ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE | 4 APRIL 2026 | LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Have you sensed it yourself? The sensation that physical reality is an illusion, hologram, or even game? It’s a sense I have on an increasingly permanent basis as I move towards the position in life I believe I’m meant to be in. It comes with a grounded knowing in my gut, and a confidence that everything is as it should be; challenges there for a reason, roadblocks intentional, serendipitous meetings meant to be, and beauty inevitable.
It’s an extension on the translucent river concept described in ESSAY 21; the sense that there is a dimension beyond physical reality that connects things energetically, without being bound by time or distance. The allegory of the cave, presented to me by a Greek filmmaker friend on Hydra last year, famously comes from Plato’s ‘Republic’, presenting the hypothesis that all of physical reality is a projection of a more fundamental reality.
Imagine yourself in a cave, with a fire in the centre, friends around. The light of the fire casts shadows of figures on the wall of the cave - dancing and flickering - recognizable in shape but distorted by heat and smoke - and certainly not representing the full actualization of what is going on. It’s a mirage, but enough to be a believable story. This is Plato’s theory on human existence - that three dimensional reality is only a compelling projection of something far more fundamental - and I believe him.
So what do we do with this information? Well I’ll tell you a practical element it’s given me; peace. More consistently as the years progress and my mind naturally observes indications that this hypothesis is true, I slip gradually deeper into a knowing that everything is okay, as it should be, and inevitable. Yes of course agency and action are required in life, but when one has done all one can do, one can have peace and confidence in not only themselves, but in the progression of life, others, and the world.
Image: Plato's allegory of the cave by Jan Saenredam
