THE PLATONIC CAVE IN THE 21st CENTURY - FITNESS AND SMOTHIES

The PLatonic Cave in the 21st Century

Fitness and Smothies

Almost everyone knows the ancient Platonic myth of the Cave, that place dominated by powerful and invisible masters of the cave, and where the prisoners, born there, can only see their own shadows reflected on the walls, as if they were in front of a cinema screen, and which they believe to be themselves.

The interpretive key to the whole matter is twofold: on the one hand there is the illusory world of the prisoners and on the other the self-deception of the jailers, who, believing themselves to be owners of the cave, are nothing more than actors in this drama of life. In fact, the only truth is that no matter whether you are part of the dominated prisoners or the dominant masters, you have to free yourself from the cave, you have to get out of it and return to the true sun light.

Now let's ask ourselves: is the Cave simply a philosophical myth, a more or less attractive story proposed by Plato? Or is it a daily and present reality in our lives? Because if it is real, then all those who desperately ask for freedom (in the family, social, work and political spheres) do not make sense in what they say, unless they mean that we must get out of this cave. The Cave exists in many forms, and we have to learn to distinguish its manifestations in our environment, and know how to recognize it and how it traps us in its darkness.

The hardest and most direct form of the Cave, the darkest and most painful, is that Cave made up of our bones, our flesh and our blood. Locked within its demands, enslaved by its particular tyranny, we run and fight incessantly to satisfy our body, thus becoming eternal slaves to that mass of arteries, veins and nerves.

But there is an even more sinister twist, because there is an even more subtle tyrant, one who appears in our brain after passing through our senses, and after settling in there he becomes the master, the lord of our thoughts, worries, desires and ambitions, hatred and separateness. This sinister "invader" does not rest, and to continue controlling us the invader constantly proposes new tasks to distract us so that we do not discover its perverse game. Let's look at some of the external traps of him.

"Social networks": a better name could never have been chosen, because “networks” are only used for hunting and trapping. In the nets, social fish move restlessly, from side to side, swimming incessantly in illusory waters. Another trap is called "Multitask", that is, becoming a model of an "active and efficient human being", which consists of working on a thousand external things at the same time, and at the same time forgetting about oneself as a being with a soul, which It also has its needs.

For those who dare to slightly lift a corner of the veil, the “invader” of our being has other traps prepared, for example the “False Inner Life”, the invader and controller of our inner being proposes this time a “deeper and intense life” that consists of “hugging trees”, reading some “inspirational” or “self-improvement” books, or “practicing meditation” far away in some lost place, or maybe practicing some “feng-shui” or “raja yoga” to harmonize our lives.

There are other options, for example a "healthy lifestyle" as a false proposal to comply with, focused on "fitness and fruit smoothies." Thus we see our streets flooded with runners, cyclists and carriers of natural juices, smoothies, etc. in an airtight glass, by the way, all of them in very natural plastic containers.

Another variant is the "False Preservation of Nature" which consists of having an electric car with the green "ecology" label, or avoiding the use of plastic bags, although the big brands continue to use plastic packaging for their products. After fulfilling all these “moral and social duties,” as good citizens, we consider that everything is done.

Added to all this, there is a fundamental task before us: to achieve the social status of a mature and respectable member of our society. This model varies according to cultures, but is always in relation to the social models proposed by the media and advertising. Most cases consist of having a partner and children, although lately what is really “cool” is having a same-sex partner, or renting bellies to have children, or simply buying them on the international or national market, so to fill our empty life. The problem is that this feeling of emptiness will never disappear by "buying" things, or obtaining a social status, or even by drinking a beer.

Yes, this is the Cave, our Great and Dear Cave. But even in the darkest caverns, the prison guards cannot prevent one of the prisoners from occasionally discovering their real chains, and then to work to free himself and find true freedom, and then to shout “at last I am free!”, not feeling anymore furious or in despair, but on the contrary feeling the Joy of a true free being. Ah, I forgot to tell you that this tyranic “invader”, the master of the Cave, has a real name, it is called the "Illusion of the World" and its antidote is called "Philosophy" or Love for Wisdom.