Plato’s Allegory of the Cave Explained

Now, after having read the summary of the allegory of the cave, you are probably thinking, “Well, I’m not in a cave! And I’m certainly not chained to the floor. I’m free to do whatever I want!” Sure, your condition might not look as dim as it’s presented in Plato’s work, but just because you aren’t physically confined inside an underground den, it doesn’t mean you aren’t crippled by ignorance.

How is it possible that so many people are unable to recognize that they are locked inside a shadowy prison?

How can we not see that what we are being fed is a reflection of real objects on a wall, not the object itself?

In the 21st century, it seems that we should have the mental capacity to recognize that we are being deceived by some evil cult-like organization of puppeteers whose job is to manipulate our perception of reality and keep us, the cave dwellers, in a blissfully ignorant state, right?

Questions like the above, and probably many others, are circling in your fragile brain ever since you were introduced to the allegory of the cave.

But it’s like asking why people have an appetite for junk food, doom-scroll through social media despite knowing it’s rotting their brain, chain-smoke cigarettes, and/or overdose with medical substances.

The answer to both is relatively the same: You continue to do stupid stuff simply because the stupid stuff have been carefully designed to ignite the pleasure signals in your hungry for instant gratification brain.

For instance, you know that devouring an entire family-sized bag of chips leads to feeling bloated and regretting your life choices. Yet, you keep doing this night after night because the crunchy, salty goodness is the closest thing you’ll get to happiness tonight.

In other words, the “show” that is being projected to the cave people is so entertaining that they don’t even think about not watching it.

But there are other, less obvious reasons why people prefer to remain chained to the floor, binge-watching shadows on the wall in front of them.

In this Plato’s allegory of the cave explained piece, we’ll try to answer why so many people are perfectly content to continue living in a mental prison. A modern dungeon filled with feel-good stimuli that blind our senses and prevents us from recognizing our own ignorance.

The Modern Cave

In Plato’s work, The Republic, the human condition is illustrated as in a gloomy underground cave where the majority of the human population is born chained to the floor.

The whole scene looks so dark, hopeless, and full of pain.

Yet, in our modern age, this is not the case. We are surely not living in a dark underground lair where we are held captive and forced to sit and gaze at reflections of real objects. Or at least, we aren’t, right?

There is a reason it’s called allegory of the cave. The word allegory comes from the Latin “allegoria”, which is literally translated as, “speaking about something else”.¹ Plainly, the goal of this literary device is to represent a meaning with moral significance.

Yes, even though we are not physically cuffed, we are surely mentally restrained. The modern cave has been so cleverly designed to not look like a cave at all. I believe you sense where I’m going with this…

For instance, we now have smartphones that give us the perception that we are free to do whatever we want. Yet, when you think about it, it’s just like a cave. You are fed with images of what it means to be successful and happy. Thus, as you consume these ideas, your thinking is molded in such a way that it starts to match a certain standard of living.

In other words, you start wanting what everyone around you wants: a big house, a brand new (electric) car, to go places, and so on.

However, you never stop to question the whole premise. To think whether you actually need all of these things, or you simply want them because others also want them?

But this can’t be true, right? Smartphones were created fairly recently. It doesn’t make sense for this device to be the reason we remain ignorant of our own ignorance.

You are right. The obsession with scrolling through a pile of status updates from people you barely know is something recent. However, before that, something else was the main culprit constraining humanity’s mental capacity.

What?

It’s no other than education.

Yes, education.

Remember, the modern cave is designed to not look like a cave.

While education can be defined in various ways, and not all of them are bad, of course. From the perspective of being a cave, it looks like this:

The function of education is to shape a child’s character so that their desires align with the necessities of their future social role. The child believes they have free will, but in reality, they’re being carefully molded based on predefined expectations. And even if you think this can’t possibly be the case, there’s another key factor in the educational process: the family.

Our parents, who were molded themselves by the educational system, transmit the spirit and the ideals of the social structure with the end goal for you to be sculpted in the required shape.

But who created all of these rules? Who created the social structure that seemingly inspires this devious loop?

The image makers.

The Modern Image Makers

In the Republic, little is said about the puppet handlers. That is, the folks who are carrying artifacts, such as statues and figures, that cast shadows on the wall of the cave.

How do these emerge? How is it possible that certain individuals have been bonded to the ground since their infancy, whereas others have been granted the freedom to shape the collective perception?

Nothing is said about their origin, but we can easily sense what they symbolize… The natural occurring element of hierarchical social structure.

Plainly, certain people acquire sufficient knowledge not to help others, but rather to keep others stuck in the cave. They use their knowledge to manipulate and exploit those who are still blissfully ignorant.

In the book, there is one paragraph that hints what is the genuine intention of an image maker. What happens when you gain knowledge, but you use it to harm, not to help.

… haven’t you yet reflected about the men who are said to be vicious but wise, how shrewdly their petty soul sees and how sharply it distinguishes those things toward which it is turned, showing that it doesn’t have poor vision, although it is compelled to serve vice; so that the sharper it sees, the more evil it accomplishes?”

The image makers probably have gone outside the cave. They’ve seen the true nature of things. They’ve gained experience. Yet, instead of using this knowledge to try to educate people, they use their intelligence for immoral purposes.

As written in the text, these folks are “vicious but wise” and “the sharper it sees, the more evil it accomplishes”.

Or if we are to use just a few words, we can pack the above in the following: If a wise person has a big heaping bag of icky traits, he’ll use his knowledge to maximize his power and influence.

How does these people do this?

Well, they try with totalitarian dictatorships. Build a world where the masses must obey certain rules.

Not that recently, the biggest countries in the world were powered by strong central government that controlled all aspects of a nation’s life. Examples include: Nazi Germany led by Adolf Hitler, the Soviet Union under Stalin, and Fascist Italy by Benito Mussolini.

What happened to those?

Things didn’t end well.

Protest, social unrest, economic collapse. But people gain their freedom, right?

Well, yes, to a point.

What the image maker realized is that you shouldn’t try to physically chain people, but mentally.

The next era of manipulation is not being physically bond, but psychologically constrained and deceived.

To maintain power, a wise intelligent man who parasitically saps wealth and resources from the population must limit their ability to speak and protest. But he shouldn’t do it in an obvious manner. No, he should do it in a way that the majority of the people are unable to see that they are being manipulated.

As long as society provides just enough to satisfy the core needs of individuals, they will remain in a passive position. They will remain complacent. And, most importantly, they will develop traits to act as they are expected to act.

If people’s appetite for pleasure and consumption is fulfilled, they will willingly forgo freedom. If a society is structured so that people can devote much of their time pursuing pleasures, gratifying material wants, and even drugging themselves to prevent pain, they won’t mind, or see, that they are being manipulated.

Such type of lifestyle, weakens people. It makes them feeble and incapable of mounting any resistance against those who desire to rule over a society with force. Yet, such type of lifestyle also prevents people from noticing the chains of servitude that slowly tighten around them.

But the modern image makers are not only politicians who fight for more power. This group is much larger – and steadily growing.

In our current time, every person who is broadcasting his lifestyle online can be considered an image maker. Nowadays, we have all sorts of puppet handlers that we collectively call influencers.

YouTube people or TikTok stars, people casting images on a wall, are all around us.

What are they trying to teach us?

Surely there are a lot of folks who try to unchain society. But the majority are such that present themselves as helpers but, in truth, are doing what they are doing only for their individual gains.

It doesn’t take a Sherlock Holmes to see the fake nature of modern image makers. On one hand, they are presenting themselves as saviors. On the other, with the same tone and attitude, they try to persuade us that our life is not enough until we have this thing they offer or watch/read more of their “genuine” content.

Is there a way out of this absurd situation?

The Modern Escape

If education is part of the problem of our ignorance, how do we approach this?

Since the social structure is created in a way to lock us in an underground lair and keep us oblivious to the outside world, what can we do?

We need to get new education. Rarely such that is taught in institutions, but rather, education that is gained through critical thinking and questioning cultural and social norms.

In the book, the part where a person is freed and let loose is not so detailed. It’s kinda like this, “you are free, pack your bags and go outside to see the real world you illiterate scum!”

In reality, things are not that simple.

Plato’s main point with the allegory of the cave is to show what happens to people who aren’t educated – basically, they’re stuck in the dark, literally and metaphorically. Then, to present the journey from ignorance to enlightenment. Deep stuff, I know.

But let’s not forget, he’s a philosopher. He is not some self-proclaimed spiritual guru trying to hack the Google algorithm with “5 Simple Steps to Become Enlightened.” Nah, Plato’s writing style is quite different. He doesn’t spoon-feed you easy answers or catchy slogans for your Instagram bio.

Instead, he’s like: “Here’s the main idea. Now, go use that gray matter of yours to figure out the rest.” Because, you know, it’s philosophy. You’ve gotta put in some actual mental energy to understand the main idea of his work.

So back to the cave…

Let’s look at the following text:

“Now consider, what their release and healing from bonds and folly would be like if something of this sort were by nature to happen to them. Take a man who is released and suddenly compelled to stand up, to turn his neck around, to walk and look up toward the light…

A person is finally free to turn his gaze towards what he desires. Plato continues…

“And, if he compelled him to look at the light itself, would his eyes hurt and would he flee, turning away to those things that he is able to make out and hold them to be really clearer than what is being shown?”

Before we directly discuss the text, let’s imagine this: your whole life, you’ve known with absolutely 100% certainty, that the Sun moves around the Earth. It’s an absolute fact. You have no clue who originally came up with it, but whatever. You heard it in school, and schools only teach solid, unquestionable truths, period.

Then one day, a scruffy dude who probably hasn’t shaved in a while waltzes up to you and says, “Actually, no. The Sun doesn’t revolve around the Earth. In fact, it’s the Earth that revolves around the Sun. Oh, and by the way, Earth isn’t even the center of the universe.”

Boo, just some random mad man. Who gives a sh*t, right?

But this guy, the same dude with wild ideas and even wilder beard, doesn’t stop there. He unzips his scruffy, worn-out bag and pulls out maps and proofs. Yeah, all kind of materials to showcase that his argument is not some wild bedtime story to mess with your head.

So, how do you react to this renegade thinker? Do you calmly reconsider everything you’ve been told and say, “Wow, thanks for that, random guy with a beard! I’ll absolutely reexamine all of my worldviews about the cosmos!”? Yeah, not likely.

If it’s year 1633, and you’re a big shot like chief inquisitor Father Vincenzo Maculani da Firenzuola, you will go for the classic power move: burn his bag in front of the whole village and deem the bearded person a heretic. Plus, demand this outcast, called Galileo Galilei, to be imprisoned.

The Earth one again is the center of the universe.

End of story.

And yeah, this actually happened.²

What does this have to do with our sudden release from our birth shackles?

Everything!

Now, picture this: someone hands you a dusty old book, like Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. You flip it open, and bam – you’re hit with a massive buffet of arguments explaining how modern media is basically turning our brains into a ball of clay. The book has this big discussion about how connecting with people across the globe has somehow made the irrelevant relevant. Like, do you actually need to know what’s happening on the other side of the world right this second? Yeah, probably not. But that clickbait headline? It’s just so juicy, you have to click it.

And, of course, the book isn’t done there. It politely suggests that your endless scrolling isn’t just a waste of time – it’s actually ruining your quality of life.

So, how do you take this intellectual slap in the face? Do you a) nod along and rethink your entire relationship with modern media and your small computer in your pocket, or b) set the book on fire and go troll the fan-based Facebook page dedicated to the author?

Actually, don’t even answer that. We already know which way this is going.

Basically, the passages from Plato’s work aim to explain how we tend to react when our beliefs are questioned with new ideas. We don’t even try to consider that there is a portion of truth in them, no we, “… flee, turning away to those things that he is able to make out.” Each new idea that is different from our perception of reality is met with resistance. And instead of trying to see the truth of this proposed worldview, we return to the comfort of our already established view of reality.

Yet, some persist. Some are able to break free from the cultural prison established by the mob and see that there is more to life. Some are able to spot that the fascination of society over reflections that are considered real and worth pursuing is nothing more than widespread deception created by people with power. By people who prefer to keep the general population locked in a state of pure ignorance.

In the modern world, this emigration from the cave tends to happen by one of the following ways:

• Questioning the established social conditions.
• Spending time considering what else, different from what everyone is doing, can be done.
• Engaging frequently with classic literature.
• Being a curious and open-minded individual.
• Instead of readily accepting views shared by others, you try to find errors in them.
• Meeting a teacher who helps you see beyond the modern shadows.

Or if we can sum it up, you take a stand contrary to what is popular and considered the accepted benchmark of being happy and successful. You somehow sense that life is more than the shadowy things everyone around you is chatting about enthusiastically, and you are eager to discover what’s more out there.

The Modern Enlightenment

In the allegory of the cave, the escape from the cave represents the journey from ignorance to enlightenment. The sun illumination over the true forms of all those things which the former prisoner had previously known only as shadows. Seeing what truly matters over what is pure trivial and insignificant.

In the modern world, the escape is centered around the effort to gain freedom from not only political, economic, and social shackles that have bound men. But also – probably the final boss in our path towards enlightenment – the chains we place on ourselves.

Here’s an example from my own life…

From an early age, I’ve established numerous (wrong) beliefs about what I should ought to want. Some of these wants were directly presented as things I have to do because the “society” said so, while others were subconsciously planted in my head.

Here are some of these beliefs:

• Others should like you.
• You should obey those with more power.
• You should get a job.
• You should graduate from college – the subject doesn’t quite matter, what matters is having a diploma.
• Money is really important.
• How you look is very important.
• Drinking is not bad.
• Watching television for a pastime activity is probably the best thing you can do with your time.
• Traveling should happen at least as frequently as your best friends. When possible, you should visit more places so others will envy your adventurous lifestyle and marvel at your Instagram-worthy experiences.
• Feeling good all the time should be your primary goal in life.

I still remember my mom lecturing me about how I should study hard to get a job. I was probably sixteen back then. Not that I didn’t understand her arguments, but I always find it kind of odd: “Why put so much effort in studying things I’m not really passionate about, to eventually end up working a job I’m not really interested in?”

At the time, I always thought that there is more to that. Life can’t be just study dumb things to work a dumb job.

When I asked my mother for an explanation, she didn’t say much. “That’s how the world works, son!”

She never questioned the established rules set by society. She was doing her part in the social machine. For my mom, this was, and still is, the only way a person can function in society.

Was she at least happy with what she was doing? Well, she said she was. She worked a job based on what she studied in school. She was, supposedly, doing what she always wanted. Yet, complaining about her boss not paying her enough was a regular occurrence. We never had enough income, we had just enough to have something to wear and not starve.

How is this not living like in a cave?

You go daily to work something you are not interested in only to go back the next day and do it all over again. Oh yeah, but at least we have a color TV where we can all come together and marvel at how others are living a better life.

With the just-shared, I suppose others can find resemblance in their own lives. External factors plant seeds about how our life should unfold. If we never take a stance against these norms, we’ll forever live a cave-like life. We’ll forever try to please others, instead of pleasing our own desires.

For instance, instead of studying hard things I’m not really interested in. If I had the option to turn back time, I’d love it if I could have spent more time figuring out what are my interests – probably with the support of my parents.

But no, that didn’t happen. My love for writing emerged years later quite by chance. Along with that, my rebel persona started to shape.

From a person who was always willing to do things, so others can like me, I quite literary stopped giving a f*ck. I started to concentrate on what I wanted to do with my life – instead of constantly living to meet everyone else’s expectations.

As you can sense, my popularity drastically dropped.

Yet, with this, I don’t want to imply that I’ve escaped the cave and I’m now this sage guy who has all the answers. Not at all. What I probably now have is a finely tuned BS detector that allows me to spot triviality when I see it.

For instance, some people, most people I know actually, use the internet to entertain themselves. To escape the dullness of their reality and laugh at a random video suggested by a sophisticated algorithm that is designed to make more people locked in a position of passive consumption. Instead of using the internet as a source of knowledge for creating a better reality for the person, the tool is used as an escape from reality.

Personally, for me, what triggered my disengagement from established societal norms was a combination between reading books, browsing through the vast internet ocean, and then simply sitting somewhere and thinking about what I just consumed.

After many sessions of reading, thinking, and then doing it all over again. I started to notice how some things begin to feel odd to me:

• During my school years, parents and teachers were all about having good grades – despite the fact that I saw, through the life of adults, how these don’t quite matter eventually.
• When around friends, most of the conversations with my peers were centered around getting this new thing or visiting this new place – despite the stack of items already obtained or the places that were already visited.
• Later, as an adult, your focus shifts towards becoming more and more successful, getting a prettier car on a yearly basis, owning a bigger home, and gaining more prestige – despite how hollow and repetitive that cycle eventually feels.

All of these paths, while surely significant in some way, started to seem ludicrous.

At some point I stopped in the midst of this fanatic activity and thought about the following: “If I do get that new job, if I do visit this country, and even if I do get a new car – what then? Based on how the image makers are shaping our worldviews, I should start planning my next career move, I should prepare for my next trip, I should look for a better car. But what is the use of this endless pursue for material gains? And, is it really I who wants all of this? Or, am I compelled to want what I am supposed to want?”

The more I thought about, “what happens after I get what I want?” The more I realized that…

• A life focused towards endlessly pursuing material possessions is a wasted life.
• A life where I showcase the highlights of my trips on social media suddenly lost it’s meaning.
• A life where I spend my leisure time playing video games now seemed tasteless.

Probably all of this was due to me becoming a father and now being older. But I owe most of the updated beliefs to the books I’ve absorbed throughout the years.

Of course, all of the above begs the question: “Well, if the wants established by society are unimportant, what then is important?”

According to Plato’s work, we should get familiar with the Forms and The Good.

The Theory of Forms, also called Theory of Ideas, is a concept suggesting that to have a good life, we should understand the Ideas that are non-physical, timeless, absolute, and unchangeable.³

As for The Good, this is like the ultimate source of truth, the highest thing we can strive for.⁴

Plato explains that just as the sun enables sight in the physical world, the Form of the Good enables us to understand and perceive all other Forms.

Think of it as the foundation of a building. If you have a good base, you will have a good building.

Let’s give an example because things are getting a bit abstract around here:

Say that you are not radically different from every other person living in the 21st century. You’re preoccupied with gaining more material possessions to tame your insecurities and increase your positions in the trivial game “who got a nicer car”.

If that’s the case, Plato will say that you are living in the world of appearances. To get closer to The Good, you should focus towards more meaningful activities.

For instance, shifting from self-centered existence to aligning yourself with what’s morally and intellectually fulfilling: helping others, acting with integrity, doing meaningful work that benefits others.

While surely I personally don’t have the credentials to sum-up a so powerful theory, getting closer to The Good, for me, means moving away from chasing external validation and material wealth to focusing on knowledge, virtue, and meaningful inner growth.

The Modern Return

At this point you feel confident, you have a bag full of wisdom ready to be spread among the Gucci-wearing cave-dwellers below the surface.

But before we make our way back to the cave, there is one interesting question to look at:

Why not stay here, where it’s sunny and beautiful?

Of course, the answer is because there is technically no up and down.

The whole story about the cave is a metaphor, remember? It aims to portray what happens to humanity when education is lacking and when people are chained to vices.

As your worldview gets a core update, you remain within close proximity with the fellow “cave people”.

The act of returning to the cave can be attributed to the duty to guide others out of ignorance. However, I personally think that emerges from the desire of the person to have more humans focused on improving the world we live in, not simply folks who are stuck in an endless cycle of chasing shallowness.

You see, when you see the truth, there is no way you unsee it.

Topics that previously sounded significant and worthy discussing, now sound dull and pointless. Thus, you develop this urge to help others reshape their thinking – just so you have at least one person to talk to and aren’t stuck surrounded by idiots all the time.

We might want to think that the act of returning to the ignorant is a selfless act, but I think there is a large dose of selfishness going on.

In theory it looks like you are going somewhere physically and returning, but it’s actually an internal maneuver. You are where you are, you simply ascend internally.

You surrounding don’t change, you change.

So what happens when you try to unimprison your friends, relatives, etc?

The first obstacle is the pain associated with the transition from light to darkness. In modern times, I’d like to imagine it as follows: As a person who is now more confident in what’s really important in life, you find it strange, insulting even, when people discuss trivial things. Things like: the number of likes they got on their latest post, the clothes they want, or already did purchase, the newest restaurant everybody is visiting, the TV series that everybody is watching and it’s supposedly aw-so-good.

Previously, you were, too, engaged with all the topics from above, but now it’s different. Your thinking is locked on this: “There are more pressing issues in our modern world, why nobody talks about them?”

You found this confusing, and as you try to engage your interlocutors in the topics that actually matter, contrary to your expectations, they all seem totally uninterested.

Then, you try with a different topic. For example, the problem of consumerism and how this is hurting us not only financially, but also mentally – we got preoccupied with spending, we are focused on immediate gratification.

Here your companions get a bit offended, “Who are you to talk about how I should be spending my money?”

You then try with something a bit more general… leisure time.

Instead of the casual get-together at a coffee shop or a pub, you suggest to your friends to go for a run or to hit the gym. “As you are getting older,” you further add, “health should become our top priority.” Once again, you bump into a brick wall of indifference.

“What? You are asking me to get up early in the morning to work out? It’s called the weekend for a reason, amigo, you are supposed to rest and have a good time, not drown in your own sweat.”

You are both puzzled and exhausted. You were trying to help, why others don’t want to listen to you?

On the next day, you decide something different: instead of trying to drag your friends into the gym, plus lecturing them again on the “benefits of working out,” you just go find some new friends at the gym. At least the people visiting the gym already get it, you don’t need to convince them about this.

And while the latter is true, these gym-goers are into healthy living, you found their character wasteful in relation to other things.

Sure, they are religiously tracking macros, carrying their meal plans everywhere they go, and nervously shaking their protein shakes. But ask them about anything outside their gym bubble, and it’s crickets. Books? No clue. Important behavior patterns? Don’t even try.

It’s like their entire personality revolves around fitness, but when it comes to, you know, life, there’s not much else going on.

They’ve mastered the art of squats, but somehow missed out on critical thinking.

Frustrated and exhausted from dealing with the world’s shadow-chasers, you grab your metaphorical torch of enlightenment and head straight to your parents. Surely, they will get it, right? I mean, they’re old now. And aren’t old people supposed to know what a “good life” looks like by this point? You won’t even need to mention The Good – they’ll have the whole philosophy down pat and probably throw you a parade for figuring it out yourself.

But nope. As soon as you walk in the door, instead of getting the warm, wise welcome you were hoping for, you’re hit with a list of requests. Your mom? She’s freaking out about something going wrong with her Facebook wall, like the whole world’s collapsing because of it. And your dad? Well, he’s on a mission to download, as he puts it, “a program giving you a never-ending stream of random short-form videos you just swipe through.” Apparently that’s what all of his cool co-workers are doing these days – watching TikTok videos.

Forget deep life wisdom, your folks are too busy trying to navigate social media like it’s an Olympic sport.

Where all of this leaves you?

Feeling alone and misunderstood.

Despite the fact that you are physically in close proximity to other people, they all feel so distant. They all feel so flawed in their worldviews. Moreover, they all seem to lack the desire to do anything about it.

Of course, this is true. Someone who recognize his shortcomings will try to change. The main problem with living in an underworld cavern, it’s the person inability to see his wrongdoings. Thus, keep living in error.

The allegory of the cave is about the journey from light to darkness, from a world of shadowy reflections of real objects to a world of where we see the true essence of things. It’s kinda like upgrading from a black and white TV to a vibrant 3D Ultra HD LCD screen.

But that’s just if you are willing to take the journey.

However, the allegory of the cave is also about what happens when you don’t ascend. When you don’t even realize that there is something beyond the cave. When, for the most of your life – if not even your whole life – you keep living inside that same cave. People around you might discuss topics that try to challenge your perspectives. Others might surprise you with ideas that are just so “out there”. But instead of trying to understand more about these concepts, you feel threatened, even hostile towards them.

The above is the reason people who have seen the light feel helpless. Others are hostile and aggressive. Others are refusing to accept that there is something more out there. As a result, these folks start to desire a more isolated life – to be left alone with their thoughts and his ideas.

The Modern Philosopher

In the Republic, the cave dwellers are trying to kill the person who returned to the cave. They violently resist any attempts for help that is different from their understanding.

Can you imagine, someone trying to help others is greeted with knives and rocks?

Well, when you think about it, it’s not so implausible.

How did your friends reacted the last time you encouraged them to end a toxic relationship, ditch a soul-sucking job, or to quit a nasty habit. They certainly did not offer to buy you a dinner, did they?

Surely, it’s not quite as dramatic as dragging people out of a dark cave into the light, but it’s quite similar.

In that scene, where the cave people straight-up attack the guy who tries to bring them out, Plato wants to showcase what it’s like to be a philosopher trying to educate people.

Plainly, it’s hard. Even life-threatening.

Most people aren’t just comfortable in their own ignorance, but aggressive to anyone who points out their errors.

So what can you do to enrich the worldviews of the stubborn cave people?

Here’s an idea: What if instead of trying to break the chains and drag people out, you go to the level of the image makers?

You cast images which will allow the prisoners to slowly unshackle and turn on their own. Begin to willingly desire to escape their condition and make the journey out to the sunlight themselves.

You probably sense where this is going: Make content.

In our modern world, everyone is trying hard to become a guru by sharing what he supposedly mastered. To transform from an ordinary amateur with an opinion to ask-me-I-know-everything-about-this-topic influencer.

Sadly, the world is full of such folks. But these people, contrary to what they preach, don’t have the interest of showing you the way out of the cave. No, they simply use the Idea of the Good to sell you extra materials you don’t really need.

A vivid example of such people in the modern world are the all-too-familiar guys like Tony Robbins, Grant Cardone, Brian Tracy, or basically anyone with a TikTok or a YouTube channel.

Not that what they share is bad, or unuseful, it’s not. But it’s just so damn salesy. You purchase this material, and they immediately hit you with the classic upsell: “You actually need this other thing, too.”

In my opinion, if you are genuinely interested in helping people break free from their flaws, insecurities, and straight-up delusions. Your goal shouldn’t be to become another image maker who is just putting up a show to manipulate others. Your job should be to try, with subtle nudges, to help people reveal for themselves their flaws.

Some Closing Thoughts

The cave in the allegory is a city, a local community, the family. Your family. My family.

In that sense, not all caves are created equal. Not all cities are created equal. And surely, not all families develop equally.

Some communities – and here I generalize the above – cast more powerful images than others. Furthermore, certain images, positively prohibit us from seeing reality.

“This can’t be true,” you might say, “my family, city, local community wishes the best for me, right mom?”

In theory yes, but in reality it is not so simple.

Let’s throw the following phrase you’ve probably heard to explain this better: “You can only teach what you know.”

This applies to a typical family dynamics. If your parents insist that you should become a doctor, a lawyer, a banker, or something else that is not related to your talents or desires – simply a job they wholeheartedly believe it’s the right thing for you. You will most likely end up doing it regardless of whether you like it or not.

And that’s just one example. There are plenty more.

• Your friends are convinced crypto day trading is the path to easy riches, so you dive in headfirst – even though you barely understand how Bitcoin works.
• Your neighbor just bought a brand new electric BMW, and now suddenly, you’re convinced that your beat-up sedan from 2008 needs a high-tech upgrade too – despite the fact that you can barely afford groceries.
• Your schoolmates get pulled into some bizarre cult that’s brainwashing people and draining their bank accounts. Yet, judging from their looks, they all look happy and satisfied. Pressured by FOMO you find yourself heavily intrigued.

Basically, we grow up believing that we are self-willing individuals. That we decide what is best for us, that we are in control. Yet, if we don’t unchain ourselves from these invisible chains, if we don’t make the journey out of the cave, we’ll keep living in this illusion. We’ll continue being part of that cave dynamics where we think, feel, and will what we are supposed to think, feel, and will.

How do we get out of this situation and find salvation?

Based on Plato’s work, it’s all about the right kind of education. Understanding that we don’t naturally appear in the world knowing the depths of reality – the path from darkness to light – nor that we can rely on the person sitting next to us to help us. We have to ignite an inner desire in ourselves to make the journey through the cave all the way up to the Idea of the Good.

“Either we shall find what it is we are seeking or at least we shall free ourselves from the persuasion that we know what we do not know.” Plato

---

Footnotes:

1. Allegory (n.) Etymology. Available at: https://www.etymonline.com/word/allegory
2. Galileo goes on trial for heresy | April 12, 1633. History.com. Available at: https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/galileo-is-accused-of-heresy
3. Theory of forms. Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theory_of_forms
4. Demos, R. (1937) ‘Plato’s idea of the good’, The Philosophical Review, 46(3), p. 245. https://doi:10.2307/2181085