The shadows that Plato tells us of are the illusions in life such as media, culture, religion, etc. Some examples of these shadows are: the illusion that everyone is thin and perfect as magazines portray, that drinking and smoking is the "cool" thing to do, that everyone is the same or should be, that one religion is right and dominate over others and many more. On the internet there are many of Plato's "shadows". For example, this website (http://qualitybooks.com/lose20.htm) tells how you can lose 20 pounds in 14 days. This seems very unreal to me, like an illusion. You would literally have to lose more than 1 pound per day to achieve this "expectation".
Plato's "shadows" are everywhere in our society. We grow up with them all around us and it makes us kind of wonder... what is truth? Plato's "shadows" impact society on how we live every moment by the decisions we make on our clothes, food, friends, school, just pretty much everything. It is very dangerous for us to believe that these "shadows", or illusions, are true because they are lies. Lies hide us from many things in life and believing these keep us from fully enjoying life. They also influence our decisions and sometimes for the worst. What if we could all throw back the curtain of Plato's "shadows"? What would life be like for us?
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The insight of religion as a shadow is very deep. Well thought out.
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