Part I

the main point of plato's "allegory of a cave" is the concept of reality, and how we decide and defend what we consider to be our own realities. in this tale, the people featured know nothing but ignorance. they are stuck in a cave, with “their legs and necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads”. they watch pictures being cast on walls by fire and shadows. this is all they know - their world is being dictated to them. truth is painful, as they will find out when they venture from their cave. but truth is everything.

when you're stuck in a false reality, you know only what you're told. therefore, you know nothing. the most important life lessons and knowledge you gain come from your own personal life lessons and experiences. you struggle, you fail, and you know so much more than you did to begin with. these are lessons that only you can teach yourself. after all, you are your most powerful teacher, and “the immediate source of reason and truth in the intellectual.” if you don't leave the cave, or your emotional and intellectual limits, you won't gain any knowledge that is concrete and crucial, and most importantly, real.

reality is subjective, as is opinion. you can create your own; maybe for change, maybe for escape. but the question is -- if reality can be defined by anyone, is there a standard definition for reality? and is truth incorporated into this definition? or is reality just a concept we created to keep us guarded and feeling safe, while we hide every truth we ever learned?