Comprehending the Mind's Aging Eye

Comprehending the Mind's Aging Eye

"The Allegory of the Cave," by Plato, explains that people experience emotional and intellectual revelations throughout different stages in their lives. This excerpt, from his dialogue The Republic, is a conversation between a philosopher and his pupil. The argument made by this philosopher has been interpreted thousands of times across the world. My own interpretation of this allegory is simple enough as Plato expresses his thoughts as separate stages. The stages, very much like life, are represented by growing realizations and newfound "pains." Therefore, each stage in "The Allegory of the Cave" reveals the relation between the growth of the mind and age.

The first stage of the excerpt, which is characterized by chained and confined people, is a metaphor representing the infant and child ages of humans. Like the confined people, children are not allowed to wander freely outside of their home and must stay close to their parent's watchful eye. Those living in the underground den have their heads positioned in a way that they must not view a fire blazing behind them. The heads of the people only see the shadows cast by the fire and objects passing by behind them and they can only guess as to the actual physicality of the object. This also is very similar to children who are curious about objects around them. Although children do not understand complex objects, they do want to know the purpose and function of the object. The mentalities of the people in the cave and of children are 100% subjective and are trapped in their own ignorance: "To them, I said, the truth would be literally nothing but the shadows of the images."(5) Totally emerged in isolation and without experience, those in the den have no idea as to what the true nature of the shadow is. Their only truth is the shadow and they cannot learn the real meaning behind the shadow unless set free.

Furthermore, when Plato writes to set free those in the den, he is moving on to the next stage of human growth: being a teenager. The prisoners in the cave are set free to wander and move about. This symbolizes the time in life where teenagers move away from their parents. After teens have been under their parent's supervision and confinement for years, they want to go out and learn new things on their own. "At first, when any of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer sharp pains."(5) Teenagers want to experience new things themselves, where that be drugs, sex, or other things. Although, when they do encounter new experiences, they sometimes learn that the experience has caused them great pain. In addition, teenagers may change their vision of life. Usually teens become hardened and more used to pain; they become more familiar with the real world. Even though many teenagers feel they have experienced a great deal of pain and think they know it all, they have not witnessed an extremely harsh life until completely on their own.

Adult life is what Plato intends to symbolize in the next stage, when the people are forced to see the sun. In this stage, the people are brought up a steep ascent and forced to gaze into the sun. Once more, the people experience sharp pains as they are not used to the light of the sun. The pains of adulthood may be anything including relationships, jobs, and finances. After those who are forced to stare at the sun have grown accustomed to it, they see the "big picture" and have greater awareness. Adults too have to persevere through their own pains, but the reward is worth it: a family, job, house, etc.. "And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow prisoners, do you