Imagine -
Prisoners held in a cave
Slaves shackled by the legs and neck since childhood
Thus they stay in the same place
Such that there is only one thing for them to see

A wall

Behind them is a fire which casts a light upon their backs
Now imagine that between the fire and the prisoners
Their masters travel to and from a path
What do the prisoners see and hear?

From the beginning
They have known nothing of the world but shadows
And the noises surrounding them
They would believe that what they sense constitute all of reality
And attribute the sounds to those shadows
Rather than the ones who cast them

Suppose now that one of these prisoners were released
And while inspecting his surroundings
He turned his gaze upon the fire
His eyes, so used to the dim light, would be blinded

Initially he would refuse to believe this was real
But in time he would gradually come to the understanding
That the shadows of his past had been a lie
An illusion created by the burning fire

He was now free

In this enlightenment, he would attempt to convince the others
That the world they knew was false
And a greater reality existed where they could not see
But being blind to the world behind them
They would reject his words and think of him as a madman

They would not understand . . .
They could not understand . . .