Allegories:Allegory of the Blindfold
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Allegories:Allegory of the Blindfold
By Mike Sosteric
Imagine for a moment a society like no other. Imagine a civilization of love, peace, and compassion where nobody goes hungry, nobody wants for anything, and everyone is equally loved. Imagine a perfect society with few worries, no suffering, and no wants. Imagine a society where a wise and shining population danced out their days in peace, prosperity, and joy. Imagine a garden paradise, an Eden, a Shambhala. Now, imagine that one day, for some reason, everybody in this society starts to wear a blindfold. One moment, the people are dancing in the light and the next they are plunged into darkness.
As you might guess, being plunged into darkness in this fashion made life a lot more difficult. In darkness, the people struggled. They crashed into each other, they dropped stuff, and they broke things. It was not too long before the bumping and the crashing caused them frustration, anger, and pain. It was bad and it got worse every day.
You would think that as things continued to deteriorate, these people, these Dwellers in Darkness would take off their blindfolds, but they did not. The Dwellers were dazed and confused and they forgot they were wearing blindfolds at all. So, as the generations passed, these once shiny people gradually transformed into angry, bitter ogres who no longer had the time nor the energy to care about anything or anybody but themselves.
Still, no matter how bad the suffering became, no matter how many generations passed, there were always stories. Elders would tell tales of a shiny, happy place that had once existed, where the children danced and played. In this happy place there was no poverty, war, or disease. In this happy place, everybody smiled all the time. That is what the elders said, but most people accepted the status quo. Most thought these elders were just telling stories. Still, some did wonder and some asked questions.
“Why is everything so dark and confusing?
Why are we always bumping into things?
Has it always been this way?”
Various answers to these questions were proposed.
Some came to the conclusion that there was no explanation for the darkness and confusion. For these Existential Depressives the universe was empty, life was random, this is how it had evolved, and that was the end of the story. The best the people could do was to simply accept the cold, bitter truth and try to be healthy and happy.
Others, unhappy with the Empty Universe Theory, appended bizarre meaning and purpose—These people, these temple priests, said that all the bumping and grinding was actually good for us. It was either punishment/penance for previous acts or tempering of our immortal souls.
Still others, happy with neither cosmic emptiness nor bizarre purpose, continued to search for answers. These folks wandered hither and yon, over hill and dale, through cave and over stream until one day they wandered into a dark forest, sat down, ate some shrooms which they found on the ground (they were hungry), and had their “mind” (their Bodily Ego), completely blown out.
In a flash, they were enlightened.
In an instant, all was revealed.
With the blindfold off, these mystics (let’s call them) could see the problem quite clearly. Easy fix. Just take the blindfold off.
Of course, this sounds great, but unfortunately not quite that easy. Turns out, to eyes unaccustomed, full daylight is dazzling and bright. To eyes unaccustomed, fully daylight quickly overwhelms.
Think about it.
One minute nothing and the next the entire world is revealed. To the neophyte, the light is blinding, confusing, and often frightening.
It was a shock, and so instinctively, the mystics snatched their blindfold up and put it back on. And some where happy with that. They had seen their glimpse, but afraid to try again. They went back to their normal life and their normal and jobs happy knowing that there was something that was so much more. Some even took that glimpse and marketed and sold it as total enlightenment. They went on speaking tours and wrote mystical sounding books and dazzled everybody that didn’t know with their tiny little glimpse of truth. But a few were not happy with their Glimpse.
They had seen the garden, and they yearned to live there once more. So they rested and reflected and when they were ready, they went back, ate the shroomies of life, and did it again, and again, and again, each time staying longer and being less overwhelmed until finally they could live with no blindfold at all. And they returned to the people—not as mystics or merchants of mystery but as teachers, artists, and healers. They spoke of what they had seen.
At first, people were scarred, scared, and confused. The light hurt. The truth overwhelmed, but these teachers and the healers were persistent.
“Breathe deeply”
“Stay calm”.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“It is beautiful. Can you not see?”
And slowly, bit by bit, glimpse by glimpse, step by cautious step the people began to remember. They learned to see once more, and on that day of remembrance, on that day of graduation, there was much rejoicing. A new dance had began—a sacred dance, and ancient dance, reborn in the full light of day.