You Decide
Eduard Abroyan
Instructor: Teddy Chocos
Freshmen English 102
02/25/2013
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There are dichotomies that constantly concern great thinkers and academics fellows. From
ancient time till nowadays the issues like society justice, blindness and being enlightened,
choices and reasons of being enlightened or blind are raised by famous philosopher and
writers. The essay is covering the diverse forms of ‘blindness’ and the preferences and
motives of being blind or enlightened based on the ideas expressed in the “The Allegory of
The Cave” by Plato and “The Loss of The Creature” by Walker Percy. In the first part of the
paper the views and thoughts of being blind in the vision of Plato and Percy are represented.
Advantages and disadvantages are illustrated with an attempt to answer the stated question.
Being born in the family of aristocrats and quite wealthy people in 428-347 B.C.E. Plato was
given proper education according to that time and eventually became a student of Socrates
and was involved in works and teaching. They lived in the hard time for thinkers – the
government of Athens was defeated and taken by tyrants of Sparta and Socrates was
sentenced to death. Plato had founded the academy in an olive grove in Athens, which
endured for almost a thousand years.
Plato uses the special technique of writing such as allegory: rhetorical method of expressing
the things and actions in another context. Likewise, Plato shows the technique of dialogue
that is also was in the work we were discussing. Moreover, Plato has the technique of
question-and-answer, which is basically assumed from Socrates. Plato’s thoughts were
valued and a lot of people followed his teaching and points.
In “The Allegory of The Cave” Plato discusses the characters and situations in the cave and
in the «upper world» representing his ideas and thoughts about darkness and enlightenment.
According to Plato there are different forms of blindness. One of the forms is described as a
human inability to expose the situations in a greater extent not having the full scene and
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vision. Human beings who live in the cave since their childhood are described as «Chained so
that they cannot move, and can only see before them» (Plato). They are prisoners of the den
and darkness who cannot see the things appropriately. Their perception of everything around
is based on the shadows of themselves and others. Due to echo that exists in the cave their
voices become distorted and false adding to the misunderstanding of the reality. Hereby,
Plato maybe wants to highlight the situation and environment when people do not have the
full picture of the things going around and their perceptions are deceptive. The illusions in
the cave are alike misconceptions in the real life.
Later Plato explains the other kind of sightlessness when some prisoners dare to escape from
the den to the light and new responsibilities. This type is a temporary condition before getting
fully enlightened and entirely adjusted to the sun and a new world: «When he approaches the
light his eyes will be dazzled, and he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now
called realities»(Plato). Human beings accustomed to darkness will experience problems in
getting into new realities. Plato thinks the final stage of getting into the upper level comes
when one sees the sun and sunlight.
The situation is different when the former prisoner somehow returns to the den. His vision
becomes much worse after enlightenment and he cannot see because of the excess of the
light. Therefor, «the eyes may be blind in two ways, by excess or defect of light». Walker
Percy represents the similar ideas and concerns towards the problem of blindness in his work
named “ The Loss of The Creature”. Being born in a family of talented and educated people,
Percy’s life was not the one someone would call nice. At the age of 12, Percy was a witness
of his father suicide and two years later his mother died. That was the scar on his heart and
mind for the rest of his life. Therefore, these life tragedies could be the reason of such deep
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thinking and analyzing of any creature existence and life philosophies. Percy presents very
deep and philosophical approach to the human sovereignty and the forms of its deprivation,
equal to the concept of blindness. Unlike Plato, Percy never mentioned the word ‘blindness’
and spoke about the concepts and ideas, of how human beings acquire knowledge or
perceptions, meanwhile loosing their sovereignty and becoming consumers of the ‘prepacked’ experiences and feelings. He somehow compares this ‘certified experience’ and
knowledge to the blindness imposed on people by experts and theorists. He stated that a
layman surrenders the sovereignty and takes up «the role not of the person but of the
consumer», thus acquiring blindness. Percy’s examples range from sightseers to students in
laboratory who all get in to a fatal gap between the real life and what is mend to be learnt.
«The reader may also be content to judge a life by whether it has or has not been formulated
by those who know and write about life». People in general become blind receivers,
conformists or need the approval of more advantageous knowers. For example, Percy
describes the couple which seen a corn dance in Indian village because of they had lost their
way to direct purpose. After they have seen that dance and found it exciting the couple want
their friend to confirm it. The author argues with that point of reality – he deems that
experience should not be confirmed by anyone; after that it is not your own experience and
feelings, it starts to be a conformism. He calls it «a radical loss of sovereignty». The couple
wants someone to prove that the new experience was genuine – they cannot consider it as a
qualified without someone’s opinion, what is quite common in every part of our life.
Conformism is the way people follow the mainstream and it’s point. Moreover, under the
pressure of society the points of each person could be changed in the case of the majority has
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an opposite points. All of that cause the loss of sovereignty and brings about blindness on the
general public.
Having all these descriptions and analysis about the blindness, according to Plato and Percy
the central question of the topic should be attempted to be solved: is it better to be blind or
enlightened and why? Let us consider both options. On one hand being blind provides one
stability and easy lifestyle without any serious problems, efforts and doubts. Others lead you
and you always can blame them for your failures and misfortunes without taking
responsibilities for your life and actions. Whether what is seen is real of fake shadow of the
reality is not known or being questioned. ”It is the mistaking an idea, a principal, an
abstraction, for the real”. People go sightseeing receiving prepared information and services
for our convenience. Everything is decided and managed for public and it surrenders
sovereignty «to a class of privileged knowers». Being blind we receive all the necessary
information «in certain package» from the main channels of TV and mass media for example
about the ‘necessity’ of war in Vietnam or Iraq, about ‘glories’ of communism or
‘advantages’ of the nuclear weapon programs. Brands, fashion and multinational corporations
dictate the society what to want, wish, buy and eventually how to be happy and people do not
need to think too much. There is need to adjust the sight, fix the eyes to get out from the cave.
Hence, it is all up to everybody to make a choice.
From the other hand if someone chooses to become enlightened he steps to the thorny way of
life, leaving «the beaten track», taking a challenge of being responsible for not only his own
life but for the life of others. Many activists around the world in any time have been
withdrawing from the restful life in the search of the wisdom and enlightenment,
disseminating knowledge, «care and providence of others» to make the world a better place.
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«… the idea of good appears last of all and seen only with an effort»(Plato).Activists as
Martin Luther King, Indira Gandhi, George Washington, and Nelson Mandela had seen the
darkness of the den and acquired the habit to see in the upper world descending back and
becoming able to see «the beautiful and good in their truth». Their lives were not easy
entailing constant challenges, obstacles and even dangers. The choice of being blind or
enlightened cannot be justified in on essay. Many factors can influence the decision. Family
values, the environment around, the society where people leave in, the education they obtain
can be the factors triggers of the choices of their life path. There is no one and certain answer
for the question whether it is better to be blind or enlightened applicable for everybody.
Being enlightened means being alive, struggling for the truth and justice. And I fully agree
that «…unless the person struggles for himself, unless he knows that there is a struggle, he is
going to be just what the planners think what he is»(Percy). Unless people get this awareness
and stand for their right to be persons they would become faceless masses. Those people will
be easily led and manipulated.
Both Plato and Percy described states of human being, which can be summarized as being
blind. Plato mentioned various kinds of ‘blindness which could be applicable for any century,
any place. Percy’s ideas of it are quite similar to Plato’s, bearing the touch of his days. Being
blind carries a lot of ‘conveniences’ and easy ways. Meanwhile, being enlightened bears
extra responsibilities, difficulties and dangers. There is no one universal answer to the
question if it is better to be… or not to be… It is even more complicated to answer to the
question ‘why’ as different factors affect people’s choices and preferences.
Bibliography:
1. Lee A. Jacobus, “A World Of Ideas”, BEDFORDS/ST. MARTINS, Boston; New
York, Plato “The Allegory of the Cave” (865-877).
2. Walker Percy “The Loss of The Creature”