FOR GOING SUDDENLY FROM DAY LIGHT INTO THE CAVE WOULD FILL HIS EYES WITH DARKNESS. HE COULD NOT UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES COMPETE VERY EFFECTIVELY WITH THE OTHER PRISONERS IN MAKING OUT THE SHADOWS ON THE WALL. WHILE HIS EYESIGHT WAS STILL DIM AND UNSTEADY, THOSE WHO HAD THEIR PERMANENT RESIDENCE IN THE DARKNESS COULD WIN EVERY ROUND OF COMPETITION WITH HIM. THEY WOULD AT FIRST FIND THIS SITUATION VERY AMUSING AND WOULD TAUNT HIM BY SAYING THAT HIS SIGHT WAS PERFECTLY ALL RIGHT BEFORE HE WENT UP OUT OF THE CAVE AND THAT NOW HE HAS RETURNED WITH HIS SIGHT RUINED. THEIR CONCLUSION WOULD BE THAT IT IS NOT WORTH TRYING TO GO UP OUT OF THE CAVE. INDEED, SAYS PLATO "IF THEY COULD LAY HANDS ON THE MAN WHO WAS TRYING TO SET THEM FREE AND LEAD THEM UP THEY WOULD KILL HIM." MOST OF MANKIND, THIS ALLEGORY WOULD SUGGEST, DWELL IN THE DARKNESS OF THE CAVE. THEY HAVE ORIENTED THEIR THOUGHTS AROUND THE BLURRED WOULD OF SHADOWS. IT IS THE FUNCTION OF EDUCATION TO LEAD MEN OUT OF THE CAVE INTO THE WOULD OF LIGHT. EDUCATION IS NOT SIMPLY A MATTER OF PUTTING KNOWLEDGE INTO A PERSON'S SOUL THAT DOES NOT POSSESS IT, ANY MORE THAN VISION IS PUTTING SIGHT INTO BLIND EYES. KNOWLEDGE IS LIKE VISION IN THAT IT REQUIRES AND ORGAN CAPABLE OF RECEIVING IT. JUST AS THE PRISONER HAD TO TURN HIS WHOLE BODY AROUND IN ORDER THAT HIS EYES COULD SEE THE LIGHT INSTEAD OF THE DARKNESS; SO ALSO IT IS NECESSARY FOR THE ENTIRE SOUL TO TURN AWAY FROM THE DECEPTIVE WORLD OF CHANGE AND APPETITE THAT CAUSES A BLINDNESS OF THE SOUL, EDUCATION, THEN, IS A MATTER OF CONVERSION, A COMPLETE TURNING AROUND FROM THE WOULD OF APPEARANCE TO THE WORLD OF REALITY. THE CONVERSION OF THE SOUL, SAYS PLATO, IS "NOT TO PUT THE POWER OF SIGHT IN THE SOUL'S EYE, WHICH ALREADY HAS IT, BUT TO INSURE THAT, INSTEAD OF LOOKING IN THE WRONG DIRECTION, IT IS TURNED THE WAY IT OUGHT TO BE, "BUT LOOKING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION DOES NOT COME EASILY. EVEN THE "NOBLEST NATURES" DO NOT ALWAYS WANT TO LOOK THAT ...
