A semester in review

Over the past 3 months, in both big and small group, we have learned about a myriad of topics. From Machiavelli's "The Prince" to Marcus Dupree to Nazi Germany. One of the more interesting aspects of our class is the ability to study such diverse topics and to see how they develop within themselves and to see how they develop in relation to each other. In the spirit of expanding our knowledge, I would like to introduce one of Plato's allegories to you all.

Imagine, a cave and let us assume that a person is inside the cave and is bound such that he can only see directly in front of himself. Behind him is an exit to a cave and a fire above the exit that casts shadows on the wall in front of him. Imagine, a dog walking behind the bound man, but in front of the fire, causing a great shadow on the wall. The bound man whom has only ever seen the shadow of the dog assumes that the shadow of the dog, is indeed the dog. Similarly, because the man only has a small vantage point, he assumes that the shadow of all the objects are indeed the objects themselves. However, when the man is released from the cave he is able to see a dog. Now that his vantage point is widen, he knows what a real dog is, not the shadow of a dog as before. This principle of enlightenment can be applied to any and every object. The primary notion of the allegory of the cave is that once a person has become enlightened he cannot go back to being unenlightened. 

This is a very powerful notion and I think it applies heavily to our class. Global Connection has allowed us to be unbound from our "caves" and has broaden our view. It has enlightened us on many subjects, and now that we know the truth, we can never become unenlightened again.