How Believers Can Undersrand The Allegory of The Cave

Introduction to Plato's Allegory of the Cave

In order to understand Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, you have to be a believer. So come with me, and I'll show the meaning of enlightenment. In examining Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, we will consider what Plato’s ideas about enlightenment are in order to find a living individual who can fit his definition of enlightenment. Our story starts with three inmates who have been captive in a cave since birth. The inmates are all looking at a wall while their bodies are chained up, leaving them unable to move and escape the cave.

The Shadows on the Wall

There is also a fire behind them that emits a dim light, and when objects or creatures walk by, they can see the shadows of these objects. The prisoners participate in a sort of game-like activity, calling out what they think they see. Then, miraculously, one of the prisoners escapes from their shackles and exits the cave. When the person leaves the cave, he is blinded by the sun. He is surprised to see the world and is confused because he is finally being challenged by what he thought was reality. He realizes that the shadows were only reflections. Once he becomes accustomed to his surroundings, he can finally see everything clearly. He can also finally see the sun, which he believes is the source of his ability to see everything.

The Return to the Cave

After a while, he decides to return to the cave to tell the other prisoners what he has seen. However, he is now so accustomed to the outside world that his eyes have trouble seeing in the cave. When he tells them that what they see isn't true, the prisoners act hostile toward him and don't want him to release them. But who wouldn't act this way when someone challenges what you have known all your life and tries to tell you something different than what you already know?

Plato’s True Meaning of Enlightenment

So, what is Plato’s real meaning of enlightenment? There are many parts of the story that reveal his meaning. Plato points out that many people don't like it when someone says something that makes them look wrong or challenges their beliefs. The cave can represent the idea that people are too rigid to govern themselves and must have someone else do it for them. You can interpret this in many ways, and the story can lead to many different questions. One thing that we have to remember when talking about Plato is that we have to look at it as ourselves and ask ourselves what we should do. Would we let fake images guide us, or will we strive to find the truth in everything that we do?

Leonardo DiCaprio: A Modern Example of Enlightenment

One living individual who could be compared to Plato’s meaning of enlightenment, in my opinion, is Leonardo DiCaprio. There are multiple reasons why Leo is enlightened, and here are just a few good examples. Aside from Leo’s spectacular movie and film career, he has an immense amount of knowledge when it comes to other groups that he takes pride and interest in. Leo was designated a UN Messenger of Peace. He is a major activist for climate change and human aid. Leo can be compared to Plato’s meaning of enlightenment because he is the person who escaped the cave. Throughout Leo's outstanding movie career, he has encountered some barriers. Whenever he delivered an amazing Oscar-worthy performance, he would never win. That's because the academy consists of people who are chained in the cave, not believing what is being told or shown to them by the one who escaped. Leo is the enlightened one trying to show them why he deserves the Oscar, but they don't listen, just like the prisoners.

DiCaprio's Activism and Enlightenment

Another example of this is when Leo started to get more involved with climate change and being an activist for it. Leo goes out into the real world and brings to people's attention issues and topics that they don't know about or haven't even heard of. When he shows people these things through platforms like social media, press conferences, and the United Nations, there are always those who don't believe him and question him. Once again, this is another reason why Leo is the enlightened one who escaped from what's made up and actually sees for himself firsthand what's happening to us and tries to show others what's happening. In this case, the people who are the other prisoners that don't believe him are us, and the ones who deny that we have a problem to begin with because this new information challenges what they have believed in forever.

Conclusion: Striving for Enlightenment

Leo truly resembles Plato’s image of enlightenment because of these examples and many others. Leo is someone who is always striving to find the truth in everything he does and is looking to share the knowledge he acquires from going out into the world and distinguishing between what is real and what are just shadows that we think are real. What we have to understand at the end of this all is that Plato’s story can be interpreted in many different ways. We must ask ourselves if what we see is really true. We should always try to push ourselves to strive for the ultimate end, and that is trying to be as learned as we can. We should also not allow ignorance to blind us in that quest to become more learned individuals.

In conclusion, when we read and try to understand Plato’s texts, I believe that in order for us to fully comprehend them, we can't let arrogance blind us like the prisoners did when they were being shown life through a different lens. We have to be more like the freed prisoner and take time to adjust to what's new to us in order to see the light and reach true enlightenment.

References

Plato. (2007). The Republic (B. Jowett, Trans.). Dover Publications. (Original work published ca. 380 BCE)

Smith, J. (2019). Understanding Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Philosophy Today, 23(4), 45-58.

DiCaprio, L. (2014). United Nations Climate Summit Speech. United Nations.