Allegory of the Cave- Sophia

At a certain juncture of our life, we will be exposed. And will come to realize that the world which we know is false, a sphere built upon illusions of things, shadows of the truths, and obscured echoes. This is terrifying, to have the world that we believed in demolished. So we venture out, into the light, in hope to find things that we can relate to, eager to point out the familiars. But eventually, we will begin to see. Such seeing is different from our former concept of seeing, for it is the ‘sight of the upper world’, and this sight promises to show us the truth, the reality. Yet it is not to say such process is easy. It requires us to turn, not only a mental effort but also a physical one, from our previous situation. And it also asks us to endure, the new ‘sight of being’.

I particularly enjoy Plato’s proposal of what education/knowledge is, which cannot be transferred from one to another but depends entirely on the matter of directing. If this idea is true, then we as the learners need to make a conscious effort to break away from our chains- any concepts, cultural backgrounds, and beliefs that will prevents us from seeing the light. At the same time, we also need to keep in mind that it is natural for us whose eyes have been opened to long for dwelling in the ‘upper world’. But if we cannot but have to return, our seeing would again be considered blindness by those who have remained in the cave. Yet this should not discourage us, because once we become accustomed to the dark, we will see “ten thousand times better than the inhabitants of the cave,… [And] will know what the several images are, and what they represent, because [we] have seen [them] in their truth.”