The Way Is Dark, the Truth Is in the Cave

Abstract In Plato’s famous parable the cave is a site of ignorance where knowledge is limited to faint shadows on the walls; true reality can only be grasped in broad daylight outside the cave. This parable remains at the core of Western rationalism and the notion of Enlightenment and has come to dominate modern academic discourse. In the study of religion, in particular, the discourse of light and quest for enlightenment are especially pervasive interpretive models. However, is this metaphorical complex universal? Or does the light metaphor actually occlude our understanding of other cultural and religious visions of attainment? Focusing on Daoist narratives and practices, along with Jewish and Greek examples, in this essay I present an alternative metaphorical system, in which caves are sources of revelation and the truth is ultimately mysterious and dark.