In the Allegory of the Cave Plato argues for enlightenment, but he also presents why choosing enlightenment can be dangerous and painful. The people who live in the cave believe that what they see is reality. Plato explains, that when a person is taken out of the cave that they will be "pained and irritated." Normally when some one is in pain they try and stop the pain in any way they no how whatever the cost is. The sun in this case is the source of the pain. When the man is being taken out of the cave he first sees the fire, when he looks at this fire "his eyes ache, so that he would try to escape and turn back to the things he could see distinctly" (Plato, 229) Now imagine the sun, it must be a million times brighter than a fire, the pain must have been unbearable. A normal person would run back into the cave trying to escape the pain. What sets this man apart from the normal man, why does he not run back into the cave, to the safety and security of his happy cave life? .
After the man has looked around and seen how much better the "real" world is, it appears that he is supposed to go back to the cave. Once he is back in the cave he is expected to free his cave dwelling companions, and show them the light (pun intended). When he returns to the cave he "delivers his opinion of the shadows," proclaiming, those are only shadows, everything you take to be real is false! (Plato, 230) The man, newly enlightened, expects a warm enthusiastic response, but instead they wish that they "could lay hands on the man who was trying to set them free and lead them up, they would kill him" (Plato, 230). They like the world they live in, the world they live in is the materialistic world of the cave. They do not believe that any other world could be better than the one they are living in now. .
In the movie, The Matrix, similar things face Neo, "the one." He is given the choice "take the blue pill and you will wake up in the morning, with no memory of any of this, but take the red pill and you have a ticket to wonderland.
