STEPPING OUTSIDE THE CAVE
- Derek Hagen
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
❝The most obvious, important realities are often the ones that are hardest to see and talk about.❞ -David Foster Wallace
What feels obvious is often just familiar.
PLATO'S ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE
In Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, a story written more than 2,300 years ago, prisoners are chained inside a cave. They can’t turn their heads. They can only see shadows cast on the wall in front of them. Behind them is a fire. Between the fire and the prisoners are people holding up cutouts, creating shadow puppets.
The prisoners don’t know any of this.
To them, the shadows are reality.
THE SHADOWS WE MISTAKE FOR REALITY ABOUT MONEY
Imagine the cave.
Now imagine you are a prisoner.
Behind you is a fire.
Between you and the fire are puppets.
The shadows on the wall are all you’ve ever seen.
You don’t know you’re in a cave. You don’t know there’s a fire. You don’t know the shadows aren’t the full story.
You just assume this is reality.
And that’s the point. Your experiences shape your perspective.
Your money scripts, beliefs about success, ideas about lifestyle, and sense of identity are built from what you’ve seen and lived.
To you, they don’t feel like beliefs. They feel like truth.
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This questionnaire is an instrument that taps into ten valued domains of living. It assesses the perceived importance of each of these ten life domains and the degree to which you are living in accordance with this perceived importance. |
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WHY LEAVING THE CAVE IS DISORIENTING
Now imagine something radical happens.
You break free from your chains.
You turn around and see the fire. You see the puppets. You realize the shadows weren’t the whole story.
That moment would not feel empowering. It would feel destabilizing. Everything you thought was real suddenly looks incomplete.
This is what financial awareness often feels like.
Realizing:
You don’t have to keep up with the Joneses.
You don’t have to spend like your parents did.
You don’t have to define success the same way your culture does.
You can lower your lifestyle without lowering your worth.
But new clarity doesn’t feel comfortable at first.
Imagine stepping outside the cave.
WHY FINANCIAL GROWTH CAN FEEL LONELY
Eventually, your eyes adjust.
You begin to understand what you couldn’t see before.
Naturally, you want to go back and tell the others. But when you re-enter the cave, something strange happens.
Now it’s too dark to see.
From the prisoners’ perspective, you left and came back worse off. You sound strange. You look confused. You’re describing something they can’t imagine.
They dismiss you.
This is what sometimes happens when someone changes their financial habits.
Maybe you:
Spend less
Save more
Stop chasing status
Turn down lifestyle inflation
Define success differently
Others may not understand. They may think you’re being extreme. They may think you’re judging them.
Growth can create social friction because change highlights different values.
YOU DON'T NEED EVERYONE'S APPROVAL TO CHANGE
Seth Godin encourages us to “shun the non-believers.”
That doesn’t mean becoming arrogant or cutting people off lightly. It means recognizing that not everyone will understand your path. You can’t force someone else to leave their cave. And you don’t need universal approval to live according to your values.
If someone actively undermines your well-being (emotionally, mentally, financially), it’s worth reconsidering how much influence they should have in your life. You have freedom. Freedom to question your assumptions. Freedom to redefine success. Freedom to live according to your own financial purpose.
THE COURAGE TO QUESTION WHAT FEELS OBVIOUS
Plato’s Cave isn’t really about caves.
It’s about awareness.
It’s about realizing that what feels obvious might just be familiar.
Financial change isn’t just about numbers. It’s about identity, belonging, ego, and comfort.
Leaving the cave doesn’t mean others are wrong. It means you’ve chosen to look more closely.
The question isn’t whether you’re in a cave. We all are, in some way. The question is: What shadows might you be mistaking for reality?
And what would it mean to step outside, even briefly?
You get one life; live intentionally.
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REFERENCES AND INFLUENCES
Burkeman, Oliver: The Antidote
Cialdini, Robert: Influence
Frankl, Viktor: Man’s Search for Meaning
Haidt, Jonathan: The Happiness Hypothesis
Harris, Sam: Waking Up
Housel, Morgan: The Psychology of Money
Housel, Morgan: Same as Ever
Kinder, George: Seven Stages of Money Maturity
Krueger, David: A New Money Story
Manson, Mark: The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck
McAdams, Dan: The Stories We Live By
Sivers, Derek: Hell Yeah or No
Wilson, Timothy: Redirect
