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What If Everything You Believe Is Just A Shadow On The Wall?

Anu
6 min readApr 20, 2025

Plato’s answer.

Allegory of the cave

Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, one of the most enduring metaphors in political philosophy, reveals a daunting image of human nature.

The prisoners have been chained since childhood inside a dark cave, facing a wall. Behind them burns a fire, and between the fire and the prisoners, objects are passing by, casting flickering shadows on the wall in front of them. To the prisoners, those shadows are reality. Only thing they’ve ever known. But those shadows are of mere puppets and birds.

The cave allegory has stood the test of time. It is not just an ancient thought experiment but a mirror held up to modern life also.

The cave is our comfort zone. A false solace we have built out of our habits, familiarity, routine, and fear of the unknown.

The prisoners were chained unwillingly, but are we?

Or is it our mere unwillingness to question what we see, out of choice—the choice to stay in our comfort zones?

If not out of choice, then what keeps us away from the truth?

ENTER THE CAVE AND YOU SHALL KNOW: JOURNEY TO THE TRUTH

  1. LIVING IN IGNORANCE: THE SHACKLED SOUL
Anu
Anu

Written by Anu

Before the coffee gets cold...let's reflect.☕

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