The allegory of the cave is an allegory by Plato in which the Greek philosopher describes the relationship between man and knowledge.
Here is the summary of the myth: in a cave there are prisoners, chained since childhood and unable to turn their gaze behind them where a fire burns. These prisoners can only see some shadows projected by the fire on the wall in front of them and, unable to imagine what is happening behind them, they believe that these shadows are the only existing reality. Those shadows are instead the projection of what happens outside the cave, that is, the coming and going of people busy carrying out everyday life.
Plato imagines what would happen if one of the prisoners managed to free himself: the man would begin to walk towards the exit of the cave, feeling more and more discomfort and pain in his eyes, obviously not accustomed to the light. Once outside, he would first be dazzled by the sight of the sun and then, gradually, he would be able to see better and would begin to look at what surrounds him, realizing that what he believed to be the only possible reality was not at all. The man would then go back to tell everything to the other prisoners and to help them free themselves, but having to re-accustom his eyes to seeing in the shadow, he would be mocked by the other slaves who, believing that the light had damaged his sight, would not believe him and, giving no value to his words, could even kill him if he insisted on wanting to show them the way to the exit.
There are many symbols in this myth and the main ones are:
- the fire which represents knowledge;
- what happens outside the cave which symbolizes reality;
- the shadows projected by the fire on the wall which represent opinions, the appearance of things.
- the sun is the supreme idea of Good.
Plato, among the infinite lessons that each of us can draw from the myth, wants to teach us how the love of truth and knowledge can lead man to free himself from the conditioning of others’ opinions, particularly from those who do not want to follow a path of liberation from their own mental cages and inner growth. And not only that: those who are “chained” to their own convictions consider wrong everything that is different from their own point of view.
Finally, what in my opinion is the most important lesson: the search for Good comes from the will to free oneself from the arrogance of already knowing everything and having the truth in one’s pocket; it requires perseverance in undertaking a difficult path and the strength to resist the judgment of others. But only in this way can one enjoy the light of the Sun.
♥
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark. The real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light”
Plato
