Can You Handle The Truth?

2400 years ago, Plato, the father of Western philosophy, wrote The Allegory Of The Cave.

In it, he posited that life, for most people, is a pale imitation of what it could be if only they became aware of what was possible. If they studied they could free themselves and discover the world is a beautiful, wonderful place.

The prisoners of the Cave are chained up so they cannot move their legs and necks. They can only sit and watch the wall, but cannot look around and cannot turn to see each other. Behind the prisoners is a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners, there are people who hold sticks with cutouts of animals such as birds, dogs, and horses, along with everyday objects. These wooden cutouts project shadows onto the wall; so all the prisoners have ever seen, are projections of facsimiles of objects that appear in the real world. This is their life…it’s all they have ever known.

One day, one of the prisoners is miraculously freed. He ascends from the cave to the real world and when he experiences sunlight for the first time in his life, he is overwhelmed and confused. He takes time to adjust and adapt, as he's never seen daylight and nature before. But, when his eyes have adjusted, he encounters the real colour and beauty of the creatures and objects he once saw as mere shadowy representations in the cave. He realises that what he thought was real, was in fact an illusion.

In a similar way, in the Matrix, Neo has been trapped in an invisible prison and when he wakes up from the simulated reality, he needs some time to adjust to the real world; just like the escapee from Plato's Cave. The film differs from the Allegory Of The Cave, in that for Plato, the truth discovered by acquiring knowledge and wisdom, is a world of beauty and freedom. But, when Neo takes the red pill, he discovers the truth is that the world is a dismal place, devoid of natural light and ruled by machines. It’s so bad that the character, Cypher, opts to take the blue pill and return to a world that he knows is false.?

The only downside for the escapee in The Cave is when he returns to tell the others what he has seen and free them from bondage, they think he has lost his mind. They don’t believe him and get so angry that they want to kill him. They can’t handle the truth.

Now, if asked, most people would probably answer that they would want the truth. But, do they really?

When exploring Plato's Allegory Of The Cave and The Matrix, it would appear our relationship with truth is not that simple. In some cases, we welcome the truth and in other situations, we may suspend our disbelief, outright reject it, block it out or try to forget it.?

For example, in Plato's Allegory, learning the truth is enlightening. The downside is that others become hostile and refuse to accept the truth as it disrupts their firmly entrenched worldview.?

In The Matrix, the truth is rather less appealing. However, the effect the truth has on us doesn't depend on the truth alone, it also depends on the person hearing it. People will often reject the truth if it threatens the reality they have been conditioned to believe.?

Psychologists have determined that by the time we are thirty, we have formed a fixed perception of the world in our minds. It has been created like a jigsaw from our cultural upbringing, our life experiences and the beliefs we have formed in our early years. We may be prepared to accept a minor change to this jigsaw, but NOT a radical new piece that questions our fundamental beliefs. People tend to adopt or change their truths to cover up a painful reality.

When Galileo discovered that the earth was not the centre of the universe and instead orbited the sun, it rocked the very foundation of the Church’s credo. The possible ramifications of Galileo’s evidence were terrifying to the Catholic Church and they refused to accept it, accusing him of heresy.?

The writer, Robert Anton Wilson, theorises that we will use any excuse not to change the fundamental ‘truth’ of our personal worldview. He suggests that we all use a dual mental process; that of the ‘thinker’ and the ‘prover’.?

Wilson also suggests that once the ‘thinker’ has developed a belief about any aspect of existence, the ‘prover’ will just adjust the input from his senses to validate the belief system. In essence, what the ‘thinker’ thinks, the ‘prover’ proves.?

He illustrates this with an amusing example of a patient who believes he is a corpse…?

The patient doesn't eat or work; he just sits around claiming to be a corpse. His psychiatrist tries to convince him that he is not a corpse. He asks, “Do corpses bleed?” The patient thinks about it and says, “No of course not. All bodily functions have shut down, so they couldn't bleed.” The psychiatrist then takes out a needle and pricks him with it, and of course, the man starts to bleed.?

The patient looks amazed and exclaims, “Well, I'll be damned. Corpses do bleed after all.”?

This story illustrates clearly why trying to discuss politics or religion (or any subject on which someone has strong opinions) in a logical fashion is usually a waste of time - because people always filter facts through their beliefs. It is the facts that will usually get distorted as a result and not the beliefs. People simply don't want to hear the truth if it questions the worldview they have formed.

Through two decades of study, I have come to realise that many of the things we accept as true in our lives are nothing more than insidious illusions… just like the shadows in the cave.? These illusions have acquired validity over the years through the Establishment’s continuous propaganda and they have been reinforced through repetition by parents, teachers and our peers, who blindly accept what authority tells them.?

As a result, we are, in fact, exactly like those prisoners in Plato’s cave. We are trapped in an invisible prison (partly of our own making) and are prevented from living the life we could because we have limited what we believe is possible. We have been deceived by the Establishment to make us believe that participating in the Rat Race is the best (if not the only) option for us.?

But that’s just not true.?

If you want the truth about how you have been deceived, the illusions the Establishment have created, the weapons they use to keep you trapped and how you can neutralise these weapons, throw off your mental chains and finally break free of The Rat Race…then you need to register for my forthcoming members' website. I will help you to crack the ‘Freedom Code’ and create a life of wealth, power and freedom for yourself.

But…I will warn you; the truth may be quite disturbing. I will be sharing material, viewpoints and opinions, you will not have heard elsewhere. What I share will call into question some of your firmly held beliefs, and if you don’t like them being questioned, you may even find parts of it offensive.??

Can you handle it? If not, then keep taking that blue pill.?

But, if you want the truth…

Join the waitlist here: