Thomas Merton's Allegory Of The Cave

True Happiness
Happiness is finding one true self by stepping away from the caves in which one find themselves and seek knowledge of the truth.
Escaping the cave Plato’s allegory of the cave proposes the idea that happiness is found when one leaves the cave of preconceiving false notions taught to them by their puppeteers in order to seek their own truth. Happiness is the prize that one gains when they become knowledgeable of what is real. It’s the light that the prisoner found once he was broken off his chains and opened his eyes to explore his surrounding and understand reality. Happiness is what was taken away from the cave prisoners when they were forced to watch only the shadows reflections on the wall instead of being able to pursue virtue and reason on their own. In the cave, the prisoners were given a false image of reality created by the puppet masters and as a result, they taught themselves to seek happiness in what they knew. They enjoyed being able to predict the next image and create their own knowledge which is why they refused to believe the prisoner that tried to show them that their reality was wrong. They had already reversed their liking to the fabricated happiness found in the cave that it became very hard for them to change their …show more content…
It’s about finding one’s inner self which consists of one’ personality as well as the traits that make one different from others. According to Merton, such happiness is only found when one learns to eliminate the mask of their external self which was forced upon them by society. He believes that education role is to encourage students to think so that they can embark themselves in their own personal discovery of happiness. By finding their inner self and what they like, students will be able to free themselves of society’s preconceive ideas of who they are supposed to be therefore they will fight for their own