The Cave and I (revised)

In Plato’s text known as The Republic, there is a story known as “The Allegory of the Cave”. The text is about three prisoners that are chained up to the cave walls, forced to watch the shadows illuminated by a fire that sits behind them. They have no idea what the real world looks like, and because of that they create their own little world within the cave walls. In essence, this story is just a microcosm of the world as we know it. People live comfortably in their own little worlds and when they decide to look into the light they feel pain, suffering, and uncomfortable due to the lack of knowledge they have from other possible realms of living.

If I had to pick whether or not to live in the cave or to leave the cave and go live life with the rest of humanity, I’d say that I would have to leave the cave. The number one reason for me thinking this is due to the fact that I personally would be intrigued to live my life to the fullest by traveling and trying to understand the world around me. At the same time, as I am in the cave, ignorant of the outside world, I am in total bliss. Ignorance after all is bliss. Realistically if I was born and raised in the cave, I wouldn’t really care about the world around me because I’d be far too stubborn to even want to know what the rest of the world is like. Leaving the cave is a big step, but personally if I were born in the cave and had to live in the cave, but had the same mind state I have right now, I would want to do it, I would want to leave the cave. The world around me awaits my company and I’d be there to deliver it. Yeah, maybe my two other buddies and I have it pretty good in the cave, we get to watch the shadows and enjoy each others’ company, but at the same time, knowing the person that I am I’d want to see, feel, hear, and understand the shapes that surround me.

It is known that people that stay hidden in their own “cave” fail to realize what life is all about. People that remain hidden, people that stay ignorant of all life around them are the ones that are not remembered when it is all over. And if they are remembered as anything, they would be remembered as cowards, and slobs. People that stay in their cave are remembered only in their cave, and that’s not saying a lot because the people that share the cave with you are the same, and no one wants to be remembered as an ignorant human being, more importantly, people won’t remember you because they never got to see you, they never got to experience life with you around them. People that stay in their cave are people that would rather stay home all day and watch TV and waste their time instead of going out and experiencing things. Everything on this planet is meant for us to experience. We are meant to see things and do things that other organisms aren’t allowed to do for a reason, so staying home all day or staying in your “cave” for instance is the equivalent to slapping Mother Nature across the face and not thanking her for what she has to offer.

An example of someone who is living their life ignorant to the outside world is a lot of the people I grew up around. In school, kids thought that the United States was the greatest thing that was ever conceived. To them, the country could do no wrong in their eyes. They never thought they would lied, stolen, or jipped by the United States. So as a child, I wasn’t really a part of that whole “movement” if you will. I love America, don’t get me wrong, but at the same time, you need to constantly question government and look behind the scenes to make sure your reality and perception isn’t being raped on a constant basis. So as I grew up questioning the governments decisions, and even bringing up and telling these people that I care about to open their eyes, they would and will not comprehend what I am trying to tell them. They will resume living in the caves they were brought up in and never really show an interest in figuring out what exactly is really going on when it comes to certain parts and roles of the government that we elect and support each and every year.

Its hard to live in a world with people that decide to instead of question and wonder, just go along with the rest of the world, and just go with the flow. It’s a gigantic step in life to leave your personal cave, but in the end it’s really the right choice. You understand how things really work and can over all better yourself for it. You now know things other people literally would not dare to know. They would really be frightened by the things you know, and that makes you a better person because you full understand now, you understand the world you live in and that’s really the best way to understand yourself and connect with others that are on the same level of intelligence.