far above and behind them; and that between the fire and the fettered men there is a road above. Imagine, along this road, men bearing all sorts of utensils, raised above the wall, <515a> and human statues, and other animals, in wood and stone, and furniture of every kind. And some of those who are carrying are speaking, and others silent. The prisoners cannot see anything of themselves, or of one another, but the shadows formed <515b> by the fire. Of all the things being carried along they see the same, only shadows, which they probably would give names. And if the opposite part of the cave had an echo they would also imagine that they heard the shadows speak <515c>. So the prisoners will entirely judge that there is nothing true but the shadows of utensils.
Socrates then supposes that a prisoner is freed and permitted to stand up. If someone were to show him the things that had cast the shadows, he would not recognize them; he would believe the shadows on the wall to be more real than what he sees. “Suppose further," Socrates says, "that the man was compelled to look at the fire. He would be struck blind and try to turn his gaze back toward the shadows, the things he can see clearly and holds to be real. And if someone forcibly dragged him upward, out of the cave and all the way out into the sunlight, he would be distressed and unable to see "even one of the things now said to be true" <516a>.
After some time on the surface, however, the freed prisoner would acclimatize. He would first see the shadows of the things around him and the images of plants and animals in the water, before he could recognize the things themselves in the sunlight. And eventually he is able to look upon the source of light, the Sun itself. And he would understand that the Sun is the “source of the seasons and the years, and is the steward of all things in the visible place, and is in a certain way the cause of all those things he and his companions had been seeing" <516bc>.
Socrates next asks Glaucon to consider the condition of this man. “He would probably remember his first home, what passed for wisdom there, and his fellow prisoners, and consider himself happy and them pitiable. And he would disdain whatever honors, praises, and prizes were awarded there to the ones who guessed best which shadows followed which. Moreover, were he to return there, he would be rather bad at their game, no longer being accustomed to the darkness. It would then be said of him that he went up and came back with his eyes corrupted, and that it’s not even worth trying to go up. And the prisoners in the cave would hold the opinion that whoever should attempt to liberate them, and lead them up, should be put to death” <517a>.
1.2 Plato's explanation of the allegory
Socrates then explains the meaning of this allegory to Glaucon. He compares the outer world as perceived by our sight as the prison. And the ascent from the cave to the world above, stands for the soul’s ascent into the world of Ideas (Eidè). <517b>
Here reference is also made to the simile of the sun, which is described in Chapter 6 of the Republic, before the Allegory of the Cave. Here Plato describes the visual world where the sun as the cause of light makes the outer world visible to our faculty of sight. This exactly corresponds to the world of Ideas or noumena where the Idea of the Good as the cause of reality makes the world intelligible to our faculty of knowledge.
Inside as well as outside the Cave Plato describes four levels:
As mentioned before, the dialogue of The Republic as a whole but specifically the Allegory of the Cave represents ourselves. Nothing can be seen as apart from ourselves, we are an inseparable part of the grand whole. So the cave is also a metaphor of man’s inner composition. With our knowledge of Theosophy about the inner composition of man we can clearly identify the different aspects Plato describes as different states of consciousness.
If we look inside and outside the cave we can see the correspondence with
- the Souls, Egos and Monads of the human composition,
- its seven principles and
- the seven corresponding aspects of thinking. (also <532cd>)
We will focus on the Human Ego, because as human beings, it is this Ego we are identifying with in this phase of our evolution.
The main characteristic of the Human Soul is Manas or the faculty of thinking, which can be divided in two: the Higher Manas, which is thought directed at the higher principles of thinking and the Lower Manas, which is thought directed at the lower principles. The lower manas is symbolized by the light of the fire. The fire symbolizes the personality, which holds the illusionary perception that it exists separately from the whole. Within the cave our thinking only provides a vague and flickering light, colored by our personality. Focusing on the lower aspects of our thinking will at most lead to having an opinion (doxa) about things, but not to true knowledge (epistème).
The Higher Manas is symbolized by the small portion of sunlight coming from outside, to which we can ascend and which will lead us out of the cave. (also see <532c>)
The Allegory described the lowest level as that of prisoners in chains who can only see each others’ shadows. We can recognize the shadows as what we perceive in the visible world of one another: our bodies. The corresponding aspect of thinking is physical thinking: thoughts of hunger, thirst, tiredness etc. In the objects or forms carried by the men walking along the raised road behind the prisoners, we can recognize the Astral world with its model bodies that generate the form of the shadows.
In the road with the men carrying the objects we can recognize the principle of prâna - vitality, and of kâma - will-power or desire as a driving force.
Now, the Higher Manas brings us outside the cave. The first aspect of the Higher Manas is the impersonal or rather above-personal thinking as used by the intellectual. It is described by the prisoner who just escaped the cave, who can only perceive the shadows of beings in the sunlight or the reflections of beings in water. Plato compares it to the mathematician, drawing a circle based on the idea of the perfect circle. If we only think in an intellectual way, using images of things, figures, models, and reason from them, but not from the things themselves, although we are using a higher and above-personal aspect, we still cannot reach the highest knowledge. It is the level of intellectual thinking Plato also describes as based on hypotheses which are themselves postulates but not yet used for reasoning to a universal principle. In this we can recognize the theoretical scientist who loses himself in the details.
Instead, according to Plato, we should make hypotheses not as principles, but really hypotheses: as steps and handles, and proceed to reasoning from them to a universal principle. We can reason from this universal principle as he writes “using nowhere anything which is sensible, but forms or ideas themselves” <532a>. In this description we can recognize the Buddhic aspect of thinking. We can see the interconnectedness of things, see everything as flowing from the same source. It is the level of the noumena, seeing things as they really are and recognizing the One Life pulsating throughout all. We then arrive at the divine aspect of thinking. Here we are at one with the whole, Unity itself, there is no more distinction between subject and object, we are raised above all the pairs of opposites and are completely aligned with Nature. It corresponds with the light of the Sun, the One Life shining upon all things, the truth or reality that makes the noumena intelligible.
But the Light itself is emanated from its source the Sun. As Socrates explains:
In the intelligible place, the idea of The Good is the last object of vision, and is scarcely to be seen; but if it be seen, we must collect by reasoning <517c> that it is the cause to all of everything right and beautiful, generating in the visible place, light, and its lord the sun; and in the intelligible place, it is itself the lord, producing truth and intellect; and this must be beheld by him who is to act wisely, either privately or in public.
Plato writes, we can only reach the World of Noumena by using our faculty of reason, or thinking or, in its Sankrit term, of Manas <581e>, the main principle that we are developing as human souls. So our thinking has a key role in helping us escape the cave.
So: are we inside Plato’s Cave? It depends on how we look at things: from our own perspective based on sensual perception or from a more universal standpoint, based on eternal laws of Nature, wisdom proven by the ages?
I think most of us still spend a lot of time in the cave, sometimes we are even further fastening our fetters to the cave. But using our thinking we now know we can escape.
The Escape
We can compare our faculty of thinking to both a transmitter and a receiver. Actually our thinking functions as a transmitter and at the same time as a receiver. And just like a receiver can be tuned to certain wavelengths, likewise our thinking can be tuned. According to the wavelengths we have tuned into before and are tuning into now, we lock ourselves to a set of frequencies. And depending on how we have understood received thoughts we will likewise transmit them.
The more conscious we become of the possibility we have to tune our thinking, the more capable we become in selecting frequencies to tune into and receive. And the better we are tuned, the better we can receive and transmit thoughts harmoniously and the less philosophical distortion (noise) we will produce in our transmission. [2]
The Eye Doctrine and The Heart Doctrine
We already identified the two directions of our thinking. Another distinction can be made between what is called The Eye Doctrine and The Heart Doctrine. The Eye Doctrine is based on the outer, exoteric teachings with a focus on the intellect. It is based on how things appear to us and according to Plato can only lead to opinion and belief (doxa).
The Heart Doctrine is based on the inner, esoteric teachings with a focus on the heart, the spiritual or buddhic aspect. It is based on the principle that knowledge of things in themselves cannot be absolute (reasoning from boundlessness as a universal principle), however that all facts should be acknowledged. According to Plato this can lead to true knowledge or knowledge of The Good (epistème).
We can also apply this to education.
There are three main ideas in Plato’s description of education:
1. Education is ascending to our inner light
In Socrates’ conclusion of the Allegory of the Cave he refers to education. He says: “That education is not such a <518c> thing as some announce it to be; for they somehow say, that whilst there is no science in the soul, they will insert it, as if they were inserting sight in blind eyes.” The art of education is the art of conversion, he continues, and is not about implanting to the student “the power of seeing, but considering him as possessed of it”. The student is only looking at the wrong direction and education is the method to make the student look the other way, or in other words: make the soul look inside itself. Education in the true meaning of the word: the leading out of our inner wisdom: the spiritual light that is enclosed in our hearts.
It is therefore that the Socratic method always starts with questions. Finding out what our preconceptions are. Breaking the molds of mind first, before we can receive a new truth.
2. The “turning of the soul” has to be harmonious, using all our aspects
True education is the guiding out of all aspects of the human consciousness that are already present within us, from the most outer to the most inner principles, as harmoniously as possible. Like the eye which also needs the whole body to turn itself from darkness to light so Plato writes that “the whole soul, [must] be turned from [the world of change and] generation, till it is able to endure the contemplation of being itself, (...)” <518d>, that what Plato calls The Good.
But Plato also warns we should not focus on learning alone, but also bring it into practice <519c>:
Neither those who are uninstructed and unacquainted with truth can ever sufficiently <519c> take care of the city; nor yet those who allow themselves to spend the whole of their time in learning. The former, because they have no one scope in life, aiming at which they ought to do whatever they do, both in private and in public; and the latter, because they are not willing to manage civil affairs, thinking that whilst they are yet alive, they inhabit the islands of the blessed.
Socrates explains that those who are educated well and have viewed the Idea of the Good should be persuaded to descend in the cave again. And they will see it is their duty to do so, because it is in the interest of the whole city. The city brought forth the education of the philosopher-rulers to escape from the cave, and so these philosopher rulers must educate others again to do the same. <520a>
3. Instead of escaping alone we can help others escape by passing on the light!
That is the vision Plato sketched in his Republic, starting with legislators who are led by the bodhisattva-ideal: dismissing the state of bliss for oneself and returning to the cave to help, educate and lead others.
So the idea is very simple: to create a society based on justice you need leaders that have true knowledge of the Good and are willing to spend their life living for the whole of society. This all starts with a true education that evokes the Good in these future leaders.
We will resume with a few statements for a Theosophical Education, which can help to answer the question “How to present Theosophy this day and age?”.
First we have the role of the student. It is “the prisoner” who has to free himself from the fetters in the cave to ascend to the inner Light.
It all starts with wonder or curiosity. If we do not question what is working behind the shadows, we will forever accept the shadows for what they are. Why do they appear as they do, and what is our role? Are we just spectators of the worldy drama or are we playing an essential part in it? And if so, what is the part we play or should play in it?
These are questions students have to ask themselves in order to free themselves from the cave. Some start thinking about them when they are young, some when they are old, some only after something radically changes in their life, be it disease, an accident, a choice of study, a change of job, becoming a parent, etc.
This process repeats itself until the student has found a way to ascend from the cave. And he will receive help as long as he is willing to climb up himself.
The teacher is the advanced student, who lives the ideals he found to be true in total self-forgetfulness. Who reflects the Light by being a living example of all that he teaches.
And if the student’s ascend to the inner Light starts with wonder, it is the teacher who has to further evoke this wonder within the student. Not by showing what he knows, but rather by questioning the known and providing hints of truth. Questions that futher awaken the student’s inner curiosity for answers, for more light, for truth.
And this is different for every student. It is hard to evoke the same curiosity for the same questions for hundreds of students at the same time. You have to find the right keys to unlock the chains of each prisoner. And then the prisoner can climb up himself. The teacher as the midwife, as Socrates explained. [3]
The teacher also has to adapt to the world of shadows to explain to the prisoners that there is light outside the cave. In other words, the light he reflects must be pure, but the teachings have to resonate with current examples and to answer the actual problems of the time, in modern language.
Socrates warns about teaching dialectic when the students are not mature enough, and he recommends to start with dialectic not before the age of thirty. He makes a comparison with an adopted child surrounded by flatterers, which will influence him when he finds out his parents are not his real parents and will lead him astray <538a>. What does Plato mean? If someone who is still immature is brought into an environment where the things he learned are contradicted by the general opinion, he has to be very firm and confident to not lose faith in the things he learned.
When he is mature the lessons of morality have more chance of having a base of reason and experience, when he has found the teachings to be true themselves, whereas without a basis of reason or experience might lead to hypocrisy or cynicism when contradicted by the environment. Hypocrisy will occur if the student thinks he knows better when he finds out the outer world has contradictory beliefs, or cynicism when he starts doubting all knowledge, including what he believed before. So it is important for a student not to just believe, but to sequentially wonder, research, apply and to be - the four steps as mentioned above – and so to convince himself of the truthfulness of teachings. This is why ambiance or the right atmosphere is also a very important aspect in education.
But also as adults this is still a major influential factor. People as social beings aways tend to adapt themselves to their environment, for better or worse.
Think again of our faculty of thinking functioning as a transmitter and receiver at the same time. If we unconsiously follow the general opinion of the group, we are transmitting the same quality of thoughts. But imagine the power of a group of people sharing similar principles and purpose. People who are tuning their thoughts consiously on their ideals, trying to live them and bring them into practice. Although the group may be small, the degree at which they resonate could result in a major beneficial power in the world. Something to think about!
In conclusion, true education equals Theosophical education. Because it is based on the highest we can bring out in ourselves, what we are in essence, our divine qualities. This philosophy is not accidentally named Theosophia – the Wisdom of the Gods – transmitted to man along what the Greek called the Golden Chain of Hermes – Hermes the interpreter, from high to low, from Gods to men. [4]
In our utmost essence we are IT, we are the Boundless. And yet as manifested consciousnesses, living beings of whatever degree of development, there always will be higher and lower, teachers and students. All manifestation has a relative degree of knowledge, based on the phenomena it perceives. So we escape from one cave into another. But as long as we know there is a source of Light shining behind the veils inside ourselves, a beacon of Truth, we can always ascend, in whatever cave we may find ourselves.
[1] Several translations of Plato’s Politeia (references to the original text are made directly in this article between brackets (e.g. <517b>). These are the 'universal' references to the original Greek text of Politeia. All translations have these included.):
Plato, The Republic, translated by Thomas Taylor from http://www.prometheustrust.co.uk/html/plato_extracts2.html
Plato, The Republic, translated by Benjamin Jowett, C. Scribner’s sons, New York, 1871; from http://www.sacred-texts.com/cla/plato/rep/index.htm
Groot, Dr. H., Plato en zijn beteekenis voor onze tijd, J.M. Meulenhoff, Amsterdam, 1947; (Dutch)
Plato, Het Bestel (Politeia), translated by Hans Warren and Mario Molegraaf, Bert Bakker, Amsterdam, 2006; (Dutch)
Plato, Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vols. 5 & 6 translated by Paul Shorey. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1969; – from http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0168%3Abook%3D1%3Asection%3D327a
Plato, The Republic, translated by Desmond Lee, Penguin Books, 2nd Edition, Aylesbury, Bucks, 1983;
[2] Kok, D.J.P., Cursus Ander Denken (Course Thinking Differently), I.S.I.S. Foundation, The Hague, 2001;
[3] Plato, Theaetetus, <149a - 151d>
[4] G. de Purucker, Esoteric Teachings II, footnote 34 on p. 121, Point Loma Publications, San Diego, CA, 1987