The Cave Allegory as a Useful Tool in the Business World The cave allegory that appears in Plato's Republic is quite well known. In the allegory, humans are born and live in a cave, but they are chained and shackled and can only see light in the distance. Rather than seeing form, they see shadows. They only see a semblance of what truly exists. In some way one can compare this to how humans contemplate form. It is not easy. If one stretches the allegory and sees it as symbolic of human beings only having a slight knowledge of reality, one can take Plato's form theory a step further. The allegory in fact has been used by many authors to express ideas but the gist of the concept is that man is limited in respect to what he sees. People are essentially living in the dark much of the time. This is not a unique concept and is quite relevant today. Metaphysics and New Age teachings are attached to the idea that the physical reality people have come to know is something that is really composed of particles. There are no solid forms that people believe exist. They only see mere images or what their mind makes of objects. Also, in some way, they draw on a collective unconscious or a larger body of knowledge. In Plato's allegory, people are born in ignorance but the body of knowledge that exists is there for the taking. Many humans understand this intuitively, but on the surface they are essentially chained and shackled. They are in the dark about many things because they cannot remember the eternal truths. They can on