Everyone living in the cave, in a material world, is living a life of shadows. Mankind lives in a world full of power and greed, which prevents humans from unchaining themselves from the cave, keeping them in the darkness which is a false reality. Today, in a society ruled by material goods, humans are unaware of the important things in life and their purpose in life, lacking a true perception of reality, instead looking at the shadows presented in front of them. To be truly enlightened and see the truth people must ignore what is in front of them, ignoring the desires of life such as fame and power and delve into deeper meanings, searching for true answers; spending time on what is really important in life.
The cave represents how as humans, people are limited, by their senses, only being able to see things with their �sensory perception� with there simply being no other way of getting out and seeing the world in another way. People think they understand the world but they don�t really and never know how things really are.
For me, it always meant that the world defines you just as you create define the world. That is to say, in only seeing humans represented as shadows on the wall, that is what you believe humans to be. Thus you must question whether you are a shadow, as well, or whether you are actually human
�All life is living in shadows�, because in the body it is not possible to completely enter the world of forms, due to living in a world full of distractions. The soul searches for pure knowledge and is more capable and superior than the body, with the body being a prison for our soul and when the body dies the soul would live in in the realm of ideas, as ideas and knowledge never die.
What we think is reality only imitates truth and is far from perfect representations of our ideals. �Reality� the material world which the body belongs to is only a mere reflection of the world of ideals and creating imperfect versions of the perfection in the ideal world.
by
happyg (student)
