The Allegory of Plato's Cave
I love The Allegory of Plato's Cave. I think of the cave as representing our ignorance and darkness, and being out of the cave as enlightenment. It makes sense that letting go of our ignorance and darkness can be painful. Since the fire represents distorted knowledge, it makes the images controlled by the puppet masters twisted and flawed. The puppet masters control and manipulate that information, and the voluntary slaves buy into the shadow images (issues around wealth, power, ideals, commercialism, addiction, health, what's necessary for survival) without realizing they are in control of their own destinies. I think the power in the Allegory comes when you start asking yourself questions, like: • If you realize that you are in control of your own destiny and escape the manipulation of the puppet masters and get out of the cave, couldn’t you still fall back into the cave by falling prey to a different form of manipulation? Is the cave about a cycle of self-awareness? (You can be in the dark about one issue and enlightened about another.) • How do we know when knowledge is being distorted or manipulated? • How do we determine who is responsible for who is distorting and manipulating information? Do the ends ever justify the means?
