Most people that have gone to college have been exposed to Plato’s allegory of the cave. This morning I had an experience that mirrored it almost exactly. I was on my way to the gym a little before sunrise when I noticed a deer crossing the street a few hundred yards up ahead. In the 30 years I’ve lived in northern California I’ve hit 3 deer with my car, so I’m very cautious when driving in the wee hours when deer are on the move. I slowed to a crawl, and as I got closer I noticed it was a female fawn in my headlights — male and female fawns have different spot patterns. I also noticed something very unusual. This little girl was not staring at me with the usual frozen deer in the headlights look; she had her back to the car and was staring at her own shadow—the shadow created by my headlights. She walked slowly across the street completely entranced by her shadow buddy. I don’t know what she was thinking, but she didn’t even notice me or the car — until I started flashing my high beams. I’m sorry I woke her up — she looked like she was having a good time with her new friend. That’s when I thought about Plato. In his own clever way, was Plato trying to tell his peers that they create their own reality? If you want a happy life you have to be happy — If you like drama or horror, that’s fine too. What a concept!
“The world is your exercise-book, the pages on which you do your sums. It is not reality, although you can express reality there if you wish. You are also free to write nonsense, or lies, or to tear the pages.”
— Richard Bach