My Place In The Cave 1.3

In the allegory of the cave I believe that Plato used the prisoners as an example of us the people. The one prisoner that got to be free would be him or a philosopher because of how they understood that the “shadows” were not their realities. They are explaining that we should not only just believe the stuff we hear on the TV, radio, etc. but we should sit down and ask ourselves why. Most people would hear some of the most absurd stuff and will just believe it because a “reporter” says it, when in reality they do not know the whole truth behind the story he or she is reporting. I think every single person can relate to the allegory and know which stage they are in.

            At the stage of being chained I believe that it is the same as me being a child. Growing up I asked many questions about life as most kids do. We asked those questions to our most influential person in our lives, which most likely are our parents. When we ask those questions and our mother or father gives us their perspective on it, we believe it as if it is fact or truth. Not knowing it is just an opinion we believe it and don’t really care for it anymore. Like the prisoners in the allegory they saw something or heard something and made it into their reality since that’s all they experienced. I believed whatever my mother believed because she was older and my view on life was dependant through her answers. So, in a way the shadows were the prisoner’s “parents”.

At this point of my life I am probably looking at the shadows that are created for us. Now that I am older I am trying to understand why things are the way they are instead of just listening. I am more curious and realizing more about the life around us and how our society works. I know I am in this stage because I do not fully know what are the possibilities that I can turn my life into. I am convinced that I have and will be living my life as I did the past 18 years. I refuse to believe I am ready.

I do plan on going all the way even though it is a scary thought. I’m not sure I would like what I would see just as Socrates and Plato wrote about how the prisoner was surprised. Unlike that prisoner however, I would like to explore outside of the cave instead of going back inside. I’m always ready for something new.