Waking Up

A classic description of the process of waking up is provided by Plato in the Allegory of the Cave:
The story begins in a dark cave, where people have been chained since childhood and can only see shadows on the cave wall.
These prisoners believe the shadows to be the only reality, as they have never seen anything else. They give the shadow outlines names, without realizing that they are only images.

The turning point in the story occurs when one of the prisoners is freed. This person leaves the cave and initially experiences pain and confusion in the face of the bright outside world.

After an adjustment period, the freed person recognizes the true nature of things and the sun as the source of all light and life.

Motivated by this new insight, the freed person returns to the cave to free the others. But the return is difficult: the eyes have to get used to the darkness again, and the prisoners left behind react with incomprehension and even hostility to the new perspective.

In Plato’s philosophy, the sun represents the only truth and the process of leaving the cave means following a direct realization.

But is that really the case?

The people in the cave live in their reality and for them the shadow play is true – perhaps they develop a logical, self-contained science of shadow play. And how does the supposedly enlightened person know that he is moving in the only true reality? Could it not be that he has only ascended into a more artful and perfectly designed all-encompassing cave and that the supposed sun is nothing but a mirror shining into this larger cave?

The self-honestly recognizing person cannot rule anything out and it is precisely at this point that the crux with waking up and enlightenment begins – because with every sincere realization, the doubts about this, but also all previous experiential knowledge, will increase.

In the end, there is no definitive truth and reality that applies to everyone. There are as many truths as there are thinking beings and each of these creatures lives and interprets its own perceptions. Every living being creates its own reality. But that also means that there are no universal values, no right or wrong, no good and evil – all morality – guilt and pride will always remain something very personal.

Waking up does not begin with seeing the light or feeling the love, nor does it begin with elevating oneself above the perceptions or knowledge of others. Waking up begins with the realization of knowing nothing.

The railings and the inner compass that seemed to give us a direction in life have disappeared in one fell swoop or they have steadily dissolved over a longer period of time. In the first case, psychiatry often refers to this as psychosis or dissociation, in the second case a creeping depression is located.

However, both are only side effects in the process of waking up, caused by an increase in knowledge in a world that insists on supposed knowledge.

The challenge is not the actual recognition, but to transform it into wisdom.

Waking up, awakening or enlightenment is often associated with having found the only, eternally blissful truth and from now on resting permanently in peaceful equanimity – ideally combined with excellent health and a prosperity appropriate to one’s personal circumstances.

This idea is fueled by glossy esoteric magazines, promises of paradise and travel gurus and feel-good ashrams that change depending on the zeitgeist.

What is concealed is that there is no lasting peace in the world around us and that the small feeling of inner peace hangs far too often by a thread.

Transforming direct recognition into wisdom requires humility and patience; it has nothing to do with heavenly peace, but with not understanding the new state as an ego booster. The great challenge is to develop tolerance, respect and compassion from not knowing when encountering the respective worlds of others, without getting entangled with them.

The prisoners in the cave from the parable do not experience their cave and the projections on the wall as a prison, it is their life’s dream, which they wallpaper with illusions from love films, building houses, career thoughts and everything that belongs to the desired personal happiness. They sense that you have seen something, maybe they find it interesting or exciting, maybe a few are also curious about your story. However, you cannot permanently return to the cave of the prisoners and don’t even think about freeing them – nobody will follow you.

The Allegory of the Cave concludes with the words:

“If he were to return to his old place, he would first have to slowly get used to the darkness of the cave again. Therefore, he would perform poorly for some time when assessing the shadows in the usual way. From this, the cave dwellers would conclude that he had ruined his eyes up there. They would laugh at him and say that it was obviously not worth leaving the cave even on a trial basis. If someone tried to free them and lead them upwards, they would kill him if they could.”⁶

Waking up means rubbing the sleep from your eyes and sneaking out of the dormitory alone, stepping out into the light and freshness of the morning, quietly and silently – be careful not to wake anyone and enjoy the reverent silence of this unique moment.

Plato’s teacher Socrates is the source of the quote: “I know that I know nothing”⁷. For me, it is the most difficult wisdom to bear. My personal challenge is to remain compassionate when confronted with dogmatism or concepts such as reason, rules and universality.

How do you feel about squinting alone into the rising sun?

Can you feel its gentle warmth on this still cool morning, or would you like to go back to the cave with underfloor heating and wallpapered with the comforts of life?