What is the meaning of life? Could it be described in books, or as a figurative idea?

Such as
a path, where could one achieve this, could knowledge, reality, or simply a game be used to
even attempt to figuratively describe the properties of existence as a whole? These were the
thoughts endured by Plato roughly 2000 years ago.

Plato was a Greek philosopher. He might sound like an average person who was just a
minor mark on history but you would be partially incorrect (plato was wealthy). Plato is
known as one of the fathers of modern-day philosophy. He was mainly known for his work
on the ‘Republic’. Which describes to quote “the importance of being just in the world, and by
being just, one is happy.” This philosophy was accepted worldwide because of its modernity
and maturity. But today, the topic is his other significant piece of writing; his Allegory of the
Cave.

Plato’s allegory of the cave talks about how humans are humans. How do humans live or
act on Earth, this is contrary to our interpretation of the same. But one might ask, before
understanding the writing; what does an “Allegory” mean? It is simply defined as a piece of
writing that contains a hidden meaning/message. In this particular writing, the hidden
meaning is what is life inside the cave, and what is life outside the cave. A person who lives
inside a cave believes that he is living the greatest life. And the same for someone who is
living outside the cave. This represents the previously mentioned idea of humans and their
interpretation of what life truly is.

The main story of the allegory goes somewhat like this….

“In a cave, there were three prisoners, bound to a chain hanging off the wall staring into the
darkness since birth. All three of the prisoners were unable to move their heads. They do not
know the outside world and are only able to stare into a black asphalt wall. Behind their
backs is a light source, emitting light for eternity. Occasionally people pass by the fire and
the prisoners observe a clear shadow about what is going on around them, because the
prisoners have no acute idea about the outside world they perceive these shadows as real
entities and not just reflections of beings. Suddenly one of the prisoners is freed and can
enter the outside world, but he is unable to survive under the sun and figures out that the
environment around him is bewildering. The prisoner comes across a village, in which he
talks to a man. The man tells him that the shadows cast by objects are just reflections of real
entities. He is unable to understand because for him his entire life the shadows were more
clear than any other entity. But, as time passed on he started to understand his surroundings
and the real truth behind them and his body also adjusts. The prisoner returns to the cave
and shares his stories with his other mates, the other prisoners cannot digest the information
that the prisoner shared with them. So they were rather ignorant within themselves. The
prisoner who was freed was now unable to view the shadows on the wall. The rest of the
prisoners believe this new environment has made the prisoner rather confused and dumb.
They resist any attempts the prisoner has to share his experiences with them.”

This passage was used by Plato to talk about the past, future, and present. As we have seen
through history countless great thinkers have been put under house arrest, killed, or
imprisoned for life because of them being “different”. Just to name a few are Galileo Galilei
who is known as the father of modern science, he was put under house arrest because of
Heresy. He believed that the sun was the centre of the solar system, but the church believed
that the Earth was the centre. Because of Galileo's insistence, he was put under house
arrest for the remainder of his life. Another relevant example would be Socrates, who was
Plato’s teacher. He was executed because of his scientific teachings to children. Both
examples were unjust in my opinion as it was a science vs belief battle.

Plato’s allegory of the cave teaches us that most of the masses that live in today's world are
bound with self-ignorance and stubbornity within themselves. This writing also tells us about
the true reality of things in today's world.

Just like how in the writing, the shadows represented the reflection of a true world object, the
items in our modern world could be flawed reflections of imaginational true forms. Such as
shape, size, or colour. These are just what we imagine(or more accurately perceive) to be
perfect objects.

When we eventually reach a perfect world can we be sure that this is the limit, or are we just
looking at a blueprint of the future?