The Cave

Lately I’ve been listening to more music, probably because I finally have an iPod Nano.  Also, we finally have a good alternative station here.  I like pop too, especially when the kids are in the car, but I’ve always been more of an Indie/Alternative music lover.

I’m currently obsessed with Mumford and Sons.  Their music is so soulful and deep.  Their music is gritty and emotional, usually capturing several emotions, sometimes even multiple emotions in one song.  “Sigh No More” is playing in my head phones as I write this. 

I’ve been thinking a lot about their song, “The Cave.”  Here are the lyrics, in case you haven’t heard it:

It's empty in the valley of your heart
The sun, it rises slowly as you walk
Away from all the fears
And all the faults you've left behind

The harvest left no food for you to eat
You cannibal, you meat-eater, you see
But I have seen the same
I know the shame in your defeat

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

Cause I have other things to fill my time
You take what is yours and I'll take mine
Now let me at the truth
Which will refresh my broken mind

So tie me to a post and block my ears
I can see widows and orphans through my tears
I know my call despite my faults
And despite my growing fears

But I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

So come out of your cave walking on your hands
And see the world hanging upside down
You can understand dependence
When you know the maker's land

So make your siren's call
And sing all you want
I will not hear what you have to say

Cause I need freedom now
And I need to know how
To live my life as it's meant to be

And I will hold on hope
And I won't let you choke
On the noose around your neck

And I'll find strength in pain
And I will change my ways
I'll know my name as it's called again

I’ve thought a lot about these lyrics in the context of my life.  They relate directly to Plato’s allegory of the cave.  For those of y’all not familiar with this allegory, you can look it up on Wikipedia, but here is a basic summary. Plato wrote, as a discussion between Socrates and Glaucon, about men living in a cave, chained to the wall by their arms and necks so they cannot move, and they can only see what is before them.  There is a fire behind them, and men are walking over a bridge behind them, carrying all sorts of items on their shoulders, holding items. 

The men staring at the wall would think that the shadows they were seeing were reality.  If the prisoners far from the shadows made noise then the men staring at the shadows would think the shadows were talking.  If for some reason one of these men were released, he would be confused at the presence of people carrying items over the bridge.  He would think, at first, that the shadows were truer than the actual reality of the people. He would be afraid. But, as he explored this world and walks out of the cave seeing the actual sun for the first time, he would become aware that there is more to the world than first appears.

Plato attributes the shadows in the cave just to “sight,” viewing the world as it is and not taking anything else from it.  The light of the fire is the sun to the prisoners.  The journey out of the shackles and out of the cave is the ascent of the mind into the intellectual world, learning more from life than what just appears. 

In Mumford and Sons “The Cave,” when they sing, “I need freedom now, I need to know how to live my life as it’s meant to be,” it for me symbolizes this ascent of the soul into a more intellectual and spiritual plane.  This realization comes to all of us at some point in our life, usually from some traumatic event.  I love this song, because to me it represents hope.  Hope in seeing the world in a different light.  Hope in changing your life for the better and seeing things beyond that surface level that so many people are shackled and chained to without exploring a deeper meaning of life--really finding yourself.  Realizing that sometimes it takes pain to bring you into the realm of a greater self, a greater good, and increased sense of reality.  Things are not always as they seem to be, and in order to gain clarity you have to look beyond what you see.