I had the strangest dream the other day (okay more like months ago) and it was for the strangest reason that I still remember it to this day. I can not recall all the details, just one aspect of that dream: a single question that made the dream difficult to forget.

So, when did you start living?

That question really struck me, for some reason. The term "living" can be defined in many ways, the most common being "alive and having a functioning body." Yet, I took this to mean the time that I have finally "opened my eyes and mind" and truly saw the world for what it was.

To live is, in every respect, an amazing thing. It is surely not a simple feat and not everyone is capable of it.

Most are too busy with their lives, be it with work or school, to live. To really live. Each and everyday is so mechanical and routine. It is almost as if we have this blind on our eyes, like that of those worn by racehorses so to keep them focused on the race, distancing them from the other horses and other distractions.

We are living blindly, day after day. Yet, the saddest thing is that we are wholly unaware that we are blind.

This is tantamount to Plato's Allegory of the Cave*. The prisoners living in the cave are blind to the outside of the cave--the field of true vision. The live bound by chains and on a reality composed of shadows upon the wall.

We, too, live off a false reality-- those that have not begun to "live." Constantly, we are bombarded with the news and media. We turn to the news and newspaper as a form of information, our sole source of information. We believe those two sources to be our "window to the world." Yet, how do we really know that what the anchorman/woman or news writers say or write is true? Many clips from the news are edited and dramatized. Articles in the newspaper are exaggerated.

Now, this begs the question: Why? Why would they alter the truth? It is to, simply put, grab our attention and keep us watching/reading whatever it is they want us to. The affect is similar to a drug. We are so used to action and drama in the news that we quickly lose interest when any other type of news comes on, meaning the loss of ratings. Oh no, the news stations would not want that, would they?

This in turn, begs another question: Why will the people not stand up and question the news? or anything from the media?

The Allegory of the Cave comes into play once more. When the prisoner who manages to break from the bondage and makes his way outside the cave, the first thing he experiences is pain. Being so used to sitting in one position and being in the darkness, it is quite difficult and painful to move smoothly the stiff, weak muscles and transitioning from the darkness of the cave to sunlight.

The truth hurts. The affective influence on our cognition pushes us away from things that will result in a painful outcome. If something is negative, we are likely to rationalize it so that it becomes something positive, all to avoid that pain. Therefore, we tend to shy away from the truth. We tend shy away from pain.

Though there are many that have come to accept the truth and attempt to give life to those who are still blind to it. But those who "live" are often prosecuted and ridiculed. Just like the prisoner who saw the true field of vision and returned to the cave to tell his fellow "cave-mates" about it, urging them to leave the cave. In the end, that prisoner was killed by the others.

Yet, a world without pain... is also a world without happiness or sorrow. If we do not know or understand pain, then we do not know or understand happiness/sorrow. Without those basic emotions, we are, in turn, deprived of many other emotions too. Like that of the colors on the color wheel: Without basic colors, there would be no secondary or tertiary colors. We would be deprived of love for love is, in a way, a more complex derivative of happiness. We develop "love" for someone because being around them makes us happy. But, in that painless world, there is no happiness. In that world, happiness is not recognize because we cannot discern it from anything else. There is nothing to compare it to.

Our lives have become emotionless, colorless. Lifeless and dull.

Perchance one day, we will all live. It will not be all at the same time. Some may "live" when death is a mere inch away. Some may "live" when they encounter something that is utterly awesome and beautiful that they cannot help but to remove the blind, be it religion or some form of an epiphany.

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Blaah, I can ramble on like this for hours, YET I can't even finish a page of my philosophy paper! =_____=;; I've still a creative project to complete, too... ！もううううう！！ぜんぜんしたくねぇぇい！大変ダナー

















*I know I keep referring back to The Allegory, but it really applies to many things in our lives. Maybe next time I'll refer to the Apologia Sokratous instead. Maybe. I will certainly do something with Phaedo, since it concerns with suicide and I have much to say in regards to that topic due to personal experience and such.