The difference between reality and ones conception of reality is hard to differentiate. Not until one questions with thought, seeing all forms of the world can they truly understand. Crossing the line of the empirical world and the world of forms is hard to grasp when shadows are reality. This concept of crossing over is explored by Plato as he describes the story of “The allegory of the cave”. Born into an empirical world full of shadows from a fire and chains to hold these children in their chairs, there are no other forms than what they see. When one man escapes the cave and crosses the line to the world of forms, his view of reality is questioned. Rather than seeing shadows of a cat, he can see a three dimensional cat with colorful fur and whiskers. To the man of the empirical world …show more content…
Exploring the intelligible side of the divided line by using thought and understanding he can differentiate a cat from a small dog and shadows from the object it is casted from. Running back to the cave and telling the others that the shadows is just the starting point of understanding what is real, they shun him and refuse to believe him. To the men that have only lived in shadows, the real world sounds like a tall tale. Without viewing the other side, these men do not have a reason or passion to learn about the forms and can’t imagine anything other than shadows. Much like children of captivity. Kidnapers tell their captives that their home is the only home these kids have and that everyone outside the walls are harmful and can’t be trusted. If that child has no memory of what life with their family is, there is no reason or justification to not believe what they are being told by their kidnaper. These kids believe that their lives of captivity is normal. Only if they are lucky enough to be found or are able escape, will they see that is it wrong and their concept of home was not shown to