Writing is always about communication and sometimes that communication is direct, like “be kind to others.” And sometimes it is indirect, like Plato’s Allegory of the Cave in which he explores the illusions of life using men trapped in a cave trying to interpret the shadows on the wall.
The anchor for chapter 12 of “30 Philosophers” is Philo of Alexandria and the idea of allegory. In about 20 CE, the early Judaic thinker had a life-changing encounter with a mysterious sect of ascetics called the Therapeutae.
In his treatise “On the Contemplative Life,” he describes the Therapeutae as a model of the importance of contemplation and the study of texts beyond their words. Philo writes,
“They are also skillful in the use of allegories, for they do not confine themselves to the bare words, but lay hold of the hidden sense which is concealed beneath the words…”
Allegory is a literary technique in which characters, events, and settings represent abstract ideas or moral qualities.
Allegorical interpretation is the process of understanding the symbolic meaning behind a text or story.
It allows for a deeper understanding of the wisdom embedded in the text of stories including literature, art, and movies.
