This featured quote from my book reminds me of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, where prisoners are bound as they watch shadows on a wall. The prisoners are unaware that they are bound and they mistake the shadows for reality. They are not aware that there is a fire burning behind them, nor are they aware that the shadows are cast by figures walking in front of the fire.
Because the prisoners are unaware that they are bound, and because they are unaware that the shadows are not real, they remain ignorant and thus, they remain prisoners; they do not live in reality.
There’s no mistake Plato’s writing is in influence of my own writing:
Wisdom begins when you become aware of your own ignorance; understanding begins when you see that you don’t understand; reality appears because you recognize illusion; freedom is made possible when you are aware of what makes you a prisoner.
Kent Thune, Perspectives for Mastery of Life
What are your thoughts? Can you think of modern examples of people who are ironically bound by their lack of awareness?
