"When they are learned they think they are wise"

Centuries before Christ, at the pinnacle of Greek philosophy, the wise Plato made a bold claim. In reference to our understanding and education he set up a scenario we now refer to as the Allegory of the Cave. In his imaginary cave, Plato planted a group of men who from their youth were strapped in chains so they could not move, not even their heads. The darkness of the cave was illuminated only by a fire behind the men which had a wall in between them. Over this wall, other men would hoist figurines and objects to cast shadows on the walls. Naturally the men would speak on occasion which sounds, echoing off the walls, would seem to emanate from the shadows themselves.

At some point, one of these men is released and allowed to look at the light source, but from the brightness he has never beheld, he turns away. In fact, a man is needed to drag that person up and out of the cave, into the sunlight, in order for him to finally see the truth of things. Over time his eyes would adjust and he could see the world and the real light source, the sun (which, in Plato’s analogy, was the source of life and everything).

Following the ascent to truth, suppose the person ends up back in his place in the cave, Plato says. He would try to convince the others of the falseness of their plight and come to no avail. See, his eyes would not perceive the dark like before and the others’ world consists of seeing the shadows in all their details. They would feel his experience had corrupted him even though the truth was quite the opposite. In fact, given the power, they would probably kill anyone who tried to similarly remove them from their chains to prevent their own loss of sight and lack of connection to reality.

As weird as this scenario sounds, Plato’s claim is thus: “They are like ourselves.”

I’ve been giving this a bit of thought lately and found we are more in line with this than ever before. The question of whether this world is real or not is not my debate. My interest is in our perception of it and that spans all our senses and understanding. Everything we know is based off our interpretation of sensory input and intellectual thought. Even “walking in another man’s shoes” involves our version of his interpretation.

What happens next is the clincher – what if you, like the men in the cave, have been in a state of untruth or partial-truth since birth? Would you know? How could you know? And if someone knew the truth and tried to tell you, would you believe them?

I maintain that this state of being is true for the majority of the world. We grow up in the society we are in. They teach us certain customs and beliefs and without good reason otherwise, we adopt the same. If we are raised thinking you don’t question authority, then we don’t question it unless something happens to shake our faith in the authority (like the Vietnam War). We accept what we are given and move on with our lives.

So what is authority? I’m not talking about governments. I’m talking parents, doctors, teachers, lawyers, judges, bosses, supervisors, trusted friends, and more. People we listen to and take advice from regularly. If your doctor told you to do something or that you had a certain condition, you’d more than likely accept his opinion as fact. Yes, it is from a person trained and schooled in the art of medicine, but regardless of how far you go molecularly, it is still his interpretation of what is happening in your body and it might not be right.

Similarly this happens with other figures (including newscasters, companies, dieticians…) we see all the time. We accept their viewpoints in their fields as facts. That can lead to trouble. There are fads that fit right into what we've been taught and extend it only slightly into the unknown. They sound correct because they do not challenge what we have always regarded as true - they mingle with it. That does not make them true. It does, however, verify this statement from scripture:

"O that cunning plan of the evil one! O the vainness, and the frailties, and the foolishness of men! When they are learned they think they are wise, and they hearken not unto the counsel of God, for they set it aside, supposing they know of themselves, wherefore, their wisdom is foolishness and it profiteth them not. And they shall perish," (2 Nephi 9:28).

We train and learn and school ourselves and when it is done, we take what we know and call it truth. But we are being trained in what is currently accepted as truth - which may or may not be so. We literally fulfill the above passage when we unquestioningly accept the wisdom of authorities other than God. But even there our prophets have provided profound counsel to us from the beginning. Said Moroni,

"And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things," (Moroni 10:4-5).

The prophets can boldly testify of this because their words are true and the Holy Ghost will confirm it. Those who are not truthful will be proven false by the Spirit and in process of time.

But we cannot afford to wait. Some truths require action as we go. You having cancer has one truth - you have cancer. Ignoring or not discovering this truth does not change it. The same goes for our lives in most respects - the more we know the more we can influence for good and the less we know the worse off (or less empowered) we are. We must pursue truth in all that we do so as to be of the greatest power for good we each can be. Only then will the veils of darkness be lifted from our eyes and we'll be able to see things as they really are. Only then will we know the truth and be wise.