Truth vs. Reality

The main difference from truth and reality is that reality is confinement; it is only what one sees. Truth, however, is open to interpretation. Truth cannot be seen and that is what makes it strange.  Like Glaucon says, we are “strange prisoners” and given the choice to seek truth. It is up to us to seize the opportunities that allow us to see beyond reality. Originally we as prisoners see “the truth… [as] literally nothing but the shadows of images”. Shadows give false impressions of truth.  It is interesting that the prisoners name these shadows because this process of labeling is human nature. We all feel driven to question and define things, but only seekers of truth can withstand not having a direct answer.  

The prisoner’s passage into the “upper world” mirrors the journey of seekers of truth or philosophers.  Socrates calls this journey having one’s “eye fixed” on the truth. The prisoner had to see the whole picture in order to come to the conclusion that the only one who has the absolute truth is the creator or “he who gives the seasons and the years”. Even Socrates, one of the most famous lovers of wisdom, admits that only “God knows”. Amusingly, the enlightened prisoner actually pities the other prisoners, who are still in the dark or ignorant. And yet the other prisoners degrade the enlightened prisoner because of his open-minded perspective. The enlightened prisoner has no desire to be honored by the others because he has realized that there is a greater reason for reality and the world.