Going back on my mental man cave

For the past few days I've been waking up very early in the morning and cannot go back to sleep.  So it got me back to thinking about my favorite topic in college -- Philosophy.



One of my favorite allegories is the "Allegory of the Cave"

A rough, probably technically wrong but essentially correct  tldr;



People are imprisoned since birth inside a cave facing a blank wall.  Their reality is formed only by shadows and echos of figures and sounds fabricated by their captors.

A prisoner is freed and told that what he sees now is what's real and that what's on the wall is wrong -- except he cannot accept this and wants to go back to what he is used to.

Another one is released and accepts the "new" reality, comes back to let his companions know of a different world out there, but the other prisoners conclude that him getting released to the outside damaged his sense of reality and conclude that it was he who was seeing wrong.



Though it is only an allegory (on education) it is quite relatable to the minute details of our lives -- especially in this age of high speed, high quality misinformation.



Maybe the things we've grown to believe are just shadows, mere echos.  But how do we know?

Maybe we can't be blamed for not being able to recognize other truths -- we know no better.  We might even fight tooth and nail to hold on to the beliefs that have so deeply entrenched themselves in  our minds.  We are humans, who can fault us to find refuge in the things that are already comfortable and familiar? We are even so good at deceiving ourselves.



In these questions one might realize that sometimes it is a futile attempt to make others see otherwise.  And sometimes it could be the case that the one who is so sure of his truths is the one who is mistaken.



How much then do truths and realities matter over co-existence? Who decides for the others?



I could only share what I've learned: it helps to accept that being humans we could be wrong -- and we should at least entertain other thoughts and points of view, even if we do not accept them in the end.







I would conclude...I wish I could sleep longer in the next few days.