Film Test Week 1

    Upon being informed of such a fact, I’d likely be disappointed. It takes little thought on my part to come to the realization that I am what I am today because of my beliefs—supernatural beliefs, as some would insist they are. My purpose in life is derived from these beliefs and there is little more to guide me other than the fluid morality of society. By necessity, if I am no more than “stuff,” there can exist nothing beyond this world—nothing transcendental. This would be disappointing for multiple reasons. For one, if there is no meaning or purpose beyond, what else is there to hope for? It’s depressing to imagine a world where we are reduced to “meat bags.” In short, then, I’d likely find it distressing and depressing, due to my current beliefs.


    Plato’s Cave is an example of the notion that beyond one’s vision there exists a more real and original world; the present one is deliberately contrived in order to mislead one, in addition to constructing a false reality. Furthermore, the deceived is rendered unable to discern the true reality because of circumstances that exist, or those brought about by the deceiver. In other words, most situations which involve deception may be likened to Plato’s Cave. Thus follows this example: After some weeks of hearing the controversy about the so-called “Confederate Flag,” I found, much to my dismay, that I had been misled. Although some may consider it to be a technicality, the design most commonly bashed was never the official flag of the Confederate States. People, then, weren’t creating controversy about an established or institutionalized flag that represented racism, it was merely used as a battle flag to represent and idea by some. Consider the absolute waste of time that there would be if we began to change our lives and fit them around every bad thing that people do. I had been misled by the incessant and inaccurate media coverage of the issue. The second example is as follows: At the tender age of five, I was tricked by my parents into thinking that the moon follows one. I used to be a troublemaker and throw tantrums for various reasons while we were driving to or from somewhere, so when one day I looked outside the window and above at the moon, enthralled by the moon seemingly following us, my mother took advantage of this, and allowed me to believe that. Her assumption that I would be so engrossed in it as to forget throwing a tantrum was true, and it actually for worked for several years afterwards. I would just stare at the moon in awe every time we got in the car, amazed that it followed us from street to street, and turn to turn, without fail. In both of these examples, I was led to believe something that wasn’t real, and as such, they can be likened to Plato’s prisoners.