John Goertz

10.6.09

Honors College Writing

Fr. Leigh

Another Dialogue with Glaucon

Now Glaucon, I said, you tell me you did not understand the lesson given to you

by our great Socrates. He tried teaching you through a complex story, but it had a lot of

symbols and metaphors that you did not understand. Even more, you did not see how it

applied to your education, or how any of this process of enlightenment could really

happen in someone’s life.

This is so, he replied.

Well, Socrates begins his explanation by describing prisoners who are bound in a

dark cave, forced for their entire lives to see only shadows of themselves and their world.

They are kept from viewing the true forms of these people and objects. A fire is behind

them, representing that small wisdom we have almost by default.

So if the dark of the cave is then the lack of this wisdom, Glaucon concluded, they

must be really ignorant people. Are we supposed to be the prisoners?

The prisoners are us, I agreed, as we have lived for all of our lives. We use none

of our intellect, seeing only the false images of life given to us by our senses. Living in

this world of sight, we don’t question these illusions because they are all we have ever

known. For example, we see a court of law and are simply glad for the justice it provides,

not pausing to consider if the trials there really are justice or some twisted mockery of it

instead. Living by these shadows of reality is as futile as trying to find one’s way out of
the desert by following mirages; one would only stumble around while never reaching

any true goal.

But, he asked, why is this so? Why are we so blinded?

The men behind the wall keep us so, holding and yet hiding the realities behind

the shades we see. They are the heads of mass media, the greedy politicians, those who

not only perpetuate but institutionalize this general ignorance. However, a few of these

bureaucrats and learned men are not only well-educated but know that it is their duty to

pass on this wisdom, and free from their chains those who cannot do so for themselves.

I see! These must be our teachers, our philosophers, and our few sincere

statesmen, using their knowledge to help us on our own path out of the cave. When we

begin our education in the schools it is as if they are freeing us from our shackles of

ignorance. Then again, what is outside the cave that is so important?

The sun, I answered, in all its radiant glory. A divine reality, a universal wisdom,

a panoramic view of all things exactly as they are, not mere replicas or reflections of

them. In short, the world of Good and Truth. The scope of this enlightenment and the

force of its virtue are infinitely bigger and more powerful than that mundane wisdom we

have become accustomed to, just as the roaring bonfire in the cave is a pitiful spark next

to the immensity of the sun itself. Whereas in the cave the prisoner was shown simple

figures and statues, as if, in our world, he saw a tree for the first time, outside the cave he

realizes everything about the tree: its value, its purpose, its connection with all else

around it.

That is amazing; I wish to see the sun!

 It is not that easy, dear Glaucon. For the same reason you do not suddenly turn on

a bright light in a dark room can you not go directly from incarnate ignorance to divine

wisdom; you would be blinded, able to see neither the familiar shadows you were used to

nor the truths newly revealed to you. I can personally attest to this, as I had lived my

entire life assuming that our nation goes to other countries to help the people. Then I saw

those very same people rioting against our presence there. I was confused and I did not

know which to believe. In studying history, I learn of our past dealings in the morally

gray, further disabusing me of my image of our purely beneficent state.

So enlightenment must be a more gradual process, he said, not to negate this pain

and shock but to spread them out and defuse their blow.

You see, then, why Socrates’ prisoner walks slowly to the mouth of the cave. He

wishes to turn from the pain, back to the blissful ignorance he knew before. Throughout

our schooling we find ourselves in this position many times. We find the work to be too

much, the burden of all these new ideas too overwhelming to comprehend. Yet, perhaps

with the help of a teacher or mentor, we persevere through the ever-increasing pain

towards that ultimate goal. You’ll notice that once Socrates’ prisoner gets free he sees

things in stages. He sees first reflections, then images, then animals; in short, he sees

everything that the sun has created before seeing the sun itself. In the same way can we

not see what good is before seeing all of what good does. This is why we study the

histories, the great works of literature, so we can know the works of good and through

that know good itself.

 Okay, said Glaucon, then it follows that in order for us have a good state, we need

rulers who know all of this. We need them to be enlightened so they may lead us as is

best.

Just so. If we take for our leaders the dumb and greedy our nation will fall apart,

worthless in the eyes of its people and its neighbors. It sounds selfish, but we need to

show our leaders the sun and then force them back into the darkness with us, so our state

can be as great as it can. In the same way, if we ourselves are fortunate enough to leave

the cave it is our responsibility to return to the cave and free others from their ignorance.

It’s true, merely showing them this divine reality would make them unwilling to return to

us, but that is as it should be. As Socrates said, according to Plato, “the State in which the

rulers are most reluctant to govern is always the best.” We want our rulers to view their

office not as an honor but a duty. That way they will want to lead for the good of the

people, not for their own.