The Matrix And The Allegory Of The Cave

Enlightenment Through Knowledge
Greek philosopher Socrates once taught his students that “to know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the true meaning of knowledge,” and they continued to question as he did. He was trying to explain how real intelligence only comes with realizing that a person never truly knows what it is they know. Living false realities of the everyday world conflicts with relying on what people believe to be real. If people realize that the reality they are so familiar with has never been true, knowing that it is not true is the real path to being knowledgeable. The importance of knowledge is portrayed in both and Socrates’ “Allegory of the Cave” and Wachowski’s movie “The Matrix” in describing the inevitable pain
In order for a people to seek the truth behind the life they live, they must journey from the ignorance they have known and turn it into knowledge. The importance of this inner change reflects within for only the person willing to change, can seek the truth. Socrates suggests this personal dedication to see the truth by presenting a theory of The Allegory of the Cave. The theoretical cave has prisoners chained for their whole lives. He questions what really is to be real around us by asking asking Glaucon “how can they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?” (Allegory 1). The shadows seen on the wall serve as illusions for the prisoners to believe in, even though they are merely distractions from the truth of there being an outside to the cave. Since prisoners are chained and can only see the shadows before them, they are physically not able to see around anything but the delusions. Socrates is proving that, the journey from ignorance to knowledge must seen, and not said. The prisoners need to turn their heads and see outside the cave, for just being told so will never satisfy their curiosity. Therefore, they will never believe the truth if they can not see it
To create a successful society full of truth and wisdom for all, the enlightenment knowledge brings to people’s lives needs to be cherished for all, rather than kept a secret. Once the prisoner of the cave has accepted the faults of the past, he does not want to go back into the cave, for he never wants to live that life again. However, the prisoner learns through his new wisdom that he needs to save the remaining prisoners who are still suffering through the lies society has shown them. He realizes that “the happiness was to be in the whole state, and he held the citizens together by persuasion and necessity, making them benefactors of the state, and therefore benefactors of one another,” (Allegory 4). The prisoners who are still chained in the cave seeing nothing but the shadows can only be freed by the privileged knowledgeable people. If the escaped prisoners, those who have the privilege of knowledge, never save the ignorant they are bystanding the opportunity to teach others. In order to have a completely free and enlightened society, freedom of the mind needs to be universal, rather than reserved for the privileged. This will then help both the society function and help knowledge flow freely. Using his knowledge for good rather than selfishly repressing it, Neo is determined to free the slaves of the matrix, for he was once. Compelled to fight for