Steven Bartlett

Yes, The Republic, okay?

One of the masterpieces of Greek civilization as well as Western civilization.

All right, so this is how Plato explains the nature of reality.

And so he uses a metaphor called the cave.

So I want you to imagine a dark cave

cavern that is huge.

And in this cavern, there are hundreds of people lined up together.

And they're all sitting in a row, and this goes on for miles and miles, just thousands of people.

And they are chained to the ground.

Their necks are shackled, so they can't actually move.

And all they can do is stare in front of them at a giant wall that's empty.

Now, behind these people, and again, they can't see behind them, right?

It's a great fire.

Alongside this fire are people.

We don't know who they are.

The tale never explains who these people are.

They take puppets and they project these puppets off the fire onto the wall.

And when people see the shadows, they think that this is reality.

And as such, they begin to create narratives to explain this reality.

They create language.