Plato’s Cave and the Eastern Frog: Enter the light

Many Western and Eastern philosophies, in the search for Truth, run parallel to each other, streaming toward the infinite source of Light and Knowledge. We’ll discuss a specific example of this, comparing Plato’s cave and the Eastern frog.

“In the Eastern literature is a fable of a frog. The frog lived in a well, and out of his little well, he had never been. One day, a frog whose home was in the sea came to his well. Interested in all things, he went in. “Who are you? Where do you live?” said the frog in the well. “I am so and so, and my home is in the sea.” “The sea? What is that? Where is that?” “It is a very large body of water and not far away.” “How big is your sea?” “Oh, very big.” “As big as this?” pointing to a little stone lying nearby. “Oh, much bigger.” “As big as this?” pointing to the board upon which they were sitting. “Oh, much bigger.” “How much bigger, then?” “Why, the sea in which I live is bigger than your entire well; it would make millions of wells such as yours.” “Nonsense, nonsense; you are a deceiver and a falsifier. Get out of my well. Get out of my well. I want nothing to do with any such frogs as you.”

In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, inmates who have been shackled since childhood are facing a wall that is covered in shadows cast by things that a fire has lit behind them. They don’t realize that these shadows are just illusions; they take them for true. All they can make sense of is these shadows and the words they hear echoing back to them.

These stories both emphasize the value of philosophical inquiry and the pursuit of knowledge by representing the soul’s journey from ignorance to illumination. They imply that entering the domain of higher truths and ideas and overcoming the constraints of sensory awareness are necessary for true comprehension. They are potent metaphors for the pursuit of knowledge and enlightenment.

If you are not presented with the right information, you will sit in darkness as a stunted version of yourself. Life is physical and metaphysical or spiritual. Only a small percent of the population is presented with the information that makes the spiritual believable. Our spiritual lives, including our thoughts, are governed by laws that are just as immutable as physical laws. We are on an evolution as a race to become more spiritual and

“Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free,” is the promise. The Truth is that we are spiritual or metaphysical beings who can use our thoughts to create a harmonious and joyous environments for ourselves. The Truth is that you are a Child of God with a Divine inheritance. You need to learn to open yourself to God, and all things will be given to you.

The fable of the frog is from Ralph Waldo Trine. Out of his book, In Tune with the Infinite.