For this assignment you must read the article attached and look at the 6:40 min video. There is also a page to provide you with ideas to get your creative juice flowing. 1. Read the article labeled “Welcome to the Cave: Now Leave if You Dare” 2. Look at this video link, which is 6:40 mins. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIUNrASQfb4. 3. Read the information page below labeled: “Religions of the World”, is the instruction page and also this page will provide you with ideas and get your creative juices flowing. 4. Afterwards, there are two questions to answer below. • Question 1 – 1 page typed, double spaced • Question 2 – 2 page minimum typed, double spaced Welcome to the Cave: Now Leave if You Dare Plato’s Allegory of the Cave is an enduring classic, open to a variety of interpretations. One thing is clear: a cave is an effective metaphor for ignorance. Let’s briefly consider a few ideas and impressions. First, what is an allegory? An allegory is a story or fable that is a figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another (e.g., use of metaphor). But the form of this genre is not to story. An allegory can be in the form of a poem, a drama, or a picture in which the apparent meaning of the characters, events, and images symbolize a deeper moral, truth, or spiritual meaning. In other words, it is a device to speak as to imply something other. In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, what might be the symbolism of the cave? The prisoners? Darkness/light? The images projected on the cave wall? Escape? The liberated prisoner? What are these meant to represent? Let’s brainstorm. What is it about a cave that conjures up conflicting images? Think in terms of an enclosure, a den, a grotto, hollow, rock shelter, hole in land formation, rock cavity, a burial chamber, tomb, or vault. A place of entrapment, like a dungeon. A realm known as the Subterrane (underworld) Now a cave is great if you are a hibernating bear…or you have fixed up a basement apartment. Let’s brainstorm some more. What is it about a cave that conjures up conflicting feelings? A cave can be damp, cold, chilling, musty, smelly, dark, shadowy, spooky, menacing, bleak, hopeless, offering no relief. A trap or cage offering no alternative perspective or change. Life draining. Feels like prison. Feels like death. Yet it can be a place of security where you can hide. You are stuck, but at least you don’t have to change. Great news if you’re trapped in passive-aggressive behaviors. But is living in a cave really living? Ignorance is its own trap. Is there a way out? How? Religions of the World Instructions • Answer the following two questions. For question 1, type a one-page, double-space response; for question 2, type a minimum of two pages, double-space for your “Strategy to combat ignorance.” Question 1 (analysis): 1 page typed, double spaced response After viewing the production, and reading the transcript, briefly explain the essential features/plot of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Question 2 (personal application): 2 page typed, double spaced It is too easy to get trapped inside the cave of ignorance, or to repeatedly find ourselves toppling into a series of caves of ignorance in its manifold forms. What will be your art of war to combat ignorance? Pay attention to the following guidelines: 1. 2. 3. 4. Think and determine those areas of your life that need “self-improvement.” Carefully develop a strategy for combating “ignorance” in its various manifestations in your life. Be sure to draw from any number of the traditions we have surveyed, including but not limited to the following: How is this for a trick question in a final? You have the rest of your life to complete this part: Apply your strategy. Go live it! the four Hindu goals of life / stages of life; the Buddhist Four Noble Truths, with emphasis on taming and training “the monkey mind”; the Jain’s teaching of ahimsa, tolerance, and nonviolence; Confucian moral theory, virtues and values; the relinquishing of control by practicing Daoism’s wu wei; exercising the good thoughts, good words, good deeds of the Zoroastrians; applying the sensibilities of Judaism, such as teshuvah turning/ repenting/ changing), tikun olam (“repairing the world”), guarding the sanctity of life, social justice / community involvement; doing works of mercy (Catholicism). What about cultivating disciplines such as meditation, study (Torah study, Scripture memorization; recitation of Qur’anic passages), prayer, meditation, writing devotional poetry or songs with spiritual themes, like Beatle George Harrison did? (the Sikh and Hindu musical form of devotional songs called bhajans). What books might you want to read? How about drafting your own 10 commandments? What about relational spirituality with your / a deity, such as trusting in a messiah, or following an avatar like Krishna, a bodhisattva, or the Amitabha Buddha (the Pure Land tradition), trusting in “Other power” to help you when your self-effort gets you nowhere, or not far enough? Develop a workable strategy for combating “ignorance” in your life. Live your life for a change!