The allegory of the cave is presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work Republic (514a–520a, Book VII) to compare "the effect of education (παιδεία) and the lack of it on our nature."
It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates. It is narrated by Socrates. The allegory is presented after the analogy of the Sun (508b–509c) and the analogy of the divided line (509d–511e).
In the allegory, Plato describes people who have spent their whole lives chained by their necks and ankles in front of an inner wall [a screen] with a view of the empty outer wall of the cave.
They observe the shadows [images] projected onto the outer wall by objects carried behind the inner wall by people who are invisible to the chained "prisoners" and who walk along the inner wall with a fire behind them, creating the shadows on the outer wall in front of the shackled prisoners.
The "sign bearers" pronounce the names of the objects, the sounds of which are reflected near the shadows and are understood by the prisoners as if they were coming from the shadows themselves.
The only reality for the prisoners of the cave are those shadows and sounds, which are of course only inaccurate representations of the real world. The shadows represent distorted and blurred copies of reality we perceive through our senses, while the objects under the Sun represent the true forms of objects that we can only perceive through reason [or directly through refined intuition].
Three higher levels exist: (1) natural science; (2) deductive mathematics, geometry, and logic; and (3) the theory of forms.
Socrates explains how a "philosopher" is like a prisoner now freed from the cave who comes to understand that the shadows on the wall are not the direct source of the images seen.
A philosopher aims to understand and perceive the higher levels of reality. However, the other inmates of the cave do not even want to escape their chains or leave their prison, for they know no better life [1].
Socrates remarks that this allegory can be paired with previous writings, namely the analogy of the Sun and the analogy of the divided line. More
After Skool; Jim Carrey, George Harrison (T&H Inspiration and Motivation); Philosopher Mel Brooks; CC Liu, Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
(Zenith Zen) The Zen Buddhist story that will change how you spend the next 60 seconds of your life
Buddhism, Taoism say: "Be here now."
One of the greatest moments in my life, which happened early on, was coming to watch TV on a Saturday morning in LA. My dad already had the TV all tied up. But he was drunk and drifting off. Surely, he didn't know what was on. If I could just exhibit enough patience until his drooping eyes shut, I could slowly lower the volume, change it, and slowly raise the volume again. He'd never know. He would think one program ended and another started.
He may have been onto me because just as he started to drift off, he would rouse himself with some coughing or clearing his throat. I had to wait, pretending to be interested in what he had on, some old timey British movie from the 60s. Half aware, he kept an eye on me. And it seemed every time I made a move to change the channel, he would snap back to consciousness. I had to sit there looking all innocent, watching whatever he had on, until I became mesmerized by what it was.
This remarkable movie was funny and grew increasingly funny as the viewer realized what was happening. I immediately wished for a way to send it back to the beginning so I could see how it unfolded from the start. But there was no way. One could only enjoy as little as one had left of it. I didn't even know if I had missed half of it, 90% of it, or how much was left. But it kept getting funnier and funnier.
The set up was a Faustian bargain between a nobody up against a brilliant and angelic Beelzebub. The first had apparently sold his soul for seven wishes, and the latter was tricking him into quickly using them up. All the schlub wanted was the love of an unattainable beauty he worked with.
And that was enough for the Devil. All he had to do was trick the schlub into picking yet another foolish strategy for attaining his goal and then pull the rug out from under him by giving him what he literally asked for and never the spirit of what he wished. The Devil used the beauty as the bait, and the man kept biting...until, seemingly out of nowhere, he grew a backbone and chose to stop.
"What do you mean 'stop'?" the Devil demanded. "You're too smart for me, I can't get what I wish for, so I'm not going to use up any more wishes." The Devil never heard of such a thing. If the man doesn't use all seven wishes, well, the deal's off. He never gets his soul. The man had inadvertently found a gaping loophole in the blood pact bargain.
Beelzebub was too smart to accept no for an answer, so he seduced the man with friendly talk and an offer to use his place to rest himself, in the meanwhile sending in Lust (played by Raquel Welch) to seduce and confuse him. Then Vanity, all the Seven Deadly Sins at his disposal. The man was soon turned around and continued to wish.
During that brief period of friendship, Beelzebub let the man tag along during his busy day doing mischief and mayhem. As part of those escapades, they found themselves up a telephone pole cutting wires and making prank calls to a woman whose husband was cheating on her, breaking the bad news to get the philanderer in trouble with his wife.
The man, already put off by his own bargain gone bad, felt disgusted at the Devil's behavior. "How can you live with yourself, doing all these petty bad deeds, hurting people?" the man said judgmentally.
The Devil answered that it was his job. Anyway, it was just mischief. But he was hurt and he got the man back with one of the many zingers in this super-clever film. Who knows how this fantastic piece of comic morality tale came to be on American TV, which is usually filled with tripe and cotton candy. This was a truffle by comparison.
The Devil says to the man, "In the words of the great philosopher Lee Kwai Kwak, imagine you were walking along when a tiger jumped out and began to chase you. You run away but come to the edge of a cliff. Looking over, you notice the tiger's mate chomping her jaws waiting for you to fall. You turn around to go the other way, but there's the male tiger chomping its jaws about to eat you. What would you do?" The man's answer?
He exclaims, "What a stupid question! I wouldn't get myself into such a mess in the first place!"
"Oh, no, not you. You're far better off! Here you are halfway up a pole in Berkshire, half your wishes gone and no idea how to get down. You have nothing to learn from Lee Kwai Kwak and his tigers."
The man is nonplussed, realizing he should have paid attention about what to do in such a hopeless situation. Now, not having listened, he's on the edge of ruin.
The film moves on to a climactic scene about the perils of rock 'n roll fame, a moment that could never be nearly so funny had one not sat through every previous trick the Devil pulled on the man. The film? Bedazzled (1967 film). The man? Dudley Moore. The Devil? Peter Cook. So incredibly impactful was watching this that it took years, but I tracked it down.
Vidiots, the world's greatest video store
Vidiots of Santa Monica (now reborn in Eagle Rock) had it! More than that I appeared it. Imagine loving a film so much that you get yourself in it. How? One can't go back in time and change the same timeline. No, but one can appear in the sequel then get cut out of it as the numb director chops the climactic scene, the funniest scene, and replaces it with a nonsensical gag. That's Hollywood for ya, every sequel a waste of time money grab.
Seeing it from the beginning, it was even funnier and more a work of genius than I could have realized and better than I remembered. Every Christian should consider it a must-see to question assumptions about their faith. Every atheist who knows a thing or two about what the Church teaches should see it to see those assumptions skewered. Every Buddhist might way to pay attention when the Trickster begins to explain the Zen parable of the tigers and the strawberries. Will anyone listen? Who knows? One can lead a vidiot to videotape, but one cannot make anyone get it.
(Law&Crime Sidebar with Jesse Weber) Feb. 20, 2026: Newly released Epstein Files are revealing some of the most disturbing allegations yet, including Epstein emails referencing “trumpet plants” (nightshade) linked to scopolamine — a drug reportedly capable of impairing memory and free will — harrowing diary entries describing alleged pregnancies and babies being taken away, and a major update on claims that bodies [dead humans] could be buried near Epstein’s New Mexico Zorro Ranch. Law & Crime’s Jesse Weber breaks down the latest round of disturbing documents.
Where is my missing girl, Israel Mossad Spy Ghislaine Maxwell? The REAL Taken Story
Sucker Punch is an American fantasy action film directed by Zack Snyder and co-written by Snyder and Steve Shibuya. It is Snyder's first film based on an original concept [6, 7]. The film stars Emily Browning as "Babydoll" (and another named "Sweet Pea"), young women who are committed to a mental institution. As Babydoll collects items she needs to escape, she enters a series of fantasy worlds where she and her fellow inmates are strong, experienced warriors. Abbie Cornish, Jena Malone, Vanessa Hudgens, Jamie Chung, Carla Gugino, and Oscar Isaac also star. (Who can explain it?) More
Babydoll: Does the end of this film even make sense, all a fantasy?
On Oct. 19, 2025, thieves disguised as construction workers stole eight pieces of the French Crown Jewels valued at €88 million [$100-150 million U.S. dollars] from the Galerie d'Apollon (lit. "Apollo's Gallery") of the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.
The robbery took less than eight minutes, of which the thieves spent four inside the museum itself, and took place during regular museum hours [1][2]. It was the first art theft from the Louvre since the 1998 theft of the painting Le chemin de Sèvres [3][4].
ARRESTS: On Oct. 25, 2025, two suspects from Seine-Saint-Denis, both around 30 years old, were arrested, one of them at Charles de Gaulle Airport as he was preparing to board a flight abroad [5][6]. Police are still looking for the others as the suspects prepare for a long interrogation [and possible torture]. More
(Exam Word) Character Analysis. Emmanuel Goldstein occupies a central role in the Party’s (as opposed to the Proles’) narrative, serving as a symbol of rebellion and a tool of control.
Goldstein only appears on screens during the Two Minutes Hate ritual and never directly in the story, his presence looms large as the alleged leader of the resistance (The Brotherhood), the enemy within, against the Party.
Through his role in the narrative, symbolic significance, and broader implications, Goldstein becomes a multifaceted character who represents the complexities of dissent, propaganda, and manipulation in a totalitarian regime.
More at
lak12.com/book/character...
(The Young Turks) Ana Kasparian and Cenk Uyghur discuss how top Israeli official (in charge of cyber matters) arrested, accused, and released to flee back to Israel Tom Alexandrovich. He surprisingly missed his court hearing and may never return to the U.S. to face felony charges after his arrest in a Las Vegas sting operation, where he was caught trying to entice a minor into sex using an electronic device. He is in charge of the Israel National Cyber Directorate, so he probably knows how to use and hide such devices. But the sting caught him, he was arrested, cited, and told to return for his court appearance. He fled to Israel, which is very reluctant to extradite child molesters, predators, and other unsavory criminals, and most of them are not government officials like Swedish Israeli Zionist Jew Alexandrovich, a personal acquaintance and likely friend of Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.
Jimmy Dore (The Jimmy Dore Show): What's going on with those Epstein Files and the number of children Trump and Epstein raped together?
Standup comedian Sammy Obeid when a Zionist Jew walked out because of a pedophile joke about top Israeli official getting caught in sex sting
Joe Rogan: The Path to Roganlightenment | The Daily Show
(The Daily Show) July 30, 2025: From his humble beginnings in Newark to his scrappy days in Boston, Joe Rogan has always pushed his brains to the limit. Rogan's stand-up comedy led him to a career in television, eventually inspiring him to start his own podcast where he could ask the really important questions, like, "Wouldn't it be crazy if a wolf wore a fedora?" This is The Daily Showography of Joe Rogan.
(The Phuket News) Premiered May 16, 2025: PHUKET [pronounced POOH-khet, not FOOK-k...] XTRA brought to you by @PVC Phuket Hosted by: JP Mestanza || #Phuket#PhuketNews#Thailand
(The Thaiger) July 1, 2022: A head monk is accused of embezzling 95 million baht (~40 baht to the US dollar) and dumping half-cremated corpses into the river, Thailand’s major banks crash on pay day, and Thai fighter jets respond to MIGs from Burma (Myanmar). Sponsor: 5-star marine: 5starmarinephuket.com. #Thailandnightlife#Bangkok#ThailandNews
ABOUT: The Phuket News TV is the video arm of The Phuket News, an English-language newspaper in Phuket, part of the Class Act Media family. Phuket Xtra is a daily news show covering Phuket Island and the latest news from Thailand. This show intends to cover the everyday aspects of life in Southern Thailand and the rest of the Theravada Buddhist Kingdom of Thailand. Stay classy! (VIDEO) Phuket News TV: https://www.thephuketnews.com/tv/ (NEWSPAPER) The Phuket News: http://th.thephuketnews.com/ (RADIO) Live 89.5: https://www.thephuketnews.com/radio/
ABOUT: Founded in 2009, Class Act Media is Southern Thailand's most comprehensive media company, incorporating newspapers and magazines (English, Russian, and Thai), radio, TV, numerous websites, and an online ticketing service. Class Act Media prides itself on its ability to deliver high quality media services to residents and tourists in Phuket and all across Southern Thailand. It sincerely believes in accountability towards its clients and ensuring that each member of its team subscribes to its motto: "The client is always right." Read more at ThePhuketNews.com
Jesus reveals that Reality is a Simulation in 2,000-year-old gospel
(MorgueOfficial) Premiered March 1, 2025: Ever wonder if EVERYTHING we see could be an illusion (maya) -- a hologram, a simulation, a cosmic deepfake? Jesus figured it out 2,000 years ago. What’s even wilder is that modern physics is proving it now. Who's Gurdjieff?
What does science (physics) say this world is? - If we imagine "energy" as light, there's matter
The Big Bang? Why would nothing explode into all?
Where did Jesus the Nazarene (compassionate vegetarian Yeshua/Issa/Joshua, likely an Essene, who traveled to India during his missing 18 years) get these ideas? Dr. Ammon Hillman assures us it was through consumption of entheogenic mysteries (drugs, poisons, natural psychedelics likely different forms of DMT, The Spirit Molecule, and 5-MeO-DMT reptilian venom like toad Bufo.
Why would there be a connection between Christianity and Buddhism, which is five or more centuries older? Jesus spent time as a Buddhist monk, which helped him realize his divinity (deva, "light being," nature or potential), all of our divinities. To ever say one is "GOD" will get one unalived for ridiculed in society, but that is what the Christ, the Kristos, the Annointed One (smeared with entheogens, according to Dr. Hillman).
Whether Jesus said so or not, whether this Gnostic gospel is literally one historical figure's words, whether or not the figure into whose mouth these words are being put by the Gnostic Christians, Buddhism speaks this same way its "Higher Doctrine" (the Abhidhamma or the "Dharma/Doctrine in Ultimate Terms").
In conventional terms, "reality" (self/atta and the world/loka) is name-and-form (nama-rupa), body and mind, or composed of physical (corporeal) and mental (mind) components. But in ultimate terms, it is impersonal (anatta) materiality and mentality composed of kalapas (particles) and cittas/cetasikas (mind-moments and mental-concomitants).
This is all found alluded to in The Heart Sutra, the culmination of the Prajna Paramita or "Perfection of Wisdom" literature, reaching Sophia. The core of that text are explained very well in the Theravada school's "Five Aggregates clung to as self" teachings.
What are we? What is anything? The "self" or "essence" (figuratively, the "heart") of any thing is eightfold. But this eight is compacted into five. What are the Five Heaps or Groups of things?
form (this is fourfold, the Four Great Elements or maha-dhatus);
feelings
perceptions
mental formations
consciousness(es).
Why are they all plural? Isn't "consciousness" a thing? They are heaps, groups, piles, collections, aggregates. There isn't one but countless of them. Consciousness (vinnana) is not a solid "thing" but a fluid process, a stream of cittas and cetasikas, a stream of consciousness.
See the division? The first four are listed as just "form" (rupa or kaya, materiality or body). The second four are spelled out a little more. But the Buddha kept it brief because No. 4 is actually 50 different things, usually translated as "impulses" or "intentions" (cetanas), the way all the members of a village might be called by the village leader's name; that leader is not the only person in the village. Moreover, No. 5 is not one thing, cittas (mind-moments), but also includes cetasikas (mental concomitants). Feelings are not of one kind, but they are just called "feelings" (vedana). Perceptions, too, are not singular but of different kinds. All of these are explained in the texts and teaching, as these are only rough English translations of a very deep psychological terms. The purpose is not academic but extremely practical. Their purpose is liberation by wisdom. One must first purify (cleanse) the mind and intensify it so that insight meditation practices (satipatthanas) can have their intended effect: liberating insight, transcendental wisdom.
Did Jesus have any capacity to explain this? To whom could he have taught it, simple fishermen back home? Whatever he learned and realized in the Himalayas, at Hemis Gompa (a Tibetan lamasery visited by Russian Christian Nicolas Notovitch, who told the world all about the documented evidence he found there thanks to the abbot who recognized that Buddhism and Christianity at a very deep level were teaching the same thing.
We can make many distinctions, but Gnosticism accords very well, and Vedic/Brahminical Hinduism is not far off, as may also be said of Jainism. Sadly, it does not seem members of these other traditions realize the deep similarities. We might about the superficial, and we fail to grasp the deep truths. It would be possible to find correspondences between all the traditions. So many of the things that make no sense in Catholicism/Christianity, Islam, and Judaism (the Abrahamic religions) certainly do make sense in Hinduism and Buddhism and Jainism (the Dharmic religions).
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