It’s probably more precisely a “curtain shadow,” but that doesn’t sound nearly as cool.

Plus, “shadow curtain” points toward that curtain between what we see and what is, the reality behind it.

In reality, this is a shadow created by the sun’s pouring through a kitchen window with a curtain above and below.

But what we see in it could vary widely. Kevin said it looked like a bunch of wolves atop the Rocky Mountains. I can see that.

Have you ever read Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave“? It’s one part of the education section in his book, The Republic. I had to read it for a philosophy class I took in college, and it’s one of just a handful of things that really stuck with me from it.

In the story, all these people (the “common man”) are chained to the side of a deep cave. It’s so deep that no sunlight gets in.

There’s a fire behind them that they aren’t able to see because their heads are chained, too, so they only see in one direction. They can’t even see the people beside them. The fire creates shadows on the wall they’re facing from this parade of sorts going on behind them. Watching it is their entertainment and sole vocation.

People are walking behind the wall the chained people’s backs are to, and they’re carrying objects on their heads. Weird, yeah. But the point is, I think, that these people think these objects are reality, truth, when in fact they’re only shadows of the original objects. And the whole behind-the-scenes transport by other people (whom these people don’t even know exist) adds another level of deception.

Well, as the story goes, one of these people breaks out of his chains somehow and turns to see all of these other people chained just as he had been. He sees the fire and realizes that all of those objects that represented his reality were merely shadows on parade.

This man — this philosopher — ventures out of the cave and sees the sun, so huge, so brilliant. He realizes that the fire of the cave was but a microcosm of this humongous ball of fire.

And then he wants to share all his discoveries with the others. Only they don’t want to hear it. They’re satisfied with their world view, no matter how short-sighted and twisted it is.

He’s left an outcast, no longer willing or able to play the game.

So is it better to see the reality or just stay in the chains?

Easier to stay, I guess. Better but harder (and more lonely) to break free and see.