Leaving the Cave by John Artibello Essay

It is only through a man’s deliberate attempt to understand his world and ultimately himself that he is able to achieve a truly meaningful life. True, ignorance saves a person from the tedious process of knowing the answers to every difficult question, yet it is ignorance that imprisons the person to what is superficial and illusory. In a day and age of a market-driven society, people easily fall into the trap of the same run-of-the-mill desire for material things and for the glitz and vivid colors of the media (Artibello YEAR). Indeed, so much so that their blind adherence to material and physical pleasures prevent them from breaking away of such a cycle. Such a problem is not new but in fact has been addressed by Socrates two thousand years ago. He said that most men cannot see beyond the illusions of life and are stuck with the shallow and false appearances of the world the surface level. This is so because they are like men chained to the ground inside the caves since childbirth that they are unable to plumb the true meaning of what they see. However, once a person is set free to investigate the outside world, he will at once begin to perceive reality in all its overwhelming plenitude, and from there pursue, a life full of meaning and significance and then achieve lasting happiness (Artibello YEAR). Reference Artibello, J. (YEAR). Leaving the cave. [Insert PLACE OF PUBLICATION: PUBLISHER].