Plato's Cave - Aim for the truth

[sraj]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4kYCnZo3Bw

[Keith Bacon]

Hi Selvaraj,

I hadn't heard of Plato's Cave before. It's an extremely good analogy and related to how it is so difficult to teach people about the Alexander Technique - or any mind/body method. 

There is one way of arriving at truth through observation of what is apparent and making deductions.

There is another way which involves seeking new experiences - getting out of the cave.

Added to this there is a special branch of new experience - the ones that bring somatic re-adjustment in the system and the knowledge that comes from this. 

Then I think there is another layer of 'knowledge'. When people are affected by somatic re-adjustment they don't understand how they changed so they attribute it to something - 2 explanations I know well are Primary Control & Rebalancing of the Autonomic Nervous System. But some add more fanciful ideas - paranomal / super-natural forces. Some may actually experience things we think of as super-natural but we don't believe them so think they are fantasists - something that makes this field of study very difficult to navigate!.

But also when people try to comprehend words from a person writing from these experiences they will not see the meaning that the creator of the words intended - something Alexander wrote about.   

From spiritual circles there are writings about how the ego stops the thinking mind from seeing how the world actually is. As you meditate (or do lots of hands on Alexander work) parts of the ego weaken and the interpretation of things in the word changes - you see things more as they really are, This is a thing people tend to think of as a learned skill but I suspect it is more that rebalancing of the ANS (& the changes related to that) reduces that part of the ego.

I think Alexandr's writing about emotional gusts & fixed beliefs and prejudices might be in alignment with that idea.  

Cheers

Keith

PS I hope you are keeping safe from that horrendous covid wave we are hearing of in the news here.

 

On Wed, 21 Apr 2021 at 07:06, sraj <sra...@gmail.com> wrote:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4kYCnZo3Bw

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "AlexTech Mail List" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to alextech+u...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/alextech/5a9977e4-a654-4a09-9399-bfea01c43ffcn%40googlegroups.com.

[sraj]

Hi Keith, List,

Thanks for your concern; safe so far. We Indians don't understand the meaning of maintaining distance, we are not shy of even making physical contact with strangers. I have still not make up my mind whether this is good or bad. Do we want a world of fiercely contesting individuals (and nations) pushing forward their individual interests (careless even about the natural environment which supports life on the planet). Or do we want a more tribal world; a tribe of 100 individuals is understandable; how do we make a tribe out of 7.5 billion people, separated by national boundaries, customs, religions and languages: this is an existential question.

..... I digress; spread of the virus was facilitated by large crowds taking part in recent elections and religious festivities.

Regards,

Selvaraj  

P.S. Is improper USE part of the problem? One evident problem with improper USE is that we will be too busy solving our personal problems (health & otherwise) to engage with the wider world.