Safe, secure and warm. Sometimes damp, sometimes dry.
Shelter from the storm, a place to light your fire and keep the animals out. Or let them in.
Men throughout the ages have sought ecstacy in the cave. Look at Bodhidharma, the father of Zen, he supposedly retreated deep inside a cave for a seven year non-stop meditation-fest. How does one keep it going that long? In the New World, the German born mystic Johannes Kelpius led a group of men near Philadelphia who were seeking signs of the "Second Coming." After spending much time in a cave, Kelpius and his followers started believing that there is a force that governs everything and that they are part of that: "Everything is connected and everything is one." Kelpius even has a cave named after him.
In short, for those with a mystical bent, those who spend a lot of time in caves tend to emerge with the belief in the unity of reality. Instead of wandering outside above ground all exposed, the cave brings you back inside the earth, the mountain, the ground. Its all good--even if you have to scare away some bats every now and then.
But for Plato the "cave" was an entirely different experience. Maybe he never went spelunking before--or maybe he was gay:-). Behold his allegory of "The Cave" in book VII of The Republic. It is not a womb at all--but a prison. Plato imagines a group of people living in a cave, never seeing the light of day. They are bound so that they can only look straight ahead at the wall of the cave. Behind the people is a fire, which cast shadows on the wall in front of the prisoners. The shadows are manipulated by another group of people behind the prisoners. All the prisoners can see are the stories that the shadows play out. Because they cannot turn around, and the shadows are all they ever see, they believe the shadows to be real events. Imagine their surprise, or enlightenment, when they are free from the bonds and forced to look at the fire in the statutes which has been casting the shadows?
In short, for those with a mystical bent, those who spend a lot of time in caves tend to emerge with the belief in the unity of reality. Instead of wandering outside above ground all exposed, the cave brings you back inside the earth, the mountain, the ground. Its all good--even if you have to scare away some bats every now and then.
But for Plato the "cave" was an entirely different experience. Maybe he never went spelunking before--or maybe he was gay:-). Behold his allegory of "The Cave" in book VII of The Republic. It is not a womb at all--but a prison. Plato imagines a group of people living in a cave, never seeing the light of day. They are bound so that they can only look straight ahead at the wall of the cave. Behind the people is a fire, which cast shadows on the wall in front of the prisoners. The shadows are manipulated by another group of people behind the prisoners. All the prisoners can see are the stories that the shadows play out. Because they cannot turn around, and the shadows are all they ever see, they believe the shadows to be real events. Imagine their surprise, or enlightenment, when they are free from the bonds and forced to look at the fire in the statutes which has been casting the shadows?
Back to our friend Bodhidharma, He was also staring at the walls of the cave. But for him it was the path to liberation--not a prison.
What is it with these men and their fascination with the cave? Whether a prison or the path to enlightenment, the cave is the central metaphor to both Eastern and Western Philosophies.
And its not just men, women have been getting into the whole cave act as well. Probably always have, we can just talk about it now--at least since Hollingsworth v. Perry. :-).
Long live the cave!
Packing shit at Polish house. Talking shit. Feeling shitting about the past. A veritable shit fest. Winery opening tonight.
Packing shit at Polish house. Talking shit. Feeling shitting about the past. A veritable shit fest. Winery opening tonight.
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