What is reality? This is a question that Plato explored in his book, The Republic, by examining concepts such as truth and justice.

In his short story, he imagined a group of people born in the darkness of a cave, chained and facing away from the entrance with only reflections and noises made from people passing by outside the cave as their experience. They had no knowledge of the outside world. For them, the cave was their reality.

However, one day one of the people escape and set foot outside the cave. For the first time in his life he sees the outside world and is exposed to the true reality of life outside his own. It takes some time for him to adjust – to the revelation / enlightenment – because he can only understand what he has previously experienced. Driven by this new reality however, he tries to convince the rest of the chained people within the cave of what he has seen, but they don’t believe him. The people in the cave have had an intrinsic education which has formed the basis for their understanding of the world.

The cave leads to many fundamental questions such as: What is the origin of knowledge? What are the problems of representation? What is the nature of reality itself?

Plato believed that education was the answer to these questions and the key to living a true and just life. He further believed that because of this, education should be provided by the state, something which the Curriculum for Excellence is centred upon; this idea of citizenship and creating well rounded people who are just. Through education it can be ensured that children become conditioned to the values that are accepted, in Plato’s view.

And so the story provides a clear explanation of the difference between experience and reality. It shows that the experience of reality is conditioned on the experience of life. So in simple terms, the way you live your life is your reality.

This highlights the importance for teachers to allow children to explore and learn from experiences by exposing them to new ones, and pushing them out of their comfort zones and into the world of the unknown.