In a cave, prisoners are chained to face a wall, behind them are people who carry things up the road, and beyond the road there is a fire, so shadows are cast upon the wall which the prisoners can see.
If a prisoner is freed and forced to turn around, the philosopher, he will see the people on the road and then the fire (belief – pistis). If he is then ‘dragged’ outside the cave (the philosopher) – and he must be dragged, or drag himself, as the process will be painful as he will not be used to the light (the Form of the good), he will experience reality as it is, not as it seems in the cave. It is painful to move from believing the second-hand to the Form of the Good and reaching intelligence.