From the moment we are born, our minds are shaped by the environment in which we interact and we are taught to view life in a certain way . We are limited by the controlling forces that result from what we learn in general and from our parents, siblings, television, teachers, school texts, and many other means. The problem is that while we are confined within these norms, we miss the opportunity to see what is beyond and what is truly real, and instead keep our eyes fixed on the perfectly cast shadows in front of us. In Plato's allegory, those in the cave, just like us humans, have been there since birth and have not seen the light and are doomed to ignorance or, at best, to opinion. In this article I will show how my understanding of reality changed after reading Plato's Allegory of the Cave. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay In Plato's Allegory of the Cave, we are introduced to fictional prisoners who, since birth, have lived in the depths of a cave their entire lives. In reality, they would know nothing other than what is provided to them. The prisoners are chained, so they can only look ahead. Behind them is a path with blazing fire, which projects objects onto the wall in front of them, shadows of people traveling, objects and other things. For them, there is certainly one thing that is real, and that is the cast shadow. in front of them. This can result in a weak form of understanding due to what prisoners choose to believe is reality. Plato then provides a description of what might happen if one of the prisoners were able to escape slavery and leave the cave. Facing directly into the sunlight would hurt his eyes, and he might even choose to go back to the cave because it's definitely more comfortable to be somewhere where there is less pain. But if that doesn't happen, he might adapt and see the individuals and objects he initially saw as shadows. Plato argues that if the prisoner continues his escape and manages to leave the cave, he would be blinded by true reality. But after a while he would adapt and be able to see things in this upper world and recognize that they were more real than the shadows he had experienced in the cave. If this escaped prisoner ultimately returns to the cave with the intention of enlightening his fellow inmates, still partly blinded by the enlightening experience, the prisoner will have difficulty readjusting to life in the shadows. So he wouldn't be able to convince the other prisoners of the good he had seen. Humans and the reality of the universe are perfectly reflected by the prisoners and the dark world where we constantly experience the shadows of reality. Just like the prisoners in the cave, human beings spend most of their lives in a cave chained so that we can only see the shadows of reality projected on a wall in front of us through a large fire. Most people will be content to see the changing patterns of the shadows before them, but few others will try to see them and learn from them, but in both cases they only see the shadows of reality. However, if one of these people manages to free themselves and escape from “the cave”. He will inevitably see the true nature of existence. He could definitely go back to the cave and try to explain to the others what true reality is and how different it is from the projection, but thereChances are they won't believe it. They are more likely to simply continue to adhere to their long-held beliefs, even if they are misinformed. People take what might be considered shadows of their imagination as reality. Coming out of our caves symbolizes learning the true nature of humanity in its divine form, sleeping and all, but most importantly, morality, goodness, beauty, and truth. For Plato, the light of the sun is a representation of truth and the divine while the fire in the cave is an inferior source of light and is not part of the true and good. Once a person can achieve this knowledge of the ideal, they may find it difficult to return to the ordinary world where ordinary objects are only a reflection. Personally, I may not be able to perceive the true form of reality rather than the actual form of reality. simple shadows like that of the prisoners, but at least I understand that the true form of reality is beyond us and that what we perceive in the world is only a shadow projected on a wall making our mind believe that it is This is the real object. Thinking from the shadows chains humanity to the chains of ignorance. Therefore, we see and hear, taste and feel, smell and interpret the world, and form our beliefs in ways that are shaped by the experiences we perceive of the world. These beliefs, however, are not closely linked to objective reality. So we live two lives, one that is a shadow of our reality, propelled by imagination and shaped from birth by societal experiences and those invisible to us, which I believe encompasses actual reality. One of these two realities unfolds before the human eye, day after day, reflected right in front of us for thousands of years. As humans, we live in the reality of what we see, feel and experience – the shadows on the cave wall. Plato's allegory aims to encourage the human race to emerge from the darkness of its ignorance into the brilliance of sunlight, such as knowledge of things as they really are. The writing shadows cast across the flickering fire show people's imagination. The irony shows that only natural sunlight can shed light on the errors to which our beliefs are subject. Plato's allegory of the cave shows how our primitive sub-consciousness has kept us in the darkness of superstition and also ignorance. By questioning those who thought they had knowledge, he discovered the inconvenient fact that we normally live by vague half-truths, and he proved the falsity of the fallacies we habitually use to cover up our ignorance. In the dialogues, Plato left a trace of the inimitable wisdom of Socrates. Plato himself believed that personal dedication to an ideal was necessary for a soul to become immortal. Therefore, I believe that when a person lives true to himself, when he devotes his life to work, to faith or to an ideal, he is hardly doing it for reasons of ego. The self, the self and myself have little to do with love or devotion. The search for perfection, in this case, transcends personality and requires determination and dedication. Only when the mind is in a supernatural state of concentration does eternity become apparent. This state is experienced beyond the limits, emotions and intelligence of each individual. Today, most of us care too much about success, money, reward and not realism. However, such a form of passion does not have much virtue. What someone does for himself seeks and finds his own.