The Girl Who Couldn't Kill

Chapter 23.5-Rory's Lesson

Self Project

Topic: Value of Philosophy (Things she will value in the future, diary of focusing on herself and growing to become a better person.)

Warning: Criteria and concepts from Mr. Volkov's class!

What We Know and What We Don't: The Philosophy of Caves

It is often questioned by philosophers whether society can ever escape its corrupted reality. Although we cannot prevent a corrupted reality, we can use different ways of thinking to help further our knowledge of the universe. Understanding the concepts of philosophy, it is known that the world is generally split between two types of judgments: Practical affairs and philosophical affairs. People who believe in philosophy will have a more developed mindset and is open to new ideas whereas people who think practically are likely to be narrow-minded and prejudiced.

This form of concrete thinking creates an isolated circle that develops into an allegory of the "cave." The importance of philosophy lies in the fact that one can never truly escape the "cave" when faced with an unpleasant reality. When people experience an unfamiliar situation in their life, their beliefs tend to be rooted in what they are taught from a young age. Because of this, they are constantly drilled with the same concepts and it becomes a coping mechanism for them to neglect other people's viewpoints. Therefore, their thoughts will naturally be prejudiced.

Prejudice is what keeps society from thinking beyond normative beliefs. People who neglect the idea of philosophy are imprisoned in their own prejudice due to their incapability to connect outside of the "cave." Someone who has the incapability to connect outside of the cave is called a "practical man[.] [A]s this word is often used, is one who recognizes only material needs, who realizes, that men have food for the body, but is oblivious of the necessity of providing food for the mind" (Russell 1). This evidence is considering the natural instinct of the mind to conform to a certain belief once science comes into play. Since science often prove factual evidence, these "practical men" are focused on the materialism of the subject; they will believe anything that is placed in front of them. These people do not have the will to explore outside of the box due to fear of rejection, reasoning that "utility does not belong to philosophy" (Russell 1). Philosophy is like food for the mind, without it, it is impossible to transfer that information to our nervous system to call out whether our body is hungry or tired; that is why it is so crucial to a human's life.

The brain is what heals the soul and body and without proper maintenance, our bodies will degenerate and so will our brain. This is detrimental to the fact that being isolated is dangerous when it comes to force, as it is difficult to force one out of their habitat if they are reluctant to leave.

Being forced to leave a familiar habitat isn't always a good thing. However, it may seem like a good opportunity to gain insight into new perspectives and to get outside of one's comfort zone. However, when one is unwillingly forced out of their cave of isolation, their reality will never satisfy their desires, resulting in never-lasting caves that overlay. In the Allegory of the Cave Plato tells Glaucon, "if someone even forced [a prisoner] to look into the glare of the fire, would his eyes not hurt him, and would he not then turn away and flee [back] to that which he is capable of looking at? And would he not decide that [what he could see before without any help] was in fact clearer than what was now being shown to him?" (2). This evidence from the passage is suggesting that when one is comfortable in an isolated environment, one will not want to get outside their comfort zone with the force of others.

Human minds and bodies are only comfortable exploring unknown territory if it is sparked by a situation that leads them down that path. Having the mindset of wanting to step out of a cave and being afraid is different from having the mindset of fear to even step out of a cave. The "prisoners" will contemplate what has more definition of clarity, the darkness or the fire. If they choose to look at the fire, it means they have successfully stripped away from their fears/insecurities and have learned to accustom themselves to a new reality; whereas if they choose the darkness, it means the prisoner realizes that the darkness he saw without any help was, in fact, clearer than the blinding fire.

In a modern band that consists of POC and queer members, they touch on insecurities and the human philosophies of dreams and reality. In one of the songs they sing, "What's next? Only God knows/Only I know/I'm blasting off in three (oh, it's just a supernova)/I watch you through the window, crying/The satellites and me(solo, but I'm not lonely)/Layla in the rocket" (19-24). This is an allegory about emerging from a cave and into a new undiscovered land. The song is in the third person perspective of the girl "Layla" who is watching herself from the land as she ventures in a rocket and blasts off into the sky while crying. The rocket symbolizes her isolation from the land, which is filled with innocence and familiarity. Nevertheless, she takes the rocket into space knowing that she is solo but not alone. Though she believes that she is not alone, ultimately, any existence in space consists of herself and the satellites, contrasting with her wishful thinking of not being "alone."

There is also an indication in the lyrics that her trial of leaving the cave is what "she knows" and what "God knows" and nobody else. This shows the fact that people who are coming out of a cave should be based on their own will and not under others' force. This is why when people experience a sudden unfamiliarity in their life, they tend to believe that the only solution to escaping realism is retreating. Therefore, a person who is nurturing their own cave cannot heal the mind of others.

A person who is nurturing a cave can never escape their own hellhole of suffering. In The Truman Show, it is revealed that Christof, the god-like creator, is in control of Truman's life but in actuality, he was the one running away from an unpleasant reality and being stuck in the "cave." Christof believes that Truman was "real. [And] that's what made [him] so good to watch. There is no more truth out there than there is in the world [that is] created for [him]. The same lies, the same deceit. But in [his] world, [Truman has] nothing to fear" (Harris, The Truman Show). Christof has the characteristics of being a narcissist, exploiter, and compulsive liar.

Because he cannot gain the life he wants, (outside of the real world) he creates a world for Truman and everyone else in it. From observations, we can assume that Christof has a past of having many problems that led him to believe that the 'life out there' is full of deception and lies. Tying back to my first point, Christof is a very prejudiced individual, he believes he has the higher power to direct his minions to a life he envisions as superior. This is also tied to his mental health, how Christof is the man that thrives off deception and believes that food is only for the body; believing that deception doesn't count as actual lies as long as one is unknown of the lie. If Truman is physically unharmed and oblivious to the fact that everything is fake, he is therefore living a normal life.

His ideals make him unreasonable as we see that Christof himself is never shown to be outside of the cave. Before he "cue[s] the sun" he was working from inside the moon of the set, where he is completely isolated by the set walls, which ironically created a dome shape (Harris, The Truman Show). During those scenes of inspecting Truman, there is shown little light coming in from the outside, the set was unusually dim like it was nighttime. This is symbolic, showing the fact that Christof is indeed stuck in his own-created cave; a cave that he nurtured for The Truman Show. Essentially, Christof is a practical man that is prejudiced and narrow-minded, unable to break through his own hellhole. Therefore, the people who believe that they are breaking free from the ultimate cave are instead spiraling into a loophole of their own unpleasant reality.

This is why philosophy is crucial when it comes to building a life and forming thoughts, without it, humans can never escape an unpleasant reality. People who do not value the philosophies of life, isolate themselves and conform to normative beliefs when it comes to new ideas. Their ideas will not flow while constantly held back by prejudices and biases. In contrast but similarly, when one is forced out of their cave to conform against their own will, their wishes will never be satisfied, resulting in caves they cannot run out of. And when all these factors combine, one becomes illuded in their overlapping caves, and they lose their humanity, honing perfect caves for others but can never escape their own sufferings. In order to escape a cage, one needs to become open-minded, have a boost of courage to experience new things, and consider the elements of philosophical fundamentals. After learning and reflecting on all the different ways of being isolated in a cave, (or caves) leaves the believers wondering if the Earth is really just a cave itself.