What we call our real experience is mere shadow, hence it is darkness; and the real is the self, thus says the scriptures.
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As we are so tuned into this shadow, we never know the light of the Self at all. We just go from one shadow to another. Plato’s famous cave allegory is a further illumination on this complex subject.
He speaks of a cave in which some people are living. They are watching their shadows being cast on the wall on the opposite side of the cave. By long association with these shadows they have come to identify themselves with them.
When a shadow moves its head, they think that they have moved their head. They have created a whole theory centred around their shadows. When one of them wants to turn around and look at the light source that is casting the shadows, he finds that he is riveted in a place, he is bound in such a way that he cannot turn easily. He starts howling, “I am bound, I am bound!” Everyone else laughs at him, “What a stupid fellow! He says he is bound. He claims he is not a shadow.” They think they are sane and he is mad.
He continues to try to turn around, and the more he struggles, the more he feels the bondage. But finally he frees himself the shackles and sees there is a bright light behind everyone that is casting the shadows they are watching. As he walks towards the light he notices it is a fire burning. He goes past the fire and out of the mouth of the cave. There he sees the real Sun shining in the firmament.
When he looks at the Sun, he becomes dazed and cannot keep on looking. He has never seen such a bright light before. It’s too much for him. He is blinded. But finally his eyes get used to seeing in the sunlight, and now he can see the actual world with actual beings all around him.
He thinks, “My God! I was seeing only the shadows of these things before. My poor brothers and sisters are still in the dungeon, suffering. I should go back and tell them.” And so he re-enters the cave.
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This is exactly what a guru does. First he goes and finds the real light, then he takes pity on those who are still caught in the shadow world and comes back to teach them . Usually he is met with hostility when he tells them there is another world more real then what they are seeing. He may be even crucified.
But it is essentially for us to somehow come to the understanding presented in this allegory of exactly where we are now and what true possibilities lie before us.
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