Plato was a philosopher who believed in higher education and was curios about the way humans learned. Socrates was Plato's mentor who had a major influence on Plato's life. Therefore, it led Plato to writing The Republic. In here, Plato stresses his belief in the search for truth, and reality, instead of choosing ignorance.
Characters of the cave, who are the prisoners, have lived their life in ignorance when they knew nothing of the outside world. After all, such persons would certainly believe that there were no realities except those shadows of handmade things. Overtime, they have grown accustomed to these puppeteers to an extent that they refuse to believe anything else. For example, when the released prisoner tried to educate his fellow bondsmen about reality, they mocked him and thought him crazy. This refusal of accepting new ideas is primitive thinking and if it continues, one would never achieve "nirvana", in a sense higher being.
Plato has the released prison reach to a level of "higher being" when he is able to reason clearly and understand reality. At last, he could look on the sun itself in its own place, and see what it is like, not reflections of it in water. I agree with Plato that, to differentiate between falsehood and reality, one must be open-minded, to be willing to learn new ideas and see things in a new perspective and explore. We should question everything around us and ask questions. I believe that is what Plato wants us to do, we shall not be intimidated and stay withdrawn, but to be bold and adventurous. .
Some of us are afraid to shed light on what is already "accepted" because we fear that if we question it, then our fantasy world would collapse and we would have to start from scratch. Also, as Franklin Roosevelt once said, "there's nothing to fear but fear itself." The quote, the right and beautiful things for all, which gives birth to light and the king of light in the world produces truth and reason, has to do with our five senses.
