College Writing Assignments

Plato's Cave Philosophy Paper

Warning: This is a halfass paper that I procrastinated on doing.

Essay Prompt: Identify and describe Plato's Cave. Show how each part has relevance to your life.  

                   A wise person once told me"what makes life beautiful is the balance of darkness and light. The contrast, the duality of it all." Many people find it very difficult to see the light in dark situations, but the few that do, learn to embrace it. While reading the "Plato's Cave", I interpreted the passage from an emblematic, spiritual perspective. The cave's layout and the things that happen there, reminded me of the stages in my spiritual awakening.

At the beginning of the allegory, it is mentioned that whenever a prisoner feels "liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows." In the early phases of my spiritual journey, I noticed how dissatisfied I was with my current life. The awareness left me in a lonely depressive state. I felt trapped there. My failures, problems, insecurities, bad habits, and negative thoughts were imprisoning me. Once I realized this, I strive for a positive change. In order to make that change, I had to remove myself from that dark place in hopes of finding a brighter one. The process was challenging. Things didn't always go my way. Hard obstacles were thrown at me. Sometimes were darker than others, like the darker spots in the cave like the shadow cast on walls. The "dark night of the soul" was by far the hardest stage of my spiritual awakening. I dealt with many ups and downs—sickness, abuse, deaths, the ending of friendships, relationships, cycles, etc.—before finding the light. I had to see my own toxic traits and shadows in order to better myself. Somehow kept my faith through it all. Plato's cave represents a life's test of faith to me. It is the dark path that people must walk through to reach the brighter side.

The text informs us that the prisoner's "instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass" through the cave "requiring him to name them, —will he not be perplexed?" To the prisoners in the cave, they are walking through the roadway where the puppet showman performs. The instructor to me, represents the universe, god, and angels guiding me through the darkness—the hard, confusing times. They are urging me to self-reflect and release the things that no longer serve a purpose in my life so that there is room for improvement. The prisoner's eyes dazzled when he approached the end of the cave and saw the bright light. At this point, he could be somewhere between the fire spot and the ascend of light. Once I began to see the light in dark situations, a fire was lit inside me and encouraged me to remain faithful through these battles. He then gazed "upon the light of the moon and the stars and the spangled heaven; and he will see the sky and the stars by night better than the sun." Relating this back to my life, I can say that going through those dark trials and tribulations changed my perspective of life. It made me value the light—good times and happiness—even more. I learned to appreciate those harsh experiences that the universe gave me, because they forced me out of my comfort zone, and I grew. The prisoner began to "see the sun, and not mere reflections of him[self] in the water, but he will see him[self] in his own proper place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him[self] as he is." The prisoner proceeds to self-reflect. After coming out of that dark time in my life, I also began to see the improvement in myself and how much I accomplished and grew from.

The next part, the prisoner now wants to live life his way instead of abiding by the rules. He believes "it is better to be the poor servant of a poor master." The text continues by stating "and to endure anything, rather than think as they do and live after their manner? Yes, he said, I think that he would rather suffer anything than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner." I can relate to this, because I am choosing to please myself instead of others. I am choosing not to mass conform into society's standards and expectations—the matrix. Many believe in the traditional way of living life, go to school, receive a diploma, go to college, obtain a degree, get a decent job that you probably don't enjoy, but tolerate since it pays well, get married, have kids, and work until you retire. There must be more to life than that. Although the career I am choosing, doesn't guarantee financial stability, it makes me happy. I don't care about the highly materialistic society. None of the things that people spend money on will matter once they die. What matters is the great memories and impactful things that we leave behind. I just want to ascend into the greatest, highest version of myself and fulfill my life's purpose.

The prisoner had to endure the unknown darkness to find the light just like I had to go through those dark times to find the light within myself. I came out of the cave—unhealthy mental state, habits, and toxic environment—feeling wiser, stronger, braver, and most of all happier. I am no longer trapped or lost. The knowledge that the prisoner has obtained from the experience can now be shared with the prisoners who are still trapped. Same goes for the people that I encounter who are looking for a way to heal and improve.