The Source of Light and the Shadows on the Wall Outside the Cave - Essay Example

Topic 3 God of (The Book of Job), the TAO of (The Tao Te Ching), and the light at the back of the allegory of the cave in Plato’s (Republic) are ineffable although we can still access them on earth. The book of Job is a poetic book in the Old Testament that details different poetic interactions involving God, Satan, Job, and his wife. On the other hand, the Allegory of the Cave seeks to analyze the impact of literacy and the lack of it in the human soul. TAO of the Tao Te Ching offers significant lessons on self-awareness where it relates to the way of integrity. God, Tao, and the light address uncertainty in the way of living and derive a sense of goodness and integrity in the world. This paper will compare God, Tao and the light and establish how we access them and how the three deal with or address uncertainty. The book of Job seeks to define why the righteous suffer by presenting how God offers justice in case of human suffering. Indeed, in this book, God lets Satan destroy Job’s property and kill his children only for God to restore Job’s possessions in multiples. This derives an uncertainty about God, His justice, and the goodness in our way of living. The Allegory of the Cave presents the uncertainty in human life with respect to education. In this context, the sun acts as the source of light that derives human capacity to see where the sun symbolizes the Form of the Good. Notably, self-awareness eliminates cases of uncertainty in human life. The Tao Te Ching has 81 verses, which seeks to explain how to manifest goodness and integrity in our way of living in a world where many people are uncertainty about the reality of goodness and integrity in human life. Indeed, even the origin of the Tao Te Ching is not certain. It is clear that God, Tao and the light deal with and accommodate uncertainty. From the book of Job, we can see that God is subjecting Job to suffering albeit some limitations. God limits Job’s misfortunes and Job and his friends fail to understand why God is punishing a righteous person like Job. They are indeed uncertain on how God works since they expected a just and righteous person like Job to get the justice he deserves. Ideally, God should reward the righteous and punish the wicked. Job and his friends believe in this assertion and hence their uncertainty on how God works leads them to choose between blaming Job or God. They almost gave up on the belief that God delivers justice since they would not understand how a just God could subject a righteous person to suffering. This book derives the fact that God is certain and all knowing. Human beings believe that upon knowing about our suffering God will offer solutions. However, in the book of Job, we can see the God was aware of various events that Job could not ascertain. Indeed, God was aware of Job and was certain about Job’s righteousness and obedience. God Himself alerted Satan of Job’s values and righteousness. Notably, in Job 1: 8, God told Satan, “Did you notice my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him: a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and avoids evil” (Mitchell 6). Moreover, even though Job could not fathom why he was encountering so many misfortunes, he was certain that God was aware of his suffering. As such, he kept doing good and refused to curse God as his wife was advising him. In fact, in Job 2: 10, Job told his wife, “We have accepted good fortune from God; surely we can accept bad fortune too” (Mitchell 8). The book also derives the fact that God has relevant reasons for how He deals with uncertainty and us. Most of those reasons are uncertain and beyond human understanding. However, God is all knowing and hence certain about human thoughts and actions. Indeed, God was certain that Job would rebuke Satan. In Job 1: 11, God told Satan, “But just reach out and strike everything he has, and I bet he’ll curse you to your face” (Mitchell 6). Failure to understand God leads us to seeking vindication instead of growing in Him. In the book, we can see Job was certain about his innocence and the injustice of God’s actions. Job always tried to vindicate himself from the false accusations of his friends where he sought to justify himself than God (Job 32:1–2). God ascertains the fact that hears and answers our prayers. In Job 38: 1, the book quotes, “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind” (Mitchell 79). God has the power to limit human suffering. Chapters 1 and 2 of the book take us to the actual conversations between God and Satan. In Job 2: 3, God told Satan, “Did you notice my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him: a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and avoids evil. He is holding on to his innocence, even after you made me torment him for no reason” (Mitchell 8). God set limits to Job trials and directed Satan on how to destroy Job. However, Job was not aware of these limits though he was certain that God would rescue him. For example, God allowed Satan to strike Job but spare his health, life, and heart. Indeed, in Job 2: 6, God said to Satan, “He is in your power. Just do not kill him (Mitchell 8). During the suffering, Job was not aware of the conversation between God and Satan or the existence of the limits to his suffering. The book removes the uncertainty about God’s justice. The book derives the fact that God is just and rewards both good and evil. To this effect, God defines goodness and the righteous people. God refers to Job as a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and avoids evil (Mitchell 8). However, life is often unfair where God does not seem to be doing justice to the righteous. Indeed, God subjects Job to suffering despite being a good and righteous man. However, Job was certain that God is just and would reward both good and evil in diverse ways. In Job 21: 9-10, Job while he was suffering, there were evil men who were not experiencing the wrath of God where their houses were safe and their livestock healthy. Nevertheless, Job reckoned that the end justifies the means. Indeed, in Job 21: 30, Job states, “That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? They shall be brought forth to the day of wrath” (Mitchell 54). God enhances our certainty that He is a God of justice. Indeed, in Job 42: 12, the book confirms, “So the LORD blessed the end of Job’s life more than the beginning. Job now had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys” (Mitchell 91). On the other hand, TAO of (The Tao Te Ching) depicts uncertainty and seeks to derive integrity as a perfect remedy. Ideally, TAO of (The Tao Te Ching) aims at deriving self-awareness among human beings. However, although Tao seeks to establish self-awareness, there is little justification about the certainty of its origin. Indeed, there are debates about the original Tao and the number and flow of verses. Tao Te Ching assumes the role of defining the way of integrity in the human way of living. In fact, the 81 verses that define Tao Te Ching derive certain terms that determine how human beings can depict goodness and integrity in their way of living. In chapter 8, Tao defines integrity by stating, “In dwelling, live close to the ground. In thinking, keep to the simple. In conflict, be fair and generous. In governing, do not try to control. In work, do what you enjoy. In family life, be present. When you are content to be simply yourself and dont compare or compete, everybody will respect you” (Tzu 5). From this definition, integrity is a fundamental type of wisdom that many people in the world disregard. Moreover, Tao defines goodness in our way of living by asserting that, “The supreme good is like water, which nourishes all things without trying to. It is content with the low places that people disdain. Thus, it is like the Tao” (Tzu 5). Through these assertions, Tao continuously seeks to show us how we can achieve integrity and goodness if we adopt self-awareness. Indeed, the third verse confirms this by claiming, “Practice not-doing and everything will fall into place” (Tzu 2). Tao notes that due to lack of self-awareness, people worry and are uncertain about life. This emanates from the fact that humans are mostly work and productivity-focused and lack awareness about them. Tao notes that with self-awareness, people can avert uncertainties, gain integrity, and have a better direction in life. Indeed, according to Tao, self-awareness determines how people lead others. Tao Te Ching derives how self-awareness derives integrity in leadership by stating that, “If you dont trust the people, you make them untrustworthy. The Master does not talk he acts. When his work is done, the people say, "Amazing: we did it, all by ourselves!" (Tzu 9).  The allegory of the cave relates to the ideals of education in the society. Indeed, Socrates said, “Compare the effect of education and of the lack of it on our nature to an experience like this: Imagine human beings living in an underground cave like dwelling with an entrance a long way up, which is both open to the light and as wide as the cave itself” (Reeve 186). The author asserts that these prisoners have been living in this cave since childhood and all they see are shadows since they cannot turn because they have chains in their legs and necks. A fire burning far above and behind the prisoners is the only source of light in the cave. As such, the shadows are the only reality that they know that represent illusion reality. Notably, Socrates says that, “Then the prisoners would in any way believe that the truth is nothing other than the shadows of those artifacts” (Reeve 187). The shadows refer to social beliefs that limit our understanding on the reality of nature. This relates to the lack of education that demeans our understanding on nature and promotes uncertainty in the society. The book notes that upon leaving the cave, the light of the fire, or the sun would blind the prisoners. This relates to how people resist challenges to their cultural beliefs. Indeed, Socrates asks, “ And if someone compelled him to look at the light itself, wouldn’t his eyes hurt, and wouldn’t he turn around and free towards the things he’s able to see, believing that they are really clear than the one’s he’s being shown” (Reeve 188)? The sun represents the truth and the light represents education. The prisoners who chose to come out of the cave, they accepted reality since they would see the true nature of the world and ultimately see the sun, which represents the truth that guarantees certainty in the world. Indeed, they would see the source of light and the shadows on the walls outside the cave where the light would temporarily blind them which represents the enlightenment that education derives in the society. The author notes that, “Education takes for granted that sight is there but it isn’t turned the right way or looking where it ought to look, and it tries to redirect it appropriately” (Reeve 191). The enlightenment eliminates any uncertainty about the nature of human life. The enlightened prisoner would gain real knowledge, feel good, and pity his colleagues who are still in the cave that represent people clinging to social believes that foster uncertainties and negate reality. Works Cited Mitchell, Stephen. The Book of Job. San Francisco: North point Press, 1987. Print. Reeve, C. D. C. Plato Republic. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing, 2004. Print. Tzu, Lao. Tao Te Ching. Web. 20 June 2014. < https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/lao-tzu/works/tao-te-ching/tao.htm> Read More