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Plato's Ignorance

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Plato's Ignorance
Society is well known for judging others and setting high expectations for everyone but what people fail to realize is that we ourselves make up society. People are the ones that make up the society that calls out ignorance but fail to correct it. Both Plato's "Allegory of the Cave" and the Wachowski's The Matrix illustrate that ignorance is blissful for those that have not yet gained the knowledge to obtain enlightenment but as soon as one faces reality then they can better themselves in order to free society of their ignorance.
In the beginning, the cavedweller and Neo lived in a world of ignorance where they are stuck not knowing about the true reality that lies beyond their metaphorical cave. For Neo, the world around him is his cave that …show more content…
For Neo, the world around him is his cave that serves the purpose of giving comfort and maintaining people under a blanket of secure ignorance. While the cave dweller is in a world that is completely fake and made up by a greater force that only feeds him certain truths. In “Allegory of the Cave”, Socrates’ explained to Glaucon how the people in the cave were living, telling him that the “..human beings liv[ed] in a underground cave, which [had] a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the cave” ( Socrates, lines 2-3). This description of the cave gives off a feeling of isolation inside a situation that the rest of the cave dwellers have been put in, enabling them to only see what is shown to them. Due to only being able to see certain truths, the cave dwellers have developed a sheltered view of the world with limited knowledge of what really goes on. The part of the quote that describes the opening of the cave shows how the cave dwellers are facing the cave “will suffer sharp pains; the glare [from the light] will distress him, and he will be unable to see the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows” (lines 33-35). The “former state” in which Socrates refers to signals back to how sheltered the cave dweller’s life was before being taken to the real world. For Neo being …show more content…
Although the cave dweller and Neo already have the knowledge that they need it is still difficult for them to fully put it in action. In The Matrix, when Neo is putting his new found learning into play he is told to “let it all go...Fear. Doubt. Disbelief”, in other words to “Free [his] mind” (Wachowski). Having that type of knowledge is completely useless if it is not truly believed in and this just so happens to be the case for Neo. In a different point of view, the cave dweller finds the light to be dazzling, which in turn “he will not be able to see anything at all of what are now called realities”. These two moments reveal that they are still afraid to actually face the new world which pushes back their plans to bring others back. Through their final steps in their journey they encounter those that would much rather take the phrase ignorance is bliss literally. As stated in The Matrix, “There is a difference between between knowing the path and walking the path” drawing back to those that have the knowledge to be enlightened but refuse to use it. In “Allegory of the Cave”, it is said that “those who attain to this beatific vision are unwilling to descend to human affairs”. This very quote ties back to what was said in The Matrix seeing as both illustrate that such knowledge
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