The Allegory of the Cave

Plato wrote “The Allegory of the Cave” in the early 300 B.C. This parable has left many scholars dumbfounded throughout centuries because of the insight Plato fills the pages within the story. It is a story of prisoners trapped in a cave, but specifically about a mans journey from ignorance to knowledge. This is the worldly take on the story—in a biblical point of view it is still a journey from ignorance to knowledge, but in a very different context. The journey from the darkness of the cave into the light of the outside world in Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” can be paralleled with the unbelievers journey into salvation.

The story starts out with a group of people who have been chained and peering at a wall for all of their lives. The wall that they are facing is blank, the only things they can see is shadows of objects passing in front of a fire which projects them onto the wall. The prisoners begin to assign names and recognize certain shadows dancing across the wall. They would even play games like who could name the shadow first and predict the shadows that would follow. A professor at Princeton University wrote in an analysis of “The Allegory of the Cave” that, “The shadows are as close as the prisoners get to viewing reality” (Princeton).The shadows are all that the prisoners know, and they do not seem to be blind to the fact that there is anything else in the world for them. They were born and raised in darkness, with no knowledge of anything other that the shadows and that dreaded wall they wake to every day.

One day, however one of the prisoners is freed, and suddenly compelled to stand, walk, and turn towards the fire. This is when he finally sees the material objects other than just their shadows. He then peers in...

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... Him. They have to build this relationship to become strong and able to see the world around them with a new perspective. When he can finally look into the light he has gained much knowledge and he realizes that every thing he knew while in the cave was just tangible knowledge and was not real truth. He wishes to share his knowledge to the other prisoners, like missionaries share the truth and the light to the people in the dark around the world.

This story written by Plato possesses a much higher meaning than just prisoners in a cave. It is a brilliant metaphor for the journey into salvation from the darkness of the world. As Christians we can learn so much from this story—we hold a higher knowledge than many people in today’s society and it is our calling to branch out and spread the “light” of Jesus Christ to the men and women chained in the cave of the world.