Monday, November 26, 2012

Sonnet

Man, when faced with time, tends to mock the clock
They lie there, void, while the hands pass them by
Stone, blank stares; the clock continues to talk;
Unaware of the monologue, still lie.

Time is the true destroyer of all things
The master of life; the envoy of death,
He will deceive you with old feelings
You were always his pawn, since your first breath.

Time, ever cloak and dagger in his ways,
Has one weakness, few men dare to exploit.
Man’s immortality comes from peer praise,
To be Poncian takes one most adroit.

You, who are currently unknown, must make
Your mark, immortality is at stake.

Monday, November 19, 2012

Plato's Allegory of the Cave

1) The allegory of the cave according to Socrates represents a person/prisoner's journey to discovery. Discovery beyond the little that he knows, the shadows, to something greater.
2) The key elements in the imagery are the shadows, the cave itself, the prisoners, and the world that waits outside of this cave. The shadows represents the little bit that the prisoners know about reality and the prisoners represent anyone in this situation of naivety. The cave represents the prison they are withheld in and the outside world of sunlight is reality that they have yet to be enlightened with.
3) The allegory suggests that in order to be enlightened, there might be some pain involved. Realizing that your previous reality was only a small fragment of what's out there can hurt, but through this pain you gain knowledge and understanding, furthering your education and leading you to teach others.
4) The imagery of shackles suggest that the cave dwellers/prisoners are being chained down, or in other words, are not free to their own will. The cave suggests that the prisoners are somewhat ignorant of the outside world and very naive about what lies further out.
5) I feel that some figures that have much power (depending on how they use it) shackle today's society. Social media for example commonly exaggerate things or flat out lie to the public and I suppose those lies could be seen as shadow restraining us from the truth.
6) Whereas the cave prisoners are still in the cave, the freed prisoner gets to go out into the sun. Sure it's blinding at first and somewhat painful, but ultimately in the end he gets to see the beauty in it all. The freed prisoner gets the gamut of reality whereas the cave prisoners get the small fragments.
7) Lack of clarity of intellectual confusion can occur in two ways; too little information, or too much information. When constrained to such little knowledge of reality you can gain a small and confusing perception of the world, you're little world. When suddenly exposed to so much information it can be "blinding"  and the abruptness of it all can be confusing.
8) The cave prisoners must be forced out of the cave to gain intellectual freedom. This suggests that "seeing the light" isn't necessarily sought after. People tend to want to live in the comfort of the reality they have grown to know, rather than learn an entire new reality that they would then have to painfully grow accustomed to.
9) I believe there's a strong distinction between appearances and reality. An appearance can be false and it can be small. It's an appearance. It can be made out to be anything, false or true. Reality, however, well reality is reality whether we like it or not. It can not be changed or altered. It can be held back, but it's existence is still there.
10) This would mean that appearances are always true, and thus everyone should accept the reality they are given.

Thursday, November 8, 2012

Sonnet 77 Analysis

Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear,
Thy dial how thy precious minutes waste;
The vacant leaves thy mind's imprint will bear,
And of this book this learning mayst thou taste.
The wrinkles which thy glass will truly show
Of mouthed graves will give thee memory;
Thou by thy dial's shady stealth mayst know
Time's thievish progress to eternity.
Look, what thy memory can not contain
Commit to these waste blanks, and thou shalt find
Those children nursed, deliver'd from thy brain,
To take a new acquaintance of thy mind.
   These offices, so oft as thou wilt look,
   Shall profit thee and much enrich thy book


Time thievishly progresses and as it does exterior aging in evident. Aside from the exterior, your mind throughout life aggregates more and more information. Your progression in life will allow you to look back to your memories. Look elsewhere from your emotions that your memories bring. Look at the empty, waste blanks and there you shall discover something different. Allow your mind to imprint these vacant areas and you shall learn something new beyond yourself that will profit and enrich your mind.

Big Question

What role does confidence play in intelligence?